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WHAT IS BUBBLE TEA?
Pearl Milk Tea is a sweetly flavored tea beverage invented in Taiwan. Drink recipes may vary, but most bubble teas contain a tea base mixed with fruit (or fruit syrup) and/or milk. Ice blended versions of the drink are also available, usually in fruit flavors. Bubble teas may contain small tapioca balls or pearls called "boba". Pearls made of jelly are also available in many places.
These teas are shaken to mix the ingredients, creating a foam on the top of some varieties, hence the name.
Bubble tea originated in Taiwan in the 1980s, first spread to nearby East Asian countries, migrated to Canada before spreading to Chinatowns throughout the United States, and then to various trendy college towns along the West Coast.
There are many variants of the drink, depending on types of tea used and ingredients added.
The most popular kinds are "bubble black tea" (泡沫紅茶), "bubble green tea" (泡沫綠茶), and "pearl milk tea" (珍珠奶茶).
A common misconception in its English usage, the name "bubble tea" is often associated with pearl milk tea. However, "bubble tea" simply refers to the shaken or whipped drink base. "Bubble tea with pearls" is a more accurate description of the Taiwanese shaken/stirred/whipped tea containing tapioca pearls. Pearl milk tea (of which "bubble tea with pearls" is a subset), also known as "boba milk tea", can refer to any milk tea commonly used, such as Hong Kong-style milk tea, combined with tapioca balls/pearls.
WHAT IS TAPIOCA?
Tapioca is a starch extracted from the root of the plant species Manihot esculenta.
Pearl tapioca also known as boba is a common ingredient in Asian desserts and drinks such as bubble tea, where they provide a chewy contrast to the sweetness and texture of the drink.
WHAT IS THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN BLACK TEA AND GREEN TEA?
Green tea is a little more bitter than the Black tea, and Black tea has more caffeine than the Green tea. Generally, the milk teas taste better with the black tea, and the regular teas (without milk) taste better with the green tea.
WHAT IS TARO?
Taro is a sweet potato, many say it tastes like cookies and cream.
WHAT IS LYCHEE?
Lychee is a tropical and subtropical fruit tree native to China.
The fruit has a pleasant floral taste and is very sweet. The outside of the fruit is covered by a pink-red, roughly-textured rind that is inedible but easily removed to expose a layer of sweet, translucent white flesh.
WHAT IS LONGAN FRUIT?
Longan is a tropical tree native to Southeast Asia. The longan ("dragon eyes") is named because its fruit, when it is shelled, resembles an eyeball (the black seed shows through the translucent flesh like a pupil/iris).
The fruit is edible, extremely sweet, juicy and succulent in superior agricultural varieties, and apart from ingested fresh, is also often used in East Asian soups, snacks, desserts, and sweet-and-sour foods, either fresh or dried.
WHAT IS RED BEAN AND/OR GREEN BEAN?
Red bean and/or green bean are/is a type of sweet bean. The Japanese like to use it as a paste in their pastries/desserts. The flavor is unique and hard to describe. Some people love it and some hate it.
WHAT IS BLACK SESAME PASTE?
It is hard to describe the flavor of sesame, some may love it and some may hate it. The Chinese like to use a sesame paste in their dessert, it's sweet, if you've never had it, it's hard to describe the flavor to you.
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