I’m a big fan of bubble tea and I have noticed that across many bubble tea shops in the western US, while a fairly large 16oz serving has been standardized, there’s little standardization on sugar content. A lot of places ask if I want it half or 25% as sweet, but that’s not a great indication of sugar level or flavor unless I’ve already had tea from that place before. Given that I think most folks can expect a cup o…
Chronicles of a Bubble Tea Addict
21–30 of 108 posts
Re: Chronicles of a Bubble Tea Addict
#22I’m a big fan of bubble tea and I have noticed that across many bubble tea shops in the western US, while a fairly large 16oz serving has been standardized, there’s little standardization on sugar content. A lot of places ask if I want it half or 25% as sweet, but that’s not a great indication of sugar level or flavor unless I’ve already had tea from that place before. Given that I think most folks can expect a cup o…
Re: Chronicles of a Bubble Tea Addict
#23Bubble tea is bizarre. I only recently stumbled upon it on a trip to Bankgkok after a local said "let's get something to drink". I fell in love with it immediately. It's something that has not yet fully permeated Northern Europe, and Helsinki (where I live) has (or had..) one or two places to get it from (pre-pandemic).
You should come to Melbourne CBD in Australia. I can only assume they are being used as fronts to launder money or as a business investment to secure residency as there seems to be no possible way even a city of Melbourne's size could consume this much bubble tea. It's almost at the point where there are bubble tea sellers directly next to each other in the street. And I'm talking dozens, if not hundreds, of them.
Re: Chronicles of a Bubble Tea Addict
#24I love boba and have since my Asian friends in high school introduced it to me years ago. Granted, nowadays when I order "boba" (and say I'm ordering boba) I'm just referring to the tea by itself without the pearls/bubbles/boba. I mostly do this to cut down on sugar, since boba itself just has way too much. Though occasionally when I really am in the mood and I know the shop I'm at makes great boba, I do order it wit…
Re: Chronicles of a Bubble Tea Addict
#25I love boba and have since my Asian friends in high school introduced it to me years ago. Granted, nowadays when I order "boba" (and say I'm ordering boba) I'm just referring to the tea by itself without the pearls/bubbles/boba. I mostly do this to cut down on sugar, since boba itself just has way too much. Though occasionally when I really am in the mood and I know the shop I'm at makes great boba, I do order it wit…
There looks to be one in San Francisco! I'll check it out, I used to live in Chinatown (where I see it on location). Been missing that area for a bit.
The Alishan high mountain oolong from Ten Ren is just about my favorite thing to drink. Little yixing teapot, really starts to shine on the third steeping.
Can't separate the nostalgia from visiting Alishan from the taste of the tea. But it's excellent tea.
Re: Chronicles of a Bubble Tea Addict
#26Re: Chronicles of a Bubble Tea Addict
#27Where i grew up the closest I'd come to an Asian community was the family run Chinese take away in my home town. Consequently I've completely missed bubble tea, and now I'm of the age where I couldn't really stomach that much sugar in one sitting.
Re: Chronicles of a Bubble Tea Addict
#28Bubble tea is bizarre. I only recently stumbled upon it on a trip to Bankgkok after a local said "let's get something to drink". I fell in love with it immediately. It's something that has not yet fully permeated Northern Europe, and Helsinki (where I live) has (or had..) one or two places to get it from (pre-pandemic).
I first tried 珍珠奶茶 at the top of Taipei 101 in 2009, and have always sought it out since. It was a thing in Daegu when I lived there in 2012. In Austria, I was surprised to see McDonalds having bubble tea in mid-2012! It was the popping-bubbles though, not tapioca. I discovered new flavours (e.g. Yakult) in Shenzhen in 2013, and drank it daily in Taiwan from 2014-2018. (not always milk, I'd mix it up with passion fruit, pineapple, grapefruit, whatever else). My favourite way to explore was to ask for "yi yang" - the same as the person before. My favourite was actually NuPasta, then Coco, then Xian Cha Dao, then 50 lan. There was one place where it only cost 30 NTD, but one time I got it without sugar and realised it tasted awful, so after that I realised I should pay 50-70 NTD for slightly better quality.
Unfortunately the Gong Cha and Chatime in Auckland don't accept my loyalty cards from Taiwan :-P
Re: Chronicles of a Bubble Tea Addict
#29Where i grew up the closest I'd come to an Asian community was the family run Chinese take away in my home town. Consequently I've completely missed bubble tea, and now I'm of the age where I couldn't really stomach that much sugar in one sitting.
Re: Chronicles of a Bubble Tea Addict
#30Where i grew up the closest I'd come to an Asian community was the family run Chinese take away in my home town. Consequently I've completely missed bubble tea, and now I'm of the age where I couldn't really stomach that much sugar in one sitting.
You can ask for it with less or no sugar. Not all places do it, but many do.
Here in Singapore some places do hot bubble tea. That one's taste works well without any sugar at all.