I don’t know where you are but more and more restaurants are popping up with Bubble Tea restaurants. Which makes sense why April 30th is National Bubble Tea Day #NationalBubbleTeaDay. I don’t know about you but I’ve never had Bubble Tea and it doesn’t sound that appealing to me. Charlie and David hasn’t had Bubble Tea either. Have you?
If your #Homeschooling your students take them on a Field Trip today for a Bubble Tea and remember to study the States Bubble Tea got its start in. Then for a #Cooking Class make Bubble Tea at home for your family to try.
Join us on National Bubble Tea Day which falls on April 30th and has only been celebrated a short time, but people are bubbling over with enthusiasm just thinking about celebrating the quirky beverage. Bubble Tea aficionados cannot get enough of the creamy sweet Tea drink garnished with Tapioca Balls that look like pearly bubbles floating on top.
The addition of National Bubble Tea Day to the calendar gives credence to both the drink that originated in Taiwan and its trendy pop culture following. Looks like my family needs to try #BubbleTea would you want to join me for a glass of Bubble Tea today?
Shaken Tea and Milk drinks were already popular fare in Taiwan’s night markets in the 1980s when Teahouses began selling the beverages topped with doughy black and white tapioca ball garnishments resembling bubbles.
“Bubble Tea,” also known as “Boba” or “Pearl Tea” attracted a cult-like fascination that quickly became part of the Taiwanese youth pop culture and spread rapidly from Taiwan throughout Asia. Would trip anyone?
The question today is which Tea room was first to add Tapioca Balls, called “pearls” to the foamy Tea and Milk drinks popular with night market crowds is up for debate, although two tearooms in Taiwan stake claim to Bubble Tea.
The founder of the Chun Shui Tang Tea room in Taichung, Taiwan first began serving cold Chinese Tea after seeing the popularity of Coffee served cold while traveling Japan in the 1980s. Owner Liu Han-Chieh gives credit to his Teahouse product development manager, Lin Hsiu Hui, for inventing Bubble Tea.
While playing with her glass of Iced Tea during a meeting in 1988, on a whim she dropped some Pudding with Tapioca Balls into her glass of cold Tea. The resulting drink was such a hit with other attendees that the drink recipe was added to the Tearoom’s menu, much to the delight of customers.
The other claim-to-Bubble-Tea-fame is made by Tu Tsong, owner of the Hanlin Tea Room in Tainan, Taiwan who says he invented “Pearl Tea” in 1986. His inspiration came from white Tapioca balls that looked like pearls in the Ya Mu Liao day market.
He added some of the “pearls” to cold Tea, resulting in the first “Pearl Tea.” When he mixed brown Sugar into his Tapioca Ball recipe the pearl color darkened to black. He began serving his Pearl Tea with both black and white pearls, which delighted his customers.
Regardless of who created that first delicious sweet Milk Tea drink with Tapioca “Pearls” floating playfully atop the foam, some say Bubble Tea has become Taiwan’s most iconic export of the 21st century. Bubble Tea eventually appeared in West Coast American University and College Campus Cafes in the 1990s, arriving with Taiwanese students.
The drink was first only available as a menu item in local Asian restaurants. But Asian American youth in those areas quickly identified with “Boba” as they preferred to call it, and it became an iconic meme for Asian students seeking cultural familiarity away from home. Boba Shops opened in response to the drink’s growing popularity, becoming the Asian American equivalent of American Coffee Shops as community gathering places.
National Bubble Tea Day Activities
- Blow Bubbles……while drinking Bubble Tea, of course. If you are not a Bubble Tea fan, this is for you because you can drink whatever you like and still blow bubbles. Coffee, Tea, Bubbles! And who isn’t fascinated by bubbles?
- If you think Bubble Tea sold in Tea Houses or Shops is too sweet or you are picky about ingredients, this is a good day to experiment with homebrew. The good thing about making Bubble Tea at home is that it is super-easy to make. The basic Bubble Tea recipe is freshly brewed Tea, Milk, a sweetener, usually Sugar or Honey, Ice, and of course those pearly Tapioca Balls. Recipes online are plentiful. Be sure to choose a strong Tea that retains its flavor because the Tea will be diluted with Milk and Ice Cubes.
- Now that you’ve brewed a batch of delicious Bubble Tea to celebrate this trendy sensational beverage, hopefully enough for friends to enjoy, too, you may be asking,” What now?” We say go all-in on the Bubble Tea culture and watch “Boba Life 2: Pearls Gone Wild,” a snappy little video promoting the Taiwanese Bubble Tea culture you can find online. We feel certain there is more where this one came from if you search Social Media sites.
Facts About Those Pearly Boba “Bubbles”
- Are they bubbles, pearls…or Pastry? The chewy Dough Balls called “pearls” that look like bubbles floating in your Boba are a type of fen yuan, a Pastry Dough made with Tapioca commonly used in desserts in Taiwan since the 1950s. Fen Yuan was originally made with Sweet Potatoes.
- Tapioca is a starch extracted from the Cassava Root that is used as a thickening agent in foods instead of Flour and Cornstarch which are more commonly used in the United States.
- To make “pearls,” Tapioca is first milled into Flour that has a fine texture similar to Cornstarch, which is then mixed with boiling Water, kneaded, cut, and rolled into spherical shapes of different sizes.
- Tapioca Balls are called “Pearls” because they traditionally appear almost clear with a sheen when wet. When vendors started using Brown Sugar to make their Fen Yuan “Pearls,” the Pearls took on a dark black color.
- There tends to be a geographical divide over the name used for Taiwan’s iconic beverage in the United States. People on the West Coast refer to the drink as “Boba” while people living on the East Coast prefer to call the drink “Bubble Tea.” Meanwhile back In Taiwan, most people now refer to the popular drink as “Pearl Milk Tea.”3 names. On drink. Means its time to try this iconic drink don’t you think so?
Why We Love National Bubble Tea Day
Most of us are all kids at heart when it comes to bubbles. Sipping icy sweet Boba with “bubbles” floating on top that sink down to the bottom of the glass only to be retrieved and eaten is child’s play for adults. No one can resist the temptation to play with this drink. Can they?
Sometimes we forget that our Country is a melting pot of many amazing cultures whose flavors are blended together while retaining the unique characteristics of each one. The energy that surrounds the Bubble Tea industry is a way for Americans to experience and taste another Country’s youthful culture.
Bubble Tea reminds us that inspiration is everywhere if we make time to take a close look.
Recipe for Boba Tea
1 cup tapioca pearls
2 tea bags
2 teaspoons honey or agave nectar
1/4 cup milk (of choice)
- Bring 3 cups of water to a boil. Add tapioca pearls. Cook until they float to the top; cook an additional 1 minute. Drain; set aside.
- Steep tea bags in 2 cups hot water 5-10 minutes. Fill 2 glass jars or glasses with ice cubes. Pour tea over ice. Stir in honey or agave and milk. Place cooked tapioca pearls in each glass; stir gently to combine. Serve immediately.
Thank you,
Glenda, Charlie and David Cates
