I tried making Bubbleology's Bubble Tea at home - and why I probably won't do it again
Bubble tea was something I first saw in New York about 10 years ago, and I didn’t have a clue what it was.
It turns out that it’s a Taiwanese tea-based drink that typically includes tapioca pearls (boba) and milk or fruit flavours. You usually drink it through a straw - wider than usual to allow the ‘bubbles’ through.
It’s exploded in the UK in the past few years, and Bubbleology appears to be the big name. They’ve now released packs to make your own at home. I picked up a single sachet for £2.30 from Morrisons to see how easy - and tasty- it was.
The packet promised a lilac delight, and said ‘Just add milk and ice’. Well, of course when I actually looked at the instuctions, it wasn’t that easy at all. You actually need a plethora of machinery, time and patience. And I only had some of those things.
Firstly, you open the packet and you see a sachet of powder, a packet of brown (!) balls, and a straw. You’re meant to use a blender to whizz up the powder with ice and milk, but I don’t own a working one of those, so there’s an alternative. They tell you to melt the powder in 100ml of warm water, and add 200ml of milk.
Meanwhile, the brown ball gloop has to be microwaved for 40 seconds, and then added into the concoction. The problem is, all of this makes everything hot, and instead of a refreshing tea, I had a comforting, malty, sweet, bed time drink.
It was sweet (and 375 calories), but not offensively so, and it was pleasant. Just not pleasant enough to justify the faff, the mess or the time. The microwave issue also needs to be looked at. Nobody is going to wait for those ‘bubbles’ to cool down.
And the ‘bubbles’ themselves? Weird. Sorry. When I’ve had a bubble tea in the past, including from Bubbleology, the balls are light and burst easily in the mouth. In this case, they’re hard and chewy and almost syrupy in taste. It’s just not what I expected.