Despite bubble tea having landed on our shores from Taiwan around 10 years ago, its something I’d never got around to trying.  I guess I didn’t really get the concept.   However I can report that after sampling it several times recently, I’m beginning to understand its popularity.

Easy Way Tea is probably the most recognisable ‘bubble tea’ place, they are a franchise with 38 stores in Sydney and 8 in Brisbane with many, many more on the way. As if to prove to me that Bubble Tea is here to stay, a new Easy Way store has even opened in my building!  Each store offers a massive ‘menu’ of teas and are very popular with Asian students.

Now for the uninitiated, Bubble Tea is served chilled and may or may not contain any actual tea.  It’s fairly sweet and there are a dizzying number of options to choose from.  At Easy Way they divide their offerings into Milk Tea, Relish Tea, Blended Ice and Soy Punch.  The term ‘bubble tea’ describes milk tea with pearl tapioca balls added which add an interesting textural highlight to the tea.  The tapioca balls are soft and chewy and sort of soak up the flavour of the tea.  You can also add flavour, sweetness to suit your own taste and even add ice if you wish.  Beside pearls, you can add other toppings such as aloe vera, coconut jelly and fruit jellies.  Tea flavours include lemon, apple, mango and blueberry right through to more exotic flavours like lychee, taro red bean and yaleto (a blend of tea and coffee) Iced coffee, iced chocolate and smoothies are also available.

Your freshly made tea concoction arrives in nifty packaging, with a spill proof seal applied to the cup which you can pierce with the extra large straw – extra large so you can suck up those pearls, aloe vera or jelly cubes.

Worth a visit just for the experience!!

  www.easyways.com.au