One thing that has been becoming widely popular in Germany this year is Bubble Tea. ‘’Bubble Tea?’’ You might ask. Bubble Tea or Pearl Tea is a tea drink that originated in Taiwan in the 1980s. It usually contains a tea base (black tea, green tea etc.) mixed with fruit syrup and/or milk, and small chewy tapioca balls, called pearls.
Walking through the city, I noticed that even Rostock has a store selling the said beverage. Though I had heard about it before, I’d never tried it. I found the general concept of Bubble Tea intriguing, and that even though I’m not a particular tea fan, in fact I don’t drink tea at all. But mixed with fruity flavors and iciness (similar to iced tea or a slushie), I thought I’d give it a try. The Store is small and really bright green, so it’s pretty easy to spot. The store is called ‘’Pon Tea’’ and located right in the middle of the Breite Straße. The prices for the products range between about 3 to 6 Euros.
You are given the option of choosing between a variety of tea bases and either a milk or fruit syrup supplement. Afterwards, you are presented with a number of different ‘’pearls’’; everything from the classic tapioca flavor to strawberry to lychee to a bunch of other flavors. You have to bring a minute of your time and the patience to wait though, because the preparation of the drinks takes a little while. For my first Bubble Tea ever, I chose the classical variant green tea/milk with tapioca pearls. The tea tasted somewhat more like ice coffee, slightly sweet and with a hint of caffeine. I found myself rather liking the coffee resembling flavor of the tea but found the taste of the tapioca pearls a bit strange. The consistency of the pearls is similar to that of gummi bears after being left in a glass of water for a day, gooey with a slightly slimy shell and without any flavor.
Overall I was quite prone to the flavor of the tea, but I’m still on the fence about the tapioca pearls. At this point, I would not necessarily repurchase the same drink, but I’m definitely going to try a different kind of pearl flavor to see if I like that combination better.
Bubble Tea is a very peculiar but fascinating beverage that you should at least give a try once before decide for yourself whether you like it or not.