Bubble Tea – A Drink That's Dublin's New Hot Favourite
The bubble tea rage is relatively a new thing for the Western world. Even in Dublin, bubble tea is becoming a much sought-after drink, not just by Asians, but by people of all nationalities. They have started to recognize their newly-found interest in exploring the diverse flavors of bubble tea varieties.
It is not a secret that freshly made bubble tea is readily served at Dublin’s Asia Market. The premier Asian grocery of Ireland has a special counter at its entrance offering a range of bubble tea drinks to its customers.
Before dealing with the bubble tea varieties offered by Asia Market Dublin, let us have a quick throwback on the history of bubble tea drinks in general.
What is Bubble Tea?
Bubble tea is an Asian beverage speciality prepared using a range of ingredients, such as tea base, flavored milk, fruits and fruit juices, sugar, etc. But what gives bubble tea its chewiness, or what makes it literally a ‘bubble’ tea is, in fact, the addition of tapioca pearls (simplistically called the bubbles).
<p >Bubble tea is known in many different names, including boba tea, pearl milk tea, bubble milk tea, or simply boba. Boba is an alternate name for tapioca balls, which is made using tapioca starch, sugar, seasonings, water and jelly giving it the smooth and translucent spherical appearance. Although black coloured tapioca pearls are used in boba tea the most, followed by white ones, they are also available in different colours and sizes. Thai brand Cock’s small tapioca pearls and large tapioca pearls are some examples. Also, you can find a multi-coloured tapioca pearl version from Chinese brand WuFu Yuan.
The bubble tea drink can be of any colour based on the ingredients used. The tapioca balls used in the drink also can be of any color, although black ones are traditionally favoured. It is served in transparent glasses with a straw that has generous width which allows the bobas to go effortlessly into the mouth.
History of Bubble Tea
Bubble tea is of Taiwanese origin, where it was invented in the early 1980’s. The invention of bubble tea drink is often attributed to a Taiwanese beverage visionary named Liu Han-Chieh. Though not enough documentary evidences are available in support of this, the claim of Taiwanese origin of bubble tea is backed up by the presence of innumerous bubble tea stalls in the streets of Taiwan and Hong Kong.
As per the stories, Liu Han-Chieh took inspiration from the Chinese tea culture and the Japanese cold tea serving method to make bubble tea. However, the invention of bubble tea was, in fact, a case of serendipity. If the popular stories can be believed, bubble tea was found when one of Liu Han-Chieh’s employees accidentally dropped a Taiwanese tapioca-based pudding called ‘fen yuan’ into a glass of cold tea and felt it tasted amazing.
The newly found drink became literally ‘viral’ in Taiwan. When other beverage makers and shop owners noticed the drink with tapioca balls are selling better, they also started to add tapioca balls into their drinks, and what awaited Taiwan was something which was not less than a bubble tea revolution. From Taiwan, bubble tea spread to Hong Kong and China, and then to the US, Australia, UK, and Europe.
Types of Bubble Tea
Initially launched as a cold drink, bubble tea later began to be served in hot and cold varieties according to the choice of the people, although cold ones are still the most demanded. Besides, there were many customizations taken place mainly based on the fruit base and fruit juice ingredients. Such variants of bubble tea flavors could be generally a result of the selection of the shop owners and drink makers.Going by the methods, bubble tea can be generally classified into two; the one which uses milk and which doesn’t. There could be subsequent variations possible in both categories based mostly on the fruit flavors and tea bases used. For example, the tea base used in a bubble tea variant can be any tea, such as black tea, green tea, oolong tea, or even white tea.
There is a special bubble variety also added as a topping some times in addition to (or instead of) the traditional tapioca pearls, called popping boba. Popping boba is easily made by a ‘spherification’ method using two health food items, viz, sodium alginate and calcium lactate. They are used in combination with water, and fruit juice to make the perfectly jelly-like popping boba. This product curiously pops open when slightly squeezed, which makes it a favorite ingredient for bubble tea.
Bubble Tea Drink Flavors at Dublin’s Asia Market
As mentioned before, Asia Market’s front-end counter offers a range of bubble tea specialities which are customized according to the taste of the bubble tea aficionados in Dublin. Apart from original flavor, other fruit flavours offered are Mango, Coconut, Strawberry, Creamy Taro, Lychee, Red Bean, Banana, Papaya, and Melon. Matcha, Vanilla, Chocolate and Mocha are some other extra flavours which aren’t fruit-based. These drinks are served hot or cold as per the choice of the customer.
Apart from this, mix and match toppings are also offered. It is not necessary that those bubbles are always tapioca balls. They could be different. You can literally choose from a range of fruit-based bobas, which include lychee popping balls, mango balls, strawberry stars, coconut jelly, coffee cube jelly and passion fruit popping balls.
A list of bubble tea specials at the Asia Market Drury counter is given below from which you can freely choose:
- Paradise Island – Mango and papaya based fruit drink with passion fruit popping balls.
- Purple Prince – Taro and coconut flavor in the drink with lychee popping balls.
- Creamy Beany – Red bean and coconut flavours with regular tapioca pearls as the topping.
- White Lady – Lychee and vanilla blended essence. Topped up with mango popping balls.
- Original Twist – This is the original bubble tea and it comes with caramel egg pudding that sits at the bottom of the drink.
- Matcha Mania – Green coloured matcha drink with coffee cube jellies as the topping.
- Star Struck – Melon flavoured light yellow bubble tea drink. Strawberry star jellies are used as the bubbles.
- Chococo – Chocolate tasting and chocolate coloured drink with coconut jelly topping.
- Moreish Milk – Milky white bubble tea drink with milk and hazelnut syrup as the main flavours. Regular tapioca pearls are added to top up.
- Pina Colada – Pineapple juice syrup and coconut essence are blended well for making pina colada. The yellow colour is complemented with passion fruit popping balls.
- Yin Yang – Original milk tea is flavoured with coffee to make this bubble tea drink. It can be topped up by either tapioca pearls or coffee cubes for an additional twist. The colour is dark brown.
- Coffee Haven – Light brown bubble tea with coffee bean touch. Topped up either with tapioca pearls or with coffee cubes.
Additionally, each of these bubble tea drinks can be topped up by any of the mix ‘n match popping balls offered in the menu. If you haven’t tried it yet, be sure to pop in store to try it!