It’s true you CAN learn something new every day!

This past weekend my tea group went to a New Age Coffee/Tea/ Boutique shop. A very cool place with a great vibe and a fantastic selection of coffees, teas, and they even had Boba drinks!!! It also connected to an Apothecary side, where they had herbs, crystals, and other “new age” books and merch.

Since it was a hot, muggy day, several of us decided to try their somewhat unusual sounding Bubble Teas. Now, we all had enjoyed Bubble Teas before, so we knew what to expect.  But, boy were we surprised with these drinks! These Bubble Teas had what is known as “Popping Boba’s” – which none of us had ever heard of before yet let alone tasted. We were all used to the,  Tapioca Boba (aka pearls/bubbles) in our Bubble Tea.

Popping Boba’s…

Come to find out, are slippery, little fruit flavored balls, that have a thin skin and are filled with fruit juice that pops in your mouth when they are bitten or squeezed. They are made from seaweed extract with fruit juice flavorings such as mango, lychee, strawberry, passion fruit, orange, green apple, cantaloupe, kiwi, pomegranate, cherry, and other seasonal fruits. The main ingredients of the popping bobas include water, fruit juice, sugar, calcium lactate, malic acid, artificial coloring, fruit flavorings, and seaweed extracts which form the outer wall or skin.

Tapioca Pearls vs. Popping Boba’s…

Both are popular it seems, but they differ a lot from each other. Tapioca pearls are chewy while the popping ones quickly pop in your mouth. The tapioca pearls provide a sweet aftertaste as you chew them while the quickly bursting popping pearls instantly add a fun layer of flavor.

They were lots of fun and we passed around the different combinations of tea, fruit syrup and type of fruit flavored popping Boba’s, for all of us to try. My combination was – black tea, raspberry fruit syrup and pomegranate popping Boba’s – YUMMY!!!!!