Bubble tea

Bubble tea, pearl milk tea (Chinese: 珍珠奶茶; pinyin: zhēnzhū nǎichá), or boba milk tea (波霸奶茶; bōbà nǎichá) is a tea beverage mixture with milk. Originating in Taiwan, it is especially popular in Taiwan, China, Korea, the Philippines, and among overseas Asians, especially overseas Chinese. It is also known as black pearl tea or tapioca tea. Download high resolution version (1316x1888, 1634 KB)Pearl milk tea: taken by Richy of Chinese Wikipedia File history Legend: (cur) = this is the current file, (del) = delete this old version, (rev) = revert to this old version. ... Download high resolution version (1316x1888, 1634 KB)Pearl milk tea: taken by Richy of Chinese Wikipedia File history Legend: (cur) = this is the current file, (del) = delete this old version, (rev) = revert to this old version. ... Pinyin (拼音, pīnyīn) literally means join (together) sounds (a less literal translation being phoneticize, spell or transcription) in Chinese and usually refers to Hànyǔ Pīnyīn (汉语拼音, literal meaning: Han language pinyin), which is a system of romanization (phonetic notation and transliteration to roman script) for Standard Mandarin used in the... A cup of tea A tea bush. ... The word drink is primarily a verb, meaning to ingest liquids, see Drinking. ... A glass of milk Milk most often means the nutrient fluid produced by the mammary glands of female mammals. ... Korea (한국) is a formerly unified country, situated on the Korean Peninsula in northern East Asia, bordering on China to the west and Russia to the north. ... Overseas Chinese (華僑 in pinyin: huáqiáo, or 華胞 huábāo, or 僑胞 qiáobāo) are ethnic Chinese who live outside of Mainland China, Hong Kong, Macau, or Taiwan. ... Tapioca is an essentially flavourless starchy ingredient, or fecula, produced from treated and dried cassava (manioc) root and used in cooking. ...

Definition

Bubble tea consists of a mixture of sweetened iced tea and milk and possibly other flavorings. Black gummy balls made of tapioca, called "pearls", sit at the bottom of the cup. The pearls are much larger than those found in tapioca pudding, with a diameter of at least 7 millimeters. They are sucked through a wide straw along with the drink, providing something to chew on between sips. Smaller tapioca balls can be used, but they are not as good for chewing. Some adolescents like to blow the tapioca balls out from the straw to shoot at targets or at each other, to the annoyance of adults and bystanders. Tapioca is an essentially flavourless starchy ingredient, or fecula, produced from treated and dried cassava (manioc) root and used in cooking. ... Tapioca pudding is a common pudding with tapioca as the primary ingredient. ...

When ordering, customers are often asked whether they want "boba" or "pearls" in their beverages. Both terms refer to the tapioca balls.

The recipes for bubble tea vary, but usually flavoring is added to hot black or green tea which is then shaken in a cocktail shaker with ice until chilled. Tapioca pearls are primarily made from tapioca starch from the cassava plant. The pearls are then heated with caramel into a thick paste. The paste is then passed through a wet sieve to create different pearl sizes. A cocktail shaker is a device consisting of a container and a lid, with a strainer, used to mix beverages (usually alcoholic) by shaking. ... Binomial name Manihot esculenta Crantz Cassava or manioc (Manihot esculenta; also yuca in Spanish, and mandioca, aipim, or macaxera in Portuguese) is a woody perennial shrub of the spurge family, that is extensively cultivated as an annual crop for its edible starchy tuberous root. ... Caramel is a food which has a brown color and a pleasant toasted flavor, derived from the caramelization of sugar. ...

Another alternative to traditional bubble tea is to substitute tapioca pearls with coconut jelly, which is a lighter option. Coconut jelly is served in small Lego-like pieces and have a sweet, crunchy consistency. They add a new dimension to bubble tea and are often ordered "half and half" meaning half pearls, half coconut jelly. LEGO® Group logo LEGO sets feature a large variety of themed (minifigures), including the Space, Castle, and City figures above. ...

The tea often accompanies fried chicken steak (雞排; jī pái), also a popular snack in Taiwan.

Origin

Bubble tea is said to have originated in Taichung, Taiwan in 1983, by a Taiwanese tea shop owner named Liu Han-Chieh (劉漢介), who experimented with cold milk tea by adding fruit, syrup, candied yams and, finally, tapioca balls. Although the drink was not popular at first, publicity from a Japanese television show made businessmen take notice, and it quickly became well known throughout Asia in the 1990s. Abbreviation: Central City (中市) City nickname: The cultural city Capital District West Dist. ... 1983 is a common year starting on Saturday of the Gregorian calendar. ... Events and trends The 1990s are generally classified as having moved slightly away from the more conservative 1980s, but keeping the same mind-set. ...

In the late 1990s, bubble tea began to become popular in the United States and Canada, spreading to ethnic Chinese, Korean, and Vietnamese-speaking immigrant communities and even outside the overseas Asian community. This unique beverage has also received some attention in the American mainstream media, including Morning Edition on National Public Radio and the Los Angeles Times. Bubble tea can also refer to hot Hong Kong-style milk tea (港式奶茶; pinyin: gǎngshì nǎichá; Cantonese: gong² sik¹ naai⁵ caa⁴) with tapioca balls. Morning Edition is an American radio news program produced and distributed by National Public Radio (NPR). ... NPR logo NPR redirects here. ... The Los Angeles Times (also LA Times) is a daily newspaper published in Los Angeles, California and distributed throughout the western United States. ... ...

Names

Bubble tea has now spread internationally, mainly through overseas Chinese communities. It is also known under a number of other names, including: The second-largest Chinatown in North America is in San Francisco, California, where signs, storefronts, proprietors, and even lamp posts bring the culture of China to the United States. ...

• bubble tea
• pearl tea
• milk pearl tea
• pearl ice tea
• black pearl ice tea
• QQ drinks — kiú is Taiwanese slang for chewy
• 奶茶 naicha — literally, "milk tea"
• 珍珠奶茶 zhēnzhū nǎichá (Putonghua, Taiwanese and overseas Chinese usage) — literally, "pearl milk tea"
• 波霸奶茶 bōbà nǎichá
• boba drink
• tran chau (Vietnamese)
• pearl sago [milk] tea — in English only; usually used for canned varieties where pearl sago (西米; xīmǐ; Cantonese: sai¹ mai⁵) is used instead of tapioca.

Boba is Cantonese slang and literally means "dominatrix of breasts", connoting the image of a busty woman. "Bō" (波) is a slang for the breast which refers to the milk. Standard Mandarin refers to the official Chinese spoken language used by the Peoples Republic of China, the Republic of China on Taiwan, Malaysia and Singapore. ... Taiwan is mostly mountainous in the east, but gradually transitions to gently sloping plains in the west (satellite photo by NASA). ... Slang is the non-standard use of words in a language of a particular social group, and sometimes the creation of new words or importation of words from another language. ... sprankton a noun a disease you get from chewing to much penis sprankton a noun a disease you get from chewing to much penis sprankton a noun a disease you get from chewing to much penis sprankton a noun a disease you get from chewing to much penis sprankton a... A glass of milk Milk most often means the nutrient fluid produced by the mammary glands of female mammals. ...

In southern Taiwan, pearl milk tea with large pearls are usually called "boba milk tea", while those with small pearls are called "pearl milk tea".

Availability

The tea, regardless of name, is available at small dedicated boba cafes, and at some Chinese and Vietnamese restaurants. Some Chinese restaurants and take-out delis may advertise a "boba special" promotion — for example, one cup of boba tea might cost only 99 cents with a purchase of a meal. Bubble tea chain stores are spreading throughout the world, but there are also many small family-owned boba outlets. The quality of the preparation and resulting product varies widely. Like Starbucks, boba tea is generally popular among college students. The Corporate Average Fuel Economy (CAFE) regulations in the United States, first enacted by Congress in 1975, exist to regulate and improve the average fuel economy of cars and light trucks (trucks, vans and sport utility vehicles) sold in the US. Corporate Average Fuel Economy (CAFE) is the sales weighted... For other meanings of the name Starbuck, see Starbuck. ...

Most bubble tea stores serve a variety of drinks, including coffee, juices, and frozen juice drinks. These can include flavors which are less familiar to non-Asians, such as taro, honeydew, or lychee—as well as the familiar chocolate, Ovaltine, or strawberry—and may be available with or without tapioca pearls. These boba establishments are typically modern, trendy and sleek in design; often, they are combined with Internet cafés in order to attract a young customer base. Coffee beans and a cup of coffee Coffee as a drink, usually served hot, is prepared from the roasted seeds (beans) of the coffee plant. ... This Taro is the Tahitian word. ... The term honeydew has more than one meaning. ... Binomial name Litchi chinensis Sonn. ... Chocolate comes in dark, light, and white varieties with cocoa contributing the brown coloration. ... Ovomaltine product in their typical orange outfit A pack of ready-to-drink Ovomaltine Ovomaltine is a Swiss milk product with chocolate and malt by Wander AG, a subsidiary of Novartis Consumer Goods. ... Species see text The strawberry (Fragaria) is a genus of plants in the Family Rosaceae (Rose Family), and the fruit of these plants. ... An Internet cafe or cybercafe is a place where one can use a computer with Internet access for a fee, usually per hour or minute; sometimes one can have unmetered access with a pass for a day or month, etc. ...

Trivia

In September 2004, defending a US$18 billion weapon purchase plan, the ROC Ministry of National Defense used bubble tea as an example of the overall cost of the proposed purchase. The Ministry stated that the total cost of the weapons systems would be equivalent to the money saved if all Taiwanese drank one less pearl milk tea per week for a period of twenty years.-1... Taiwan is mostly mountainous in the east, but gradually transitions to gently sloping plains in the west (satellite photo by NASA). ...

Related topic

• Taiwanese cuisine

There are several cuisines in Taiwan. ...

Bubble tea stores

• Lollicup
• Q-Cup
• Quickly
• Bubbles

Lollicup is a Taiwanese American fast food chain specializing in boba tea, coffee, espresso, a large variety of fruit juices and slushes, and a variety of other Asian-style cold and hot teas. ... Q-Cup is chain of cafes in the United States specializing in bubble tea. ... Quickly is one of the largest tapioca milk tea franchises in the world with over 2000 locations, including 60 stores in the United States. ... A bubble may refer to: a pocket of air or gas caught within a solid or liquid a spherical liquid film (often of surfactant, occasionally of bubble gum) filled with air or gas a metaphor for isolation (e. ...

External link

• Free Boba & Bubble Tea Recipes (http://www.bubbletearecipe.com/)
• News article from CNN (http://www.cnn.com/2000/FOOD/news/11/27/bubble.tea.ap/)
• The Tale of "The Bubble Tea Origin" (http://www.jorbins.com/food-drink-magazine/articles/bubble-tea-origin.php)
• Claremont Courier Online - Bubbly drinks help teens have a ball (http://www.claremont-courier.com/mt/archives/000374.html)
• Picture of Bubble Tea (http://vagrantly.com/04/06/bubble_tea.php)
• US Bubble tea cafe locator (http://www.bobafind.com/)
• MSNBC - Can drinking less tea defend a nation? (http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/6063203/)
• NBC - Taiwanese urged to cut tea to pay for US arms (http://www.abc.net.au/news/newsitems/200409/s1204428.htm)
• Boba Fate - bubble tea fortune-tellers (http://fortune.bedope.com/boba.html)