Anyone for Bubble Tea?

For a beverage that is thousands of years old, it is unusual for a new fashion to emerge, but over the last few years tea has received a form of re-branding in the west by importing something, appropriately enough from the east. Anyone for Bubble Tea?

Bubble tea has been around in the Far East since the late 1980s but has taken a long time to reach the west, but now has become extremely popular with the young and trendy. Originally it was a Taiwanese recipe that blended a tea base with milk, fruit and fruit juices and then adding the signature ‘bubbles’ that give the drink its name made from tapioca pearls that sit at the bottom.

Bubble tea can be served either hot or cold and always served in transparent cups so that as you sip your drink the ‘bubbles’ shoot up and can be chewed as you swallow the liquid. No one knows who invented the drink, but across China and Taiwan you can visit unique bubble teashops on virtually every street corner.