What is bubble tea

From the East the colors of Bubble tea

To hear this name comes immediately to mind some colored American woman who slips into a sweet drink. This is not really the case: bubble tea, also known as "boba" is a special tea that comes from the East, in particular from China and Taiwan, where it was invented about forty years ago.

If you find yourself in some big Italian city and suddenly you see a frightening row of screaming young people and you don't really understand what it is, here you are very likely to have come across one of the Bubble tea shops that are going crazy now also in the West.

Among the most popular you can find the bubble tea matcha, the jasmine or the more classic earl gray.

Bubble tea: here's what "Boba" is

Bubble tea or boba, in practice, is a green tea or black tea shaken together with milk and tapioca pearls, a tuber originally from South America, known for its flour.

It can also be made with yogurt or ice cream and the tapioca pearls are white, but also black or colored, and what they like so much is that they can be eaten, they have a palatine consistency that "explodes" on the palate.

The thing that makes it so artificial are the sweet syrups that end up in the drink, that color them and that have a diversified origin.

Bubble tea is possible at home with more natural ingredients, such as honey, maple syrup or agave juice.

How to prepare bubble tea at home

Can bubble tea be made at home? Of course, just like the even better known Indian chai. The most complicated thing will perhaps be to be able to find the famous tapioca pearls, but with a little luck, looking in the neighborhood's ethnic shop or buying them via the internet, they will find themselves.

The tapioca pearls are then soaked in water for 10 minutes, then they are put to cook for as long in boiling water, continuing to mix gently. Once ready, turn off the heat and let the pearls rest for another 15 minutes in the covered pan before draining them well.

The pearls thus made are kept in the fridge in a fruit syrup or water and sugar, ready to be put into the tea.

The tea, green or black, with a favorite aroma, is prepared as you like, simply by shaking it with milk, ice to taste and pouring it all into a glass with a couple of spoonfuls of pearls on the bottom.