{"id":1792,"date":"2021-08-22T00:40:23","date_gmt":"2021-08-21T23:40:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.qub.ac.uk\/mandarinchinese\/?p=1792"},"modified":"2021-09-03T14:39:45","modified_gmt":"2021-09-03T13:39:45","slug":"bubble-tea-time","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.qub.ac.uk\/mandarinchinese\/2021\/08\/22\/bubble-tea-time\/","title":{"rendered":"Bubble tea time"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

In our ‘International Tea Day<\/a>‘ post, we asked what type of tea you would like to drink and there were two replies:<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Personally, I\u2019m not a tea person, lol, I think I like yogurt and milk more. In China, the younger generations may take bubble tea as their first choice right now. It may be my favorite drink too if I don\u2019t consider calories or my body shape too much.<\/p>– Yang Liang<\/cite><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I love milk tea~<\/p>– shiyu wu<\/cite><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>
\n

So, what is bubble tea, then?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Bubble Tea is the name given to the wide variety of refreshing flavoured fruit teas and milk teas served ice cold or piping hot with chewy tapioca balls that you suck up through a big fat straw!<\/p>Bubbleology<\/a><\/cite><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n


A bubble tea made in Belfast, Image@LiangWang<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n

In Chinese, it is widely known as \u73cd\u73e0\u5976\u8336 (zh\u0113nzh\u016b n\u01cei ch\u00e1<\/em>). \u73cd\u73e0 (zh\u0113nzh\u016b<\/em>), originally meaning pearl, here refers to the pearl-shaped tapioca balls typically used in the recipe. \u5976\u8336 (n\u01cei ch\u00e1<\/em>) means milk tea.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>
\n
\n
\n

Today we’d like to invite Jie Rao (\u9976\u6d01), one of our QUB alumni and fan of bubble\/milk tea, to share her thoughts.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

To be honest, I am one of the bubble girls as I believe drinking it will help me remove all the sorrows and worries, and make me feel relieved for the time being.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n


Jie Rao in front of a vending machine for drinks. Image@JieRao<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n

“Tea?”

In Northern Ireland as well as elsewhere in the UK, when people entertain their friends with a cup of tea, they mean to serve tea with milk and sugar. While this custom differs to the thousand-year-long tradition of tea-serving in China, a new type of tea drink, called bubble tea, or milk tea, has become a fashion among the young Chinese. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

People see it, get it, post a photo of it and others see it.<\/em><\/h2>\n\n\n\n
\"\"<\/figure>
\n

Instead of drinking tea at home or in a tea house, young people nowadays enjoy grabbing a milk tea while hanging out with their friends or just for refreshment. One can very often see bubble tea shops or cafes on streets, with long queues of young faces. It is also trendy that people would like to show their first cup of bubble tea through their social media, partly because of the convenience of sharing function and partly due to the showing-off human nature.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Green tea with cheese and rock salt, Image@JieRao<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n

In fact, bubble tea or milk tea is tea-based drink, very different to the original tea drinking. It tastes milky sweet. Of course, you can choose the ice (\u51b0 b\u012bng<\/em>) and sugar level (\u751c\u5ea6 ti\u00e1n d\u00f9<\/em>) according to your preference. The fundamental difference is that bubble tea has essential toppings to choose, like pearl-sized tapioca (\u6728\u85af m\u00f9sh\u01d4<\/em>), coconut jelly (\u6930\u679c y\u0113 gu\u01d2<\/em>), pudding (\u5e03\u4e01 b\u00f9d\u012bng<\/em>), red bean (\u7ea2\u8c46 h\u00f3ng d\u00f2u<\/em>), taro (\u828b\u5706 y\u00f9yu\u00e1n<\/em>) and so on. Some variants include adding cheese and fruits, and other kinds of tea drinks even goes without using milk.<\/p>\n\n\n\n