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Original poster

Bubble tea....what actually is it and why is it so popular?

86 replies

Yankydoodledandy · 19/02/2023 19:05

Have just past a bubble tea shop and people are literally queuing outside. Ive googled it but just dont get it 😝

OP posts:
GCAcademic · 19/02/2023 20:21

Whyisitsososohard · 19/02/2023 19:42

Honestly all the drama about how vile it is! I think it's really important to remember you're talking about something from another culture and all this drama about it makes you seem a bit small minded. People can enjoy different things. It might not be for you but calling it frogspawn or vile is just cringe. Bubble tea is also such a varied thing, a bit like hot tea or coffee. It comes in so many forms I'm not sure it's something you can write off after one try.

I’m from an Asian background. Most of the food I cook is various kinds of Asian, from all over the continent.

I still think bubble tea is vile frogspawn.

NoHunsHereHun · 19/02/2023 20:22

Whyisitsososohard · 19/02/2023 19:42

Honestly all the drama about how vile it is! I think it's really important to remember you're talking about something from another culture and all this drama about it makes you seem a bit small minded. People can enjoy different things. It might not be for you but calling it frogspawn or vile is just cringe. Bubble tea is also such a varied thing, a bit like hot tea or coffee. It comes in so many forms I'm not sure it's something you can write off after one try.

This. RTT made me wonder if I’d popped back to the 1950s.

TheWayTheLightFalls · 19/02/2023 20:49

I love it! You can tailor the sweetness/flavour/temperature etc to your liking, and try different combinations. The store near me does a steady trade at around £4.50 a go.

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General food
DNBU · 19/02/2023 20:54

Chewy sweet balls of tapioca in a milky drink.

PremiumB · 19/02/2023 21:05

medianewbie · 19/02/2023 19:36

I had one last month to the enormous amusement of my kids. It was a weak fruity 'tea' (water) with little fruit balls in which popped in your mouth. I quite liked it but not enough spend £4 on another ever again. The fruit balls all ganged up in the straw then zoomed into my mouth at once making me slightly hysterical. It was very funny.

medianewbie I love your description of fruit balls ganging up in a straw which made me laugh and I completely agree- I actually find them slightly threatening as keep expecting one to fly into my windpipe by mistake as they suddenly fly out. I don’t mind the fruit version with balls and mainly have one as it makes the DC happy to share the experience together . When I try saying no they look so disappointed!!

hennaoj · 19/02/2023 21:50

Matcha bubble tea is the greatest thing ever.

liveforsummer · 19/02/2023 21:54

LuckyDipForTheEuro · 19/02/2023 19:07

My youngest was obsessed with the idea so I got him one in London last year on a day trip. No one could finish it. Sweet milky something with tapioca/fat grain balls in. I mean just why?

Dc wouldn't dream of ordering the milky teas or the tapioca boba. There are lots of options though. Last time dd1 got pomegranate tea with lychee and mango boba. Dd2 got strawberry tea with passion fruit boba. Both tarter pretty nice tbf. I couldn't drink a whole one myself but had a try. There are so many combos possible

thenightsky · 19/02/2023 21:57

Isn't tapioca what we used to call frog spawn when it was school dinner pudding?

SpinningFloppa · 19/02/2023 22:01

There’s 2 on our high street, I’ve never tried it but they had a massive queue when first opened because it was half price, now both are always empty

JizzlordTheCat · 19/02/2023 22:01

katseyes7 · 19/02/2023 19:17

My ex went to the eldest's for dinner a couple of years ago.
He said the food was fantastic (eldest's wife is Japanese, and the food was authentically Japanese) but they gave him 'something with fucking frogspawn in the bottom of it' after.
Eldest was highly amused at his dad's reaction. It didn't go down well.

Your poor DIL.

How very rude of your husband.

Genevieva · 19/02/2023 22:29

My understanding is that the original was Chinese tea with cooked tapioca in it. In Chinese food the chewy texture that tapioca has is highly prized. Hence birds nest soup etc. However, since then it has become a whole range of things, from an ice cream milkshake with tapioca in it, to a juice drink with bubbles that contain a different juice concentrate in them.

RatSlave · 19/02/2023 22:36

I love bubble tea, even better if you buy the hot kind from chinese supermarkets that you make up at home. I have an assam milk tea I'm drinking right now but the matcha is my favourite. Much more affordable too. Without the boba its 45p a sachet with boba its about £1.50 a cup.

katseyes7 · 19/02/2023 22:42

JizzlordTheCat
He wasn't rude at all. I didn't say he said that when he was there, he thanked them for a lovely evening and sent flowers to say thank you the next day.
He said to me later on. Absolutely his sense of humour. Which the eldest has too, and he laughed. DIL said at the time, she appreciated it wasn't everyone's cup of tea, literally, but would he like to try it. Which he did.

TheMousePipes · 19/02/2023 22:46

Delicious. Fruit tea with popping boba.
Tastes like holidays in HK.

Housenoob · 19/02/2023 22:47

I first had it about 8 or so years ago when there weren't many shops on the UK. I was recommended the taro flavour which I'd never heard of, and it's lilac in colour. But it was genuinely one of the nicest things I've tasted, they must have got the sugar content just right and the flavour was just incredible, I can't really compare it to anything but at the same time it was a familiar taste if that makes sense. I always order taro now but I've never had one that tasted as good as that first time.

I don't like the fruit water based ones but then again I don't really drink flavoured cold drinks, I'm generally a water or tea/coffee person.

katseyes7 · 19/02/2023 23:00

I'm liking the sound of the fruit ones with fruity bubbles! I'm going to have to investigate and see if l can get hold of some of those.

whatsup00 · 19/02/2023 23:19

The taro one is amazing and the only one I've tried.

I also love falooda but can't get that in many places.

ToiletRollTower · 19/02/2023 23:29

I'm a fan. I don't like overly sweet things like DD but the coconut milk based ones I loved. I wasn't a fan of the chewy balls and DD ended up firing them out her straw on purpose, whilst walking behind me. Once I realised she was told off, not spending whatever price it was for her to expel bits all over the pavement from the straw. She likes the watermelon one (I made her order because it was a long list of different things and I got headache just reading it off the menu).

evtheria · 19/02/2023 23:45

LOVE bubble tea (though I grew up with it, and call it pearl milk tea!) and I just drink plain/classic stuff eg iced milky jasmine green tea with boba.

The fruit popping bubbles are ok. I'm not super keen, they're often quite sweet and I prefer the chewy tapioca balls.

ComeTheFckOnBridget · 19/02/2023 23:53

Kiitos · 19/02/2023 19:35

I LOVE cheese tea. It’s not actually cheese. Discovered it in Korea a few years ago. I’m so happy it’s available here now.

Wth is cheese tea

steppemum · 20/02/2023 00:02

I love tapioca, always have done, along with rice pudding etc.

So i think I would probably like bubble tea.

But then I would never willingly part for £4.50 for a drink, so I'm never likely to try it!

Rebellious23 · 20/02/2023 00:12

steppemum · 20/02/2023 00:02

I love tapioca, always have done, along with rice pudding etc.

So i think I would probably like bubble tea.

But then I would never willingly part for £4.50 for a drink, so I'm never likely to try it!

I want to try one so have been looking and found these which seemed reasonable

https://the-teashed.co.uk/collections/bubble-tea-kits

TallAndSpiky · 20/02/2023 00:29

I had one years ago but didn’t like it, especially the tapioca. However I have recently found become addicted to a brown sugar milk tea with honey balls instead of tapioca balls!

Chasedbythechaser · 20/02/2023 00:36

I tried the one with the tapioca balls. It tasted awful. I cannot understand why they are so popular.

Sickoffamilydrama · 20/02/2023 00:43

Think is become a cult thing as they are everywhere and all the teens want to go to them.

My DD is such a fan she researches when we go places to find a bubble tea shop nearby.

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