Because of the increase number of people who have allergies and are intolerable to certain ingredients, some small cafés offer sweetener substitutes such as honey, agave, and stevia upon request. A sweetened fruit drink usually includes crushed-fruit smoothies with tapioca pearls to add fun. These creamed drinks may or may not include tea as its base liquid. Most fruit-flavored cream drink includes powdered non-dairy creamers to 'cream' the drink, but some shops also offer fresh milk, ice cream, soy milk, and/or Lactaid milk as an alternative. Honeydew flavored bubble tea is one of the most popular bubble tea flavors worldwide.īubble teas are generally offered in three distinct ways, a fruit-flavored cream drink, a sweetened fruit drink, or a fruit-flavored tea.

These include different ingredients, like milk, cream, ice cream, shaved ice, fresh fruit, syrup, flavored powders, soy milk, black tea, and/or green jasmine tea. There are many different recipes that each tea shop holds, that makes them stand out from the rest. The drink is made in a variety of ways and has evolved over the decades. The fun of bubble tea comes from the small chewy tapioca balls, also known as the ' pearls', boba, zhen zhu, or 'the chew balls'. Ice-blended versions are usually mixed with more ice, resulting in a slushy consistency. As in the name, most bubble tea drinks contain a tea base mixed with fruit flavor or milk. Bubble tea is also known as pearl milk tea, boba milk tea, boba tea, tapioca tea, boba nai cha, pearl tea, milk tea, bubble drink, zhen zhu nai cha, tapioca pearl drink, momi, momi milk tea, QQ, 'the drink with the fat straw', or any combination above.īubble tea was originally created as a tea-based drink that was invented in the 1980s in tea shops in Taichung, Taiwan.