Bubble Tea - The Hungry Nomad

September 5, 2012 No Comments

After making several bakery stops on our Free Tours by Foot- Chinatown Food Tour we replenished ourselves with some bubble tea at Tea Talk.

Tea talk is a bright and colorful place in Chinatown that serves a variety of teas and bubble teas and smoothies. No food. Just drinks.

Unlike other spots in Chinatown, this place was very clean and tidy. It offers wifi making a nice option for people to linger around with their laptops.

Besides tapioca, there is also option of jelly and popping boba. There is both hot and cold bubble tea. Our food guide told us the avocado smoothie was the best on the menu. I always like to order the taro wherever I go especially if they use real taro roots.

The tapioca balls were chewy but consistent. However, I’ve realized as time goes by that I am no longer a fan of tapioca balls and prefer the jelly in my bubble tea. But it was as good as any.

Our group was happy with their drinks and with bubble tea in hand we moved on to the next stop: QT Vietnamese Sandwich shop.

Bubble Tea at Honeydeux (New Orleans, USA)

Ever since I moved down to New Orleans I kept questioning why there were no bubble tea places around. After all, it is a frozen drink and seemed like it would be a great hit down here. Well, I am happy to say that finally one has opened on Magazine street. Honeydeux serves bubble tea in a range of real fruit flavors along with an assortment of asian shaved ice and wraps.

What to look for in a good bubble tea? Do they use real fruits? If so you know its good. This place even uses real taro roots (the purple drink on the bottom) which is ever so delicious. Most places use taro powder rather than the real thing. Next, you should look for a perfect proportion of tapioca balls which are average in size and not overly hard or soft but chewy. My personal favorites are the taro, coconut and honeydeux. I’ll have to go back and try their asian shaved ice which is served with fruits and a scoop of ice-cream on top finished off with condensed milk. Anything with condensed milk makes me happy (in fact I may or may not eat spoonfuls at times for dessert…mmmm condensed milk). Ok. Back to my review…. as you can tell by the pink lipstick below I tried the taro and loved it.

The prices are a bit on the steeper end but I’m thinking its the new trend down here. More competition would bring down prices; unfortunately for us, there aren’t that many bubble tea places around and so you have to pay the higher price. In return however you do get real fruits as opposed to powder.

Tea Talk- Chinatown (Philadelphia, USA)

Bubble Tea at Honeydeux (New Orleans, USA)