October 1st, 2006
What exactly is bubble tea and its history? Well it's very, very popular in many Asian countries and it's rapidly catching on in the West. It has been around since the 1980's when it first became popular amongst schoolchildren in Taiwan. It gets its name from the bubbles created by shaking the tea when making it. The strangest aspect of this tea is that it contains 'balls'! Well to be exact it contains round lumps of tapioca. The balls sit in the bottom of the drink and so you get an effect like bubbles on the top from shaking and bubbles on the bottom from the tapioca.
The thought of a drink with strange lumps in the bottom is difficult for some to accept, but once you try this cool drink it's difficult not to become hooked. The tapioca balls or pearls as they are also known came about as a result of competition between the tea makers to come up with new and more exciting drinks. The tea can be hot or cold and made with many different flavors. The tea is commonly milky, fruity, sweet and cold with pearls in the bottom.
Although the pearls are quite strange they really taste very good, kind of soft and chewy. The drink is served in a clear container so the colorful tea and pearls can be fully viewed whilst being drunk. The pearls can be sucked up through the wide straw, which is also a typical part of bubble tea drinking.
Although the cold fruity drinks are very popular a hot, milky, sweet, black tea with tapioca pearls is also a classic and popular bubble tea recipe. The choice of different flavors is endless and some popular ones include avocado, coconut and strawberry, green tea and passion fruit. Whichever tea you choose you can be sure of one thing and that is you'll be coming back for more!
Look out for a bubble teashop near you soon as the Asian craze is coming west and its heading for a town near you soon! In case it appears in one of its aliases it's useful to know it goes under the names of bubble tea, boba cha, tapioca pearl tea, pearl milk tea, pearl shake, pearl ice tea and boba ice tea.
What is ORiEnTspiration™ Tea Shop?
As you might already have found out, ORiEnTspiration™ has sparked some local interests in tea drinking. Customers come in and have tons of questions about what are the benefits of our teas. At the same time, they come to our menu board and ask about bubble tea. Therefore, in this issue, we are going to answer these questions for you.
Enjoying the benefits from drinking tea is not an overnight miracle. It is like diet and exercise, which take time and effort to see the results. However, this is a habit that is not hard to start. Simply replace your coffee in the morning or soda during meals. One great thing about most of these teas is they can be a chilled beverage. Instead of using sugar as a sweetener, use honey to reduce the sugar intake. Further questions? Come into ORiEnTspiration™ and find out the fun of drinking tea.
Other Tea Facts
According to a newspaper clip on August 28th, 2006 from The Apple Daily, Hong Kong; section 12A, ‘Medicine Online’ is an article of a research that was done by University of London medical school about the benefits of drinking tea.
Three cups of tea each day prevents heart disease
A recent study at University of London medical college indicates that drinking three cups of tea or more has greater benefits than drinking 48oz of water alone.
A British dietician states that drinking tea not only can replace the lost of the body fluid, but can also help prevents some killing diseases such as heart attacks, blood disease and certain kinds of cancer. The study also found that minerals in tea help protect our blood cells and body cells, which is the key to preventing certain kinds of cancer. Three cups or more of tea each day gives the best benefits on preventing both killing illnesses although tea shows faster and greater effects on preventing heart disease than cancer.
