BUBBLE DRINKS: C or D?

Message Bookmarked

Bookmark Removed

This summer I noticed signs all over Chinatown (in Philadelphia) for Bubble Drinks, Bubble Tea, Pearl Tea, etc. About a week ago, I enjoyed my first bubble drink, a watermellon blend with dark tapioca balls at the bottom, waiting to be slurped up through a fat straw. Classic, though I have to admit I might be more in love with the concept than the drink itself.

"One thing is for certain. Bubble Tea is not a fad. It's a trend. This drink is addictive. If you've had a good one before then you know what we're talking about."

BUBBLE DRINKS

― DeRayMi, Thursday, 25 July 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

Trying link again.

BUBBLE DRINKS

― DeRayMi, Thursday, 25 July 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

Bubble Tea Supply

Maybe this will work.

― DeRayMi, Thursday, 25 July 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

there's something subtly raunchy about slurping big glutinous tapioca pearls through an extra-wide straw, especially in a 1950s after- school atmosphere like the St. Alps Teahouse on Mott St.... i get the cold green tea usually with plenty of milk and ice

― Tracer Hand, Thursday, 25 July 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

I think tapioca is abhorrently icky in any form, although the pearl drop tea does have a certain conceptual allure. But at St Alps I always get the cold strawberry tea. It's YUM.

― Pyth, Thursday, 25 July 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

I tried an ice coffee and tapioca one of these from a places on that strip of Sawtelle in West LA. It was the only drink that's ever made me laugh out loud -- you'll be slurping along, as with any iced beverage, when suddenly a tapioca bead decides "it's time" and jumps up the extra-wide straw. I don't think I'll try it again but I definitely see the appeal.

― felicity, Thursday, 25 July 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

DEAR GOD WHAT ARE THOSE THINGS THEY HAVE THE NERVE TO CALL IT TAPIOCA??!!!

― Chupa-Cabras, Thursday, 25 July 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

i love this. my favorite is the taro milkshake. also good is papaya milkshake, aw fuck it all the milkshakes are great. i like the tapioca when it's not too slimey and not too hard. like tapioca al dente i guess

― Ron, Thursday, 25 July 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

I like tapioca pudding and rice pudding with brandy-soaked cherries.

― felicity, Thursday, 25 July 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

Ah yes, this concoction. Around here we've got the Cha for Tea chain, which specializes in them. Fairly tasty when done right, but lord the sugar rush is intense. My boss, always on the lookout for future opportunities, is kicking himself that he didn't come up with idea first -- it's been a huge smash around here, especially with the Asian American student population at UCI being what it is (namely more than half the contingent!).

― Ned Raggett, Friday, 26 July 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

I am having fantasies of quitting librarianship to start a Bubble Drink vending truck.

― DeRayMi, Friday, 26 July 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

Two words, DeRayMi -- smart drinks. Remember the sins of the past. ;-)

― Ned Raggett, Friday, 26 July 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

I was thinking about smart drinks yesterday. I remember buying a ginkgo drink at a Pigface show, when I was having some emotional conflicts with the people I was with.

Bubble drink isn't really such a new idea. I've had other Asian drinks/desserts (is that the double s one?) with weird gelatinous things at the bottom. Multi-colored gelatinous squiggly things mixed with sweet coconut rice and peanuts, etc. Southeast Asian desserts are particularly psychedelic.

― DeRayMi, Friday, 26 July 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

http://www.netsiri.com.br/imagens/para_ver/tapioca.jpg

THIS IS TAPIOCA NOT THOSE SCARY BALLS U R TALKING ABOUT

― Chupa-Cabras, Friday, 26 July 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

I am having fantasies of quitting librarianship to start a Bubble Drink vending truck.

DeRayMi, keep me posted I'm still looking for an in to the bibliophiles club..

I don't think drinking tapioca sounds umm refreshing...

Does anyone remember Orbitz? It was a clear sparking beverage with tiny globes. It was like drinking jello in a half liquid half solid form.

― brg30, Friday, 26 July 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

Bubble tea is the bomb. New Orleans has a large Vietnamese population so you can get it in lots of the little corner stores and places like that. Taro is good and a beautiful color but it's a little too sweet sometimes. I'm all about jackfruit and avocado flavors. The jackfruit is sweet but has kind of a funky texture that makes it really interesting to drink, especially when you get it to wash down a big-ass shrimp po'boy. Avocado is delicious beyond words, like melting down pure goodness and drinking it with wee black balls of joy. Of course it is pure fat and not to be taken lightly.

Mmm... I'd go get some now but I enjoyed too heartily free margarita night yesterday and am in no condition to screw around with bubble tea.

― adam, Friday, 26 July 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

three months pass...

THREAD REVIVAL. I am fucking addicted to these things. They're worse than cigs, booze, and drugs put together. Mott and Canal is the mecca for them and I am honestly contemplating getting up from my death bed today JUST TO GO GET ONE.

Oh, by the way: I don't think the ones at St. Alp's are as good as some of the others on the block. I like Tea Ren's the best, plus you can get them in this gigantic Big Gulp size there.

― Ally (mlescaut), Thursday, 21 November 2002 20:17 (twenty-three years ago)

Bubble drinks are the most classic thing of all time, obliterating all other claimants to the mantle of Total Classicness. The melon ones are particularly godlike.

― J0hn Darn13ll3 (J0hn Darn13ll3), Thursday, 21 November 2002 20:25 (twenty-three years ago)

i've only had bubble tea three times. the last time i nearly fucking choked to death. imagine one of those tapioca bullets hurtling towards the back of your throat down the muzzle of an oversized straw.

― fields of salmon (fieldsofsalmon), Thursday, 21 November 2002 20:29 (twenty-three years ago)

The entire concept is filling me with PHEAR.

― Dan Perry (Dan Perry), Thursday, 21 November 2002 20:34 (twenty-three years ago)

i fondly remember my first pearl tea experience: toronto's chinatown about 7 years ago...

my favorite flavor is definitely the mango/honeydew combination... ask the pearl tea provider if they'll mix both flavors for you. you will not be disappointed.

strangely, the m0untain g0ats's sweden figured heavily on this particular trip... weird ILX freaky coincidence that shouldn't be mentioned but it's too late now: eek!!!

<^> @_@ <^>

― gygax!, Thursday, 21 November 2002 20:39 (twenty-three years ago)

imagine one of those tapioca bullets hurtling towards the back of your throat down the muzzle of an oversized straw.

That's why they're cool...

― Ally (mlescaut), Thursday, 21 November 2002 20:44 (twenty-three years ago)

Sounds like Ally needs Bubbledrinkers Anonymous.

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Thursday, 21 November 2002 21:00 (twenty-three years ago)

i think straw placement is key in minimizing potential death by tapioca...

point straw toward roof of mouth rather than toward epiglotis (sp?).

― gygax!, Thursday, 21 November 2002 21:05 (twenty-three years ago)

Just tried one for the first time at the Great Wall Mall south of Seattle. There's something about the texture of the tapioca balls that turns me right OFF. But they look really nice.

― mike a (mike a), Thursday, 21 November 2002 21:05 (twenty-three years ago)

I'm with you, Ally. My response to Bubble Drinks is near-primal: every single aspect of them punches every last one of my buttons.

Incidentally, they're pretty easy to make at home -- we tried, and they were super-yummy! Boiling the tapioca takes a while & you have to be really patient, but fresh fruit instead of fruit powder + fresh sugar syrup = super ultra yummus bubble drink delish delish -- this past summer we had watermelon, honeydew, and Santa Claus melon

― J0hn Darn13ll3 (J0hn Darn13ll3), Thursday, 21 November 2002 21:33 (twenty-three years ago)

There's something deeply wrong-sounding about the phrase "Santa Claus melon". It's like you made a drink out of his head.

― Dan Perry (Dan Perry), Thursday, 21 November 2002 21:36 (twenty-three years ago)

Seattle also has the Pochi Tea Station in the U-district, which is a place I frequent whenever I'm in the area... they also serve a strange variety of crepes and toast, and play Japanese pop karaoke DVDs in the TV monitor inside.

― donut bitch (donut), Thursday, 21 November 2002 21:39 (twenty-three years ago)

-"egg noggin"?

actually, those balls are so sickeningly sweet that the first time I tried one I actually spat/launched it out about 10 feet. blech.

― Spencer Chow (spencermfi), Thursday, 21 November 2002 21:42 (twenty-three years ago)

It's like you made a drink out of his head.

The latest retro-tiki trend.

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Thursday, 21 November 2002 21:43 (twenty-three years ago)

ally wrote:
plus you can get them in this gigantic Big Gulp size there.

sorry, i love them, but that would make me barf.

― gygax!, Thursday, 21 November 2002 21:47 (twenty-three years ago)

point straw toward roof of mouth rather than toward epiglotis (sp?)

dude i did! those little buggers will riccochet around inside your face if you let 'em!

― fields of salmon (fieldsofsalmon), Thursday, 21 November 2002 21:47 (twenty-three years ago)

Incidentally, they're pretty easy to make at home -- we tried, and they were super-yummy! Boiling the tapioca takes a while & you have to be really patient,

Hence my non-participation in the sport of tapioca pearl drink making. I haven't a drop of patience in my body. I bought my little sisters a bubble drink kit for their birthday which they seem to like quite a lot. It takes like a good long time for the tapioca to boil though, which I just can't do.

― Ally (mlescaut), Thursday, 21 November 2002 22:08 (twenty-three years ago)

I'm so happy that I'm writing this two blocks away from Saint's Alp, where I'm going next....

― M Matos (M Matos), Friday, 22 November 2002 00:21 (twenty-three years ago)

if I had the energy to move I'd go down there too but alas I need to stay home and eat soup.

― Ally (mlescaut), Friday, 22 November 2002 00:25 (twenty-three years ago)

Saint's Alp

Thank you for writing that correctly.

― Jody Beth Rosen (Jody Beth Rosen), Friday, 22 November 2002 00:44 (twenty-three years ago)

I aim to please

― M Matos (M Matos), Friday, 22 November 2002 00:45 (twenty-three years ago)

if I had the energy to move I'd go down there too

(Sorry, I'm bored and need to go to work.)

― Dan Perry (Dan Perry), Friday, 22 November 2002 13:30 (twenty-three years ago)

one month passes...

During this summer, I would go down to Chinatown in Philly, since it was and still my best place to shop. I seen about three or four bakery shops, with posters of Pearl Bubble Drinks. I thought they were interesting and decided to try one. The one I tried was Strawberry, and it was the best one I ever tasted!The tapioca balls looked weird, but when one popped in my mouth, it made me laugh. Even though I haven't tried all of them, I'm planning to!

― Kenelle Lee, Tuesday, 31 December 2002 16:21 (twenty-three years ago)

one year passes...

I can't believe Adam was able to find these in New Orleans when I couldn't. Dude, I lived just down the street from Little Vietnam (where I got the p!n3appl3 zomb!3 &c.). The fuck?

Anyway:

http://www.idea-inc.com/~bill/lj/chewme.jpg

Ginger bubble tea. It looked prepackaged, but couldn't have been (despite being sealed) I don't think, because it had a couple ice cubes in it. Spicy. Tea-y. Classic.

― Tep (ktepi), Friday, 18 June 2004 23:43 (twenty-one years ago)

i always get nervous when i see people giving their young children bubble tea. don't those pearls seem like a huge choking hazard for little mouths?

― lauren (laurenp), Friday, 18 June 2004 23:48 (twenty-one years ago)

I worry enough that I'll choke on one -- but they're soft enough that they're probably less of a choking hazard than candy of similar sizes ... (how young are we talking?)

― Tep (ktepi), Friday, 18 June 2004 23:50 (twenty-one years ago)

i think it's the straws that worry me. it seems like a rogue pearl could come up really fast and catch the child by surprise. a 3 or 4 year old isn't really looking out for things like that. then again, i'm a horribly neurotic worrier.

― lauren (laurenp), Friday, 18 June 2004 23:55 (twenty-one years ago)

eleven years pass...

The ones with the salty-sweet creama on top are a revelation!

― ljubljana, Friday, 21 August 2015 00:38 (ten years ago)

five years pass...

diaspora piece:
https://www.eater.com/2019/11/5/20942192/bubble-tea-boba-asian-american-diaspora

― Jersey Al (Albert R. Broccoli), Wednesday, 16 December 2020 01:18 (five years ago)

Why a long article about bubble tea gets published in 2020:

The global bubble tea market, valued at $1.9 billion by Allied Market Research in 2016, is projected to reach sales of $3.2 billion by 2023.

― Respectfully Yours, (Aimless), Wednesday, 16 December 2020 03:06 (five years ago)

thought it was interesting. that Chinese people drank tea with milk and that's how the practice was introduced to Europe was a new one to me.

drinking bubble tea rn. taro flavored with brown sugar pearls and sago. delish

― Babby's Yed Revisited (jim in vancouver), Saturday, 19 December 2020 00:59 (five years ago)

You must be logged in to post. Please either login here, or if you are not registered, you may register here.