Why You Need To Try Taiwanese Bubble Tea
Taiwanese bubble tea has been enormously popular in Taiwan ever since the 1980s, and its popularity is spreading all over the world.
It is so popular in Singapore that when news broke that the bubble tea shops were likely to have to close due to the COVID-19 pandemic, crowds of people flocked to get one last fix before they had to take a temporary break.
What exactly is bubble tea and why is it so popular?
What is bubble tea?
Bubble tea started to evolve into the drink we know today in the 1940s. Chang Fan Shu opened a tea shop selling shou yao (shaken tea) which he made by shaking up the tea in cocktail shakers. This created a tea that was silky smooth and topped with air bubbles. The air bubbles are an essential part of what makes bubble tea unique.
This started a trend of tea shops and drinking tea in them for pleasure, which was something people had not done prior to the war.
There are lots of other people who claim to have been the first to invent bubble tea and it is difficult to know exactly who did, but one possible inventor is Tu Tsong He.
In 1986 Tu Tsong He wanted to build on the popularity of the tea shops. He decided to open one of his own, where he would serve shou yao (shaken tea) to which he would also add fenyuan (tapioca balls) as they had been a childhood favourite of his.
This evolved into the silky bubble tea with the black textured tapioca balls that people know and love today.
Bubble tea flavours
Over time Taiwanese stall owners began to introduce fruit flavoured tapioca balls (or boba) and using fruit powders and syrups instead of fruit as they lasted longer. They also began to use non-diary creamers rather than milk, as again these kept for longer. This gave the drink the sweet taste that it is now known for.
Bubble tea continues to evolve, and lots of enthusiasts continue to build on the original recipe and create innovative new combinations.
Bubble Ci-Tea in Portsmouth offers a range of bubble tea flavours like mango and passion fruit, a more traditional jasmine tea and even an oreo crunch flavour. They also make their tea unique through the addition of popping tapioca balls which are infused with delicious flavours.
Boba
You may hear the tapioca balls in bubble tea referred to as boba, and sometimes the tea itself is given this name. The name came about as boba is a slang Chinese term for breasts, which the tapioca balls are thought to resemble.
Tapioca is a starch, derived from the cassava root, that is used to make boba balls. Cassava root is ground and by starchy liquid is removed. This is dried to form tapioca powder, which is then used to create the boba. Generally, boba will be a little sweeter than tapioca, as brown sugar is often added to it.