Zhen Zhu Nai Cha (珍珠奶茶) Bubble Tea / Boba Milk Tea / Pearl Milk Tea

Zhen Zhu Nai Cha (珍珠奶茶) Bubble Tea / Boba Milk Tea / Pearl Milk Tea

 

Zhen zhu nai cha (珍珠奶茶) (pinyin with tone marks: zhēn zhū nǎi chá) is one of the world-famous food of Taiwan. Holding a cup of zhen zhu nai cha walking on the street has gained popularity worldwide, while drinking zhen zhu nai cha is part of Taiwanese’ daily life. After having lunch, during afternoon-tea time, or with the late night supper, drinking zhen zhu nai cha is always the top choice and people have hundreds of reasons for drinking it all the time. That’s why bubble tea shops sprung up all over Taiwan.

Name of Bubble Tea

People used to drink hot tea instead of cold tea in old times. Until 1980s, people put the tea into a cocktail shaker and brewed it. The tea was topped with a thick layer of bubbles, which became popular with the public. Therefore, bubble tea is more like a general designation of cold tea beverage. So “bubble” does not mean the tapioca balls.

The Types of Boba / Pearl

The tapioca balls were used in one of Taiwanese traditional desserts called fen yuan bing (粉圓冰). Fen yuan (粉圓), the tapioca balls, look white, smaller, and tender than zhen zhu (珍珠), the pearls, which are added with caramel to make them sweet and brown. Boba (波霸), dark brown as pearl, has a bigger shape and a chewy and irresistible texture. But people are used to calling pearl and boba “zhen zhu,” unless the bubble tea shop sells pearl and boba at the same time. Nowadays, there is a variety of zhen zhu: some are white color (which are called bai yu zhen zhu 白玉珍珠), others are added brown sugar, still others are stuffed with red bean (which are named as bao xin fen yuan 包心粉圓). Some shops even use yu yuan (芋圓), small taro balls, to replace pearls / bobas.

The Types of Milk Tea

There are also many different choices for milk tea. The traditional milk tea is black tea with creamer. Another popular one is black tea with milk, which is called xian nai cha (鮮奶茶) or hong cha na tie (紅茶拿鐵). Na tie (拿鐵) is the translation of latte, which means milk in Italian. Therefore, you can switch black tea to green tea, oolong tea (烏龍茶), tieguanyin tea (鐵觀音), pu-erh tea (普洱茶), or matcha (抹茶), and make it as “OO na tie” or “OO xian nai cha.” If you do not like or cannot drink milk, you can just choose the tea you like and add pearls or bobas (or you can add both). There is no restriction. So just try and find your favorite bubble tea!

 

「國中的班導、數學老師、歷史老師等，幾乎每一科的老師都有各種名目請過全班喝珍珠奶茶，以至於現在每次喝珍珠奶茶都有國中時代記憶的味道。」——Mosa 回憶

#珍珠奶茶英文

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