I took up drinking tea in college (strong and bitter)and that debauchery quickly led to coffee drinking. I did use a strainer or infuser, which is one up on a couple of my friends who just put the tea leaves into their mugs and tried to drink it up before it grew too bitter. Their last swallow was always the worst. Anyway, I’m sure my grades suffered for my vices, but I’m not ashamed of my past. I’m looking ahead.
It’s with a heavy heart that I notice tea-drinking is on the rise at the University of South Florida and apparently other college campuses as well. There are tea lounges with student artwork and occasional Halo competitions. But the worst of it is Bubble Tea.
Bubble tea comes in a variety of forms and flavors. Choices range from more familiar tastes such as green milk tea to more exotic ones such as taro – a tropical vegetable – milk tea. Essentially, it is tea with milk or creamer.
The drinks can be ordered with or without boba – sweet, chewy tapioca pearls that sink to the bottom of the cup. The pearls look like bubbles, giving the tea its name. Though the gummy-bear consistency is strange at first, the little pearls are oddly likeable.
“Almond vanilla milk tea is the most popular,” Nguye said. He said he also recommends mango and peach-flavored slushies.
Taro milk tea, eh? And I sold my soul to Earl Grey.
Every day at work I have a cup of Celestial Seasonings’ Antioxidant Green Tea with lunch. The name sounds medicinal, but it’s actually my favorite tea flavor, within my limited experience. But no milk. No sugar. And no bath oil beads.
I like green tea too. Have you tried the Celestial Seasonings’ green tea with a blend of honey, lemon, and ginsing? Perky with a great flavor.
Sentimental favorite is Twinnings Earl Grey. I feel guilty when I don’t use loose tea in my Blue Willow tea pot. (Using the pot means 6 cups of tea that day, which is pretty standard.)
Coffee is merely a carrier for various flavored sweeteners.
Phil: Yes, I’ve tried the honey, lemon and ginsing green tea from CS. It was good, but I found I prefer the antioxidant.
We’ve moved recently, and I no longer have a place to buy the HyVee house brand green tea, alas. (Much better than Lipton, surprisingly on par with Celestial Seasonings)
Oh, I’ve heard of the tapioca beads thing, but I don’t think it was in tea. It was in a cold drink, and I think carbonated too. My friend and her husband discovered it when they moved to Seattle and he loves it. This particular concoction apparently is sold in teriyaki restaurants there.
I, for one, prefer Earl Grey tea,(or Lady Grey which is the decaffinated version), which some folks I know from Canada think is an abomination.