Bay Area Experience: Chinese Pearl Tea

We (okay, mostly I... Steve works most of the time!) have had a lot of fun experiences since moving to the Bay Area and some of them involve experiencing different cultures.  I thought I'd share one with you... One of the things the BSF crew I hang out with these days likes to do is go out for Chinese pearl milk tea (aka bubble tea aka boba tea) and they have re-introduced me to it (I tried it once in college years ago).  Instead of going to Starbucks after BSF (as we did in Farmington Hills), we go to Verde, a local Chinese tea cafe.  So what is it?  Basically, what I'm going to tell you I have learned from Wikipedia... 

"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 drinks, similar to slushies, are also available, usually in fruit flavors.

One of the famous categories of bubble teas is "pearl milk tea" (also known as "boba milk tea" in parts of America), which contains small chewy balls made of tapioca starch, called "pearls" in Chinese (also known as "fenyuan 粉圆" or "zhenzhu 珍珠"). Pearls made of tapioca are also available in many places."

Let me just say this, I'm not sure about the "tapioca pearls" but the tea is yummy and refreshing.  It's just a creamy, sweet tea... that is sometimes fruity (although I haven't tried the fruity variation yet but need to!).

Here's a photo so you can see what I'm talking about.  Check out the big, fat straw that is big enough for the pearls to be sucked up! (Those dark brown balls at the bottom are the pearls.)

Just in case you're wondering, it has NOT replaced coffee in my life :)  But I will admit that the day these photos were taken I was satisfying my first pearl tea craving!

By the way, Michiganders, can you please send the sun back?  It seems to have left us (though I shouldn't complain because we need the rain!)... hopefully only temporarily.  Then maybe the sun will have the strength to be in both states (and maybe a few in between) all at once!  

So anyway, there you have it, pearl milk tea.  You are now informed.  Come visit and I'll take you for one :)