Ode to bōbà nǎichá

波霸奶茶

A beverage rant isn't exactly the grand overture I had in mind for my travel blog, but what better place to start in media res than with my latest addiction?  Bubble tea, pearl milk tea (zhēnzhū nǎichá), boba milk tea (bobà nǎichá), or black pearl milk tea (hēi zhēnzhū nǎichá) ... call it what you want, this stuff is like crack.  It all started with a simple quest to cool down in the Shanghai heat (most days so far have been in the 90s and quite humid).  My first go-to was the ubiquitous ice-blended fruit smoothie, but my fellow intern always sought out "milk tea."  Not being one for tea or coffee (caffeine*), I was hesitant, but being fresh off the plane and in a mood to try anything and everything, I gave it a shot.

I have not looked back.

Pearl milk tea never fails to satisfy with its slight, but not overwhelming, sweetness, its non-dairy-creamer-esque suggestion of milk (I would kill for a cup of cold, fresh, skim milk), and its 1/4" balls of black tapioca that provide slight resistance to the suction of the oversized straw before flying to the top and satisfying the latent oral fixation that even the best of us harbors somewhere deep in his subconscious.

Anyway, most to-go dealers outlets serve the drug drink in a paper or plastic cup with a thin plastic film heat-sealed over the top.  Although many immediately puncture the lid with the oversized straw and begin slurping away, my preferred method is to shake the sealed container until the ice cubes have mostly melted, chilling the drink completely before I enjoy... so straw on the side, please :-)

*Uh oh.  Not as bad as most coffee, but it looks like milk tea contains about 20-30mg of caffeine, compared to 34mg for a 12oz Coke.