Pearl milk tea is something that I discovered only after arriving in California. The drink, which at first seems unappealing, is magically delicious. Take some milk tea and add tapioca pearls, and you have pearl milk tea, PMT for short. I took it upon myself to try various places near Stanford and let the masses know what I thought of them.
The Gods of Intermission said I could do this article and then told me, “You must try the Tresidder pearl milk tea! Bwahaha . . . ” On that ominous note, I headed over to the Corner Pocket. I overcame my worries and ordered a standard green milk tea. It was a visual shock; there were weird chunks floating in it, and it was one of the most unnatural colors I have ever seen. Despite this, I took a sip, which caused my tongue cry out in pain. The tea itself tasted like an unholy mixture of sugar and saccharine and distilled grossness. “The pearls may redeem it,” I thought. How wrong I was. The pearls were reminiscent of ass-flavored taffy. After recovering, I realized just how important it was to inform clueless Stanford students about real pearl milk tea. Here, for your pleasure, are some of the bumpinest PMT places in the area.
Black Pearl
Located on California Avenue, Black Pearl gives neat student discounts, and they also have video games, checkers and two big couches. I had a black pearl milk tea and a coconut milk tea. Both were really tasty, tea-wise and pearl-wise. On top of that, they sell other snack food, ramen, scoop ice cream and mochi ice cream. If you’ve never tried mochi ice cream, it is worth a trip over to Black Pearl to taste it. It is ice cream wrapped in mochi, which is a kind of Japanese rice dough. Ice cream in finger food form: How cool is that? On a side note, avoid any of the sucky citrus flavor milk teas. Also, there’s a lot of high schoolers that show up. They irritate me to no end, but they’re definitely a part of the Black Pearl environment.
Atmosphere: 3 stars PMT: 4 stars Other stuff: 4 stars
@live Cafe
This PMT place is located on University Ave. The teas taste good, and they have a large selection, but their itsy-bitsy pearls ruin the beautiful tapestry that is pearl milk tea. They get points for the uber-cool practice of sealing the cup with a lid of cellophane. It is fun to stab the straw through that cover to get at the sweet drink held within. @Live is a good place to go if you have a PMT craving but no way to get to a better place. They have some ice cream if you don’t dig the PMT. The store itself is on the small side, but they have some neat Chinese fashion magazines laying around that provide endless entertainment.
Atmosphere: 3 stars PMT: 3 stars Other stuff: 2 stars
Q-Cup
Q-Cup, in Cupertino Village, wins as my favorite. The store has pop, cartoony decor with techno music. Their selection is huge and cheap, around $2.50-$2.75. The most notable non-PMT refreshment they have are the heavenly crepes. Big, soft, ice-cream-and-other-stuff filled crepes. While my eyes were glued to the crepes, I got a jasmine pearl tea and also tried a coconut milk tea. They both rocked. The pearls are the perfect size, with a good flavor and consistency to boot. On top of all this, Q-Cup seals their PMT with the plastic covering. STAB! Sweet.
Atmosphere: 4 stars PMT: 5 stars Other stuff: 5 stars
Verde Tea House
At Verde on Castro Street, the PMT is comparable to Q-Cup’s. This place gets packed to the brim on weekends and serves some really tasty thick toast with peanut butter. Along with PMT, Verde Tea is bright green inside and stays open late into the evening. It was here that I lost my PMT cherry, so there is a special place in my heart for Verde Tea House.
Atmosphere: 4 stars PMT: 4 stars Other Stuff: 3 stars
Lucy’s Tea House
It’s located in an alley behind Verde Tea House, on Villa Street off Castro. Lucy’s wins the Neat Atmosphere Award. It has mad ambience. Lucy’s has a large stock of board games. I thought it was incredibly fun to play Go while sipping my tea. The Indian milk tea and the Thai milk tea were both tasty. The pearls are also a good size and flavor. Although they do PMT well, their selection is limited. I’d recommend checking out the tea floats, which are PMT with a scoop of ice cream in them. Check this place out, but be warned: the PMT is a steep $4 unless you get it to go, then it drops mysteriously to $2.50. Either you pay more or you miss out on the coolest part of Lucy’s.
Atmosphere: 5 stars PMT: 4 Stars Other stuff: 5 stars
After a whirlwind week of PMT comparison, I think that Q-Cup is my favorite. They do everything right. It is far away, but worth the trip. Lucy’s is the coolest joint to chill at with some friends. Failing that, Black Pearl is still pretty good. I would say that it rocks all right. In closing, try some pearl milk tea but please avoid Tresidder PMT. It hurts.
The magical glory of pearl milk tea
By Shawn Standefe
Tuesday, May 20, 2008
The magical glory of pearl milk tea
Pearl Milk Tea
Pearl Milk Tea (traditional Chinese: 珍珠奶茶; Hanyu Pinyin: zhēnzhū nǎichá; Tongyong Pinyin: jhenjhu nǎichá) also known as Boba milk tea and bubble tea (a name often mistakenly applied; bubble refers to the process by which certain types of pearl milk tea are made, and not the actual tapioca balls) , is a tea beverage that originated in Taiwan in the 1980s. The Chinese name literally translates to pearl milk tea (珍珠 = Pearl; 奶茶 = Milk Tea). The balls are often called "pearls." Drinks with large pearls consumed along with the beverage through wide straws; while drinks with small pearls are consumed through normal straws. Pearl milk tea is especially popular in many East Asian and Southeast Asian regions such as China (including Hong Kong and Macau), Brunei, Malaysia, Japan, the Philippines, Singapore, South Korea, Thailand, Indonesia, Vietnam, and more recently popularized in the United States, Canada, Australia and New Zealand.
Description
Pearl milk tea is a mixture of iced or hot sweetened tea, milk, and often other flavorings. The distinctive characteristics of pearl milk tea are the black gummy balls made of tapioca (or, more commonly in East Asia, yam starch[citation needed]), called "pearls" or "boba" or balls that sit at the bottom of the cup. The pearls are larger than those found in tapioca pudding, with a diameter of at least 6 millimeters, but smaller ones are occasionally used. They are generally translucent brown with a darker brown center, although pearls of other colors or 'jelly cubes' have also recently become available.
The original pearl milk tea consisted of a hot Taiwanese black tea, tapioca pearls, condensed milk, and honey. As this drink became more popular, variations were created. Initially iced versions with a hint of peach or plum flavoring began to appear, then more fruit flavors were added until, in some variations, the tea was removed entirely in favor of real fruits. Today you can find shops entirely devoted to pearl milk tea, similar to juice bars of the early 1990s. They usually contain colored pearls that are chosen to match whatever fruit juice is used, in addition to brightly colored oversize straws for sucking up the pearls.
Pearl milk tea is generally split into two types: fruit-flavored teas, and milk teas. Milk teas may use dairy or non-dairy creamers.
The mixtures that make up Pearl milk tea vary. Several examples of flavors are strawberry, passion fruit, mango, chocolate, and coconut, and may be added in the form of powder, fruit juice, pulp, or syrup to hot black or green tea, which is shaken in a cocktail shaker or mixed in a blender with ice until chilled. The mixture is usually combined with milk and cooked tapioca pearls.
Pearl milk tea bars often serve pearl milk tea using a machine to seal the top of the cup with plastic cellophane. This allows the tea to be shaken in the serving cup. The cellophane is then pierced with a straw. Other cafés use plastic dome-shaped lids. Even fruit slushes and smoothies can have boba added to the drinks.
The "pearls" are made mostly of tapioca starch, which comes from the tapioca, or bitter-cassava plant. In other parts of the world, the bitter-cassava plant may be called manioca or yuca. Cassava is native to South America, and was introduced to Asia in the 1800s. The balls are prepared by boiling for 25 minutes, until they are cooked thoroughly but have not lost pliancy, then cooled for 25 minutes. After cooking they last about 7 hours. The pearls have little taste, and are usually soaked in sugar or honey solutions
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pearl_milk_tea
