my new love: Bubble Tea

Oh, thank you!

I can't wait to go home on Tuesday!!! AAAAAAAAAAAH! Haha, sorry!

 

Lucky!! 

 

Lucky!! 

Yeah, it's a 4.5-5 hour bus ride for me (with one, 15-minute break)!

PS: i didn't take that picture.  it's from google!  but their bubble tea list is about 15 drinks long

it was Hong Kong Cafe or Cafe Hong Kong right outside the leister square tube station.  it's about 3 stories.

Thanks Amy, I think I need to come to London soon!  Hmmm.

While googling for something else, i ran across this video on how to make bubble tea.  Prior to this thread, i'd never heard of it before, and i still have never seen it served anywhere, but this video explains it all!

http://video.about.com/chinesefood/How-to-Make-Cold-Bubble-Tea.htm

it sounds like something I would have mixed up with friends in the 7th grade when we were home alone, but we would have added ketchup and mustard and paid someone $5 to drink it!

awwww i posted this original thread when i had only been in the UK a wee time (2 months!)

those were the days

I live near Houston, TX and have only ever seen it in Little Saigon (Vietnamese area in west Houston), never in a Chinese restaurant. My daughter had one and loved it.

I love bubble tea!!! I haven't seen it since I've been in London and it's one of those things I really miss because I used to have it two or three times a week before I came here. Now I know where I can find it! Thanks for bringing this thread up again!

i was thinking of trying to make some myself, but have never seen those giant tapioca balls. 

I live in a city with a large Asian community so there are places that sell bubble tea right near me.  I haven't tried one yet and those balls at the bottom kind of scare me.  A friend choked on one once and hasn't been able to drink them since so now I'm paranoid it will happen to me.   

Mmmm, I really love bubble tea.  When I lived in Austin, there was this great Taiwenese café chain that made killer bubble tea of about 40 different flavours.  I recently quested to find some in London with my boyfriend & we found some at China City, up in Colindale.  It's very authentic and totally fresh (we watched the woman slice up and juice the green apples for my SO's drink).  I know there's some places in Chinatown that do it, but we've yet to explore them thoroughly.  However, I did find a little shop that sells green tea cake, my second ethnic love!!

Yum, I love it too, jasmine milk flavored.

i was thinking of trying to make some myself, but have never seen those giant tapioca balls. 

It's not easy.  The friends who got me hooked tried and the balls all went to mush and just ended up in a big blob.

Yum, I love it too, jasmine milk flavored.

Mine too!

ooh, I want one now!

I dunno.

I don't know exactly what you're talking about, but is it like those drinks you can buy with the suspended balls? Don't they taste a bit like ......err......snot?