Are you looking for a drink with more substance? For more than two years, teens and twentysomethings in Westwood, Brentwood and other Los Angeles enclaves have been gathering in light and airy, techno-pumping spaces to slurp bubble tea, a catch-all phrase for an assortment of cold drinks with chewy, black tapioca balls lurking in the bottom.
Why? The gelatinous little balls, or pearls, are oddly appealing. They slip up a wide, brightly colored straw, adding a new dimension to drinking–chewing.
Midwest manifestations
Here in Chicago, latte isn’t losing its luster, at least not yet. Bubble tea hasn’t spread all over town the way it did first in Taipei, and later in Los Angeles, San Francisco and Vancouver. But it is popping up in several Chinatown shops, such as Ten Ren Tea & Ginseng Co. (2247 S. Wentworth Ave.), Joy Yee’s Noodles (2159 Chinatown Square) and Ling Wing Wah (2147 Chinatown Pl.). On the North Side, Javacha, 3415 N. Clark St., also is selling it.
“The little balls are weird at first, but they’re fun, definitely addicting,” said Gina Chang of Chicago, sipping a honeydew-flavored bubble tea outside Ten Ren. She added that the balls make the drink also a bit of a snack.
Bubble tea is known by many names–boba tea, milk tea, black pearl tea, pearl iced tea, BBT, PT and even zhen zhu nai cha–and can be served in as many ways.
But the quintessential bubble tea combines ice, black or green tea, sweetener, fruit flavoring, milk and black tapioca pearls. In Chicago shops, the flavors range from strawberry, mango, honeydew, coconut, papaya and litchi to taro root, red bean and almond. The flavors may come from fresh ingredients, a syrup or a powder.
Most components are optional. Some bubble tea baristas will substitute small squares of flavored jelly for the tapioca. Others will skip the tea entirely, simply blending the flavor with sweetener, milk and ice. The concoction may be shaken like a martini or blended like a smoothie.
Your very own bubbles
Unlike the Japanese tea ceremony or British afternoon tea, bubble tea preparation is not a culturally revered practice, simply a hipster trend that developed in Taiwan in the mid-1980s. And, just as we have adulterated the martini by adding such froufrou flavors as Midori and Malibu, so too can we experiment widely with bubble tea combinations.
With the help of a nearby Asian grocery store or the Internet, you won’t find it difficult to make at home. Colorful and cold, it can be shaken, strained and served in clear martini glasses at a party. Or, if you buy the wide straws, you can serve it with ice in tall glasses. If it’s green or red, it will be reminiscent of a kiwi or a watermelon, with little black “seeds.”
Ten Ren’s most popular smoothie version, or “cooler,” blends peaches and passion fruit with green tea, and is garnished with a piece of preserved green mango, said Nancy Fine, tea bar manager. The most popular shaken drink combines black tea with litchi juice, she said. Litchi pieces bob along with the black pearls.
Both black and green teas provide many options when coupled with fruit nectars and juices, syrup from canned fruit, or a sprinkling of fruit-flavored drink powder right into the chilled tea.
Stocking up
Any supermarket has a wide selection of black and green teas, fruit-flavored beverages and fresh fruit. If desired, you will also need fresh milk or sweetened, condensed milk.
Black pearl tapioca is available raw in several area Asian stores for about $3 per pound. Try Golden Country Oriental Food Co. Store (2422 S. Wentworth Ave.), J&A Oriental Food Mart (5755 W. Fullerton Ave.), May Flower Food (2104 S. Archer Ave.) and Tai Nam (4925 N. Broadway). Large white pearl tapioca, a second-best option, is available in several others and also some Jewel-Osco supermarkets.
On the Internet, Bruce & Clark (www.bruceandclark.com) and Ten Ren (www.tenrens.com) sell bubble tea supplies to consumers, including black tapioca pearls, wide straws, fruit-flavored powders and syrups, as well as the tea. The sites also have bubble tea information and recipes.
Black tapioca pearls
Preparation time: 5 minutes
Cooking time: 30 minutes
Standing time: 30 minutes
Yield: Enough pearls for four 6-ounce drinks
Tapioca starch comes from the cassava plant. In Asian grocery stores, these large tapioca pearls may also be called “starch balls.” Raw, they are light brown and slightly smaller than Cocoa Puffs cereal. Cooked, they are black and jellylike, tasting faintly nutty and sweet.
6 cups water
1/4 cup raw black pearl tapioca
1 cup sugar
1. Heat 5 cups of the water to boiling in a medium pot over high heat. Gently stir in tapioca pearls. Cook pearls uncovered at medium boil, stirring at least every 10 minutes, until pearls provide little resistance to chewing, 30 minutes. They will be black and slightly translucent. Small light brown spots may still remain in the middle of each pearl.
2. Meanwhile, heat remaining 1 cup water with sugar in medium saucepan over medium heat until sugar dissolves and syrup boils. Remove from heat; let cool.
3. Cover pot with pearls; remove from heat. Let pearls steep 30 minutes; drain in colander, rinsing well until water runs clear. Use immediately, or combine sugar syrup with pearls and store up to 1 day, covered and refrigerated.
Nutrition information per 1/4 of recipe (without sugar):
30 calories, 1% calories from fat, 0 g fat, 0 g saturated fat, 0 mg cholesterol, 2 mg sodium, 7 g carbohydrate, 0.1 g protein, 0 g fiber
Mango-green tea bubble tea
Preparation time: 5 minutes
Yield: 4 drinks
This is a simple shaken recipe. Use it as a launching point for other combinations.
1 recipe cooked black tapioca pearls, see recipe
1 1/2 cups brewed and cooled citrus-flavored green tea
1/2 cup mango juice or mango nectar
2 teaspoons honey, plus more to taste
Ice
1. Divide tapioca pearls among four chilled 6-ounce martini or juice glasses.Set aside.
2. Combine tea, juice or nectar, sweetener and ice in a martini shaker or sealed plastic jug; shake hard 1-2 minutes. Strain into glasses. Serve while frothy.
Nutrition information per serving:
35 calories, 1% calories from fat, 0 g fat, 0 g saturated fat, 0 mg cholesterol, 4 mg sodium, 10 g carbohydrate, 0.1 g protein, 0.2 g fiber
