2003. The Boba boom generation

Art Culinaire, Spring, 2004 by Ellen Savastano, Carol M. Newman

Choose a street in any Chinatown, USA, and you might notice a beverage in common.

Size up that straw--super, isn't it? The clear plastic cup communicates something slightly uncommon. The viscosity is just sheer enough to exhibit the uncanny. Behold the beads! They are shiny enough to string a necklace. They've just enough spring to be silicon. But they're neither. They are tapioca pearls--shaken, not stirred.

Born in Taiwan in the early '80's, Boba, also known as 'bubble tea' is called precisely this because the tapioca looks and feels like tiny bubbles. The drink has experienced a different sort of universality than coffee. Its quick rise in appeal and purpose is attributed to both fashion and fun. It is unlike a coffee drink, the beverage of essential convention. In fact, part of the "fun" is its literal translation from Taiwanese: "ball explosion" or "large breasts."

Keep out of reach of ad agencies!

Boba was first introduced to the United States about four years ago in 1999, ironically during another sort of ball boom, that of the dot com. The daring drink debuted in California and eventually dribbled east.

If there is anyone familiar with the distinct framework of the drink, it's Ellen Lii. She's Vice-President of Ten Ren Tea Company. Its flagship store sits on Mott Street in New York, the heart of the Asian business district. Lii describes the Boba sojourn as such, "Restaurants in New York City's Chinatown have been serving tapioca pearls in drinks for years, but they weren't professionals at making bubble tea ... like us. We opened (The Tea House) in Chinatown three years ago, and people were immediately familiar with it (the drink). We had lines out the door when we opened. We have those long lines even now."

[ILLUSTRATION OMITTED]

Boba building blocks

Lii continues. "The original Boba is made up of black tea, milk, sugar, ice and tapioca pearls. Our most popular flavors are green and black teas, although we do have a variety of other fruit flavors." Not all Boba, however, is made with tea. Water or milk can substitute." As for other favorite flavorings, Lii says that powder, syrup, fruit purees and fresh fruit are commonly added.

Like many culinary creations, the road to Boba began serendipitously. It starts with tea. The year was 2737 BC: The country, China. The Emperor, Shen-nung. Unbeknownst to him, a leaf from a tea plant (Camellia Sinensis) fell into the Emperor's pot of boiling water. He drank the water and was surprised at the resulting new taste. It's said to have stimulated his mind and calmed his nerves, characteristics that make tea the comforting drink it's been thought of throughout the centuries.

Shen-nung's five minutes of fame lasted much longer. He gained prominence for experimenting with medicinal plants. On a side note, it's reported that the Emperor's cause of death was toxic overdose. (He apparently turned green.)

Don't try this at home, kids.

As the practice of drinking tea evolved to Europe, social critic Marie de Rabutin-Chantal reported in 1680 that the Marquise de Sevigne, was the first to add milk to her tea--not for the reasons one might expect. After one too many of her porcelain teacups cracked from the extreme heat of the tea, she countered the effect by adding a cool shot of milk. Problem solved.

However, adding milk to hot tea wasn't "cool" enough for the throngs attending a single day (of 184 possible days) of the 1904 St. Louis World's Fair. In attempt to drum up business, Richard Blechynden, a tea plantation owner, gave away free samples of hot tea. Those samples sat untouched because of the blistering Midwestern afternoon. Frustrated by sales, Blechynden dropped a few ice cubes into the tea. (According to one account, anyway.)

Fast forward to 1983. Take all of these 'accidents': Emperor Shen-nung's discovery of tea, the Marquise de Sevigne's addition of milk, Blechynden's concept of chilled tea. Blend a few more neoteric sugary additions like simple syrup, fructose or honey and we're up-to-date.

Most recently, Liu Han-Chieh, a Taiwanese teashop owner, thought to add tapioca pearls to tea drinks. Tapioca pearls, with a texture much like gummy bears or Jello-O are the paramount appeal of today's Boba. Shake it up and Boba takes on its emblematic name as the bubbles float to the surface, then eventually fall to the bottom of the cup. Boba has definitely started something: some of the finest restaurants in New York City (featured in this issue--New York's Town and Philadelphia's Salt) use tapioca pearls to finish sauces.

This is one bubble that has yet to pop.