Sunday, January 13, 2008

Tea & Tapioca

An unexpected way to serve tea...with tapioca! I first went to Teavana on King Street in Charleston in 2005 and had my first Bubble Tea (iced tea with tapioca pearls floating in it.) Bubble Tea is served over ice and comes with an extra wide straw to suck the tapioca pearls through - the pearls absorb the flavor of the drink and become like tea-flavored gummy bears. Truly strange and kind of fun. Now I am seeing tea & tapioca all over the place, so I know the trend is spreading. The Teahouse on Westheimer in Houston serves iced tea drinks like "Pineapple Gel Green Tea with Cream", "Lavender Green Tea with Gelatin" and "Herbal Jelly Green Tea" - the menu, the drinks, the flavors all seem very comic book to me. After the drink is blended, the cup is literally sealed shut with a graphic plastic disc. I wish I could have stayed longer and tried them all! What was my choice? "Ginger Lemon Green Tea with Tapioca Pearls."

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