A few months ago while I was in Dragon Mart shopping for the festive season, there came a point when I was just too tired and hungry, but there was no great food in sight. I had my first bubble tea then — a drink I was promised I could substitute for a meal. I gleefully devoured the drink that I could actually chew, and eventually felt full — just what the sales lady had promised. I was delighted at having discovered the magic of black, soft mini balls.
Move over coffee and latte, I told myself, and soon I was hooked on it. My happiness knew no bounds when I recently discovered that the concept has come closer in Dubai Mall. It's been two weeks now since Dubai-based businessman Alex Mir's brainchild Bubbles & Boba began making people's mouths exercise a lot more.
"Get ready, Dubai, to drink and chomp till your jaws get tired yet happy," Mir says. Here is a quick rundown on what is new in town for you.
What is bubble tea?
This is a drink that you can actually eat! Tasting softer than a gummy bear, the balls sink to the bottom of the cup, waiting to be sipped right back up through an extra-wide straw.
Try the original bubble tea, made up of a hot Taiwanese black tea, tapioca pearls, condensed milk and honey bundled deliciously together. It is called milk tea.
Drinks with a hint of peach or plum and fruit flavours with variations as per your choice is served cold or hot. "We serve bubble tea, fruity tea and smoothies," Mir says. "And almost all our products are dairy-free, as we use non-dairy products. Bubble tea represents all the milk-based flavours, such as the original milk tea called the Bubble Milk Tea [traditional Assam milk tea with tapioca pearls], Green Milk Tea [the traditional jasmine green milk tea with tapioca pearls] and other milk teas such as the Taro, the coconut, the chocolate and the honey milk tea."
"These are then shaken vigorously in a mini shaking machine," he adds, "and served immediately after sealing it. The rest is simple. A wide straw is stripped, the cup is shaken, the seal is popped and the sipping begins. You can get the chewy flavour between the sips."
What is tapioca pearl?
Also known as Boba, QQ, Sago, bot nang, singkong, tapioca balls and pearls, these are mini marble-sized chewable balls made up of starch and are extracted from the cassava root.
A little bit of the sugar coating gives them the black colour. But other ingredients can lend different colours as well. These are free of gluten and there is no protein in them.
According to Mir, bubble tea was discovered in the 1980s in the tea houses of Taiwan, but it is a disputed story. Since then, it has become a rage across the world.
Within a very short span of becoming a craze in Taiwan, in Chinatowns throughout the United States, Australia, Canada and in European countries, now it is here in the UAE.
"My wife Honey was hooked to it for seven years," Mir says. "I thought initially that it was just another fad, but then she forced me to taste it. At the very first instance, I was bowled over with the taste. It was then that I decided to bring it to Dubai in its international adaptation."
— Ritu Raizada is a UAE-based freelance writer
