Bubble Coffee

What? Bubble Coffee?

You better believe it. I’ve seen it around NYC but at a place like the Century cafe and Bakery you can have just about any drink made into a Bubble Drink or a “Boba Drink” including the ubiquitous NYC “coffee light and sweet”. Are most Bubble Tea drinkers going to try this one? I doubt it. Coffee drinkers usually don’t want Boba’s in their drink. But it is an interesting and refreshing variety and change of pace. I recommend it when you are in the mood to try something new. Cheers -

NYC Bubble Tea – Strawberry Boba Drink

So many names and so many flavors. The Century Cafe and Bakery in NYC has an incredible selection of Bubble Tea and Bubble Drinks. Some call them Boba Drinks. You can guess the Bubble Tea is made with tea and an infusion of fruit sometimes and of course the black pearls or bubbles. The Bubble Drinks have no tea at all, but they have a fruit blended with ice and pearls added. Try the strawberry bubble tea or bubble drink. Yum.

Fruit Bubble Drinks

There are basically two kinds of bubble drinks. The original is a bubble tea drink made with brewed tea (that’s actually where the name “bubble” came from as in “bubbling tea”). The other basic variety has no tea and it’s usually known as a fruit bubble drink. The “boba” refers to the black tapioca “pearls”. So as these drinks became the rage in Chinatown the names bubble and boba got used interchangeably. As long as the customer and seller understand what is desired, people in the neighborhood really don’t care what you call it.  It has a number of different names in Chinatown… here are a few I know:

• fruit boba drink
• fruit bubble drink
• fruit milk bubble drink
• fruit milk boba drink
• fruit milk bubble tea

Any way you say it the vendor will know what you are talking about. All are served with lots of ice and a big straw to get those tapioca boba pearls that gravitate on the bottom of the delicious beverage. The flavor combination’s are in the thousands because each is made to order and the menu of flavor choices is rather extensive. Ask the preparer for a non-dairy milk substitute if you like, it’s usually available. The Century Cafe and Bakery like most of the big Chinese Manhattan Bakeries does not make their own boba. They get a delivery every morning at around 9:30 AM or so. You can usually order a boba drink at 10:00 AM. One more thing, you can have a coffee boba drink here too !! Don’t forget to click that image two more times to blow it up t oas big as your screen. I guarantee it will make you thirsty for one. Enjoy !!

My first bubble tea

One of the most interesting drinks I’ve ever seen is called “bubble tea”. There are black beads or “pearls” or tapioca in the drink and it is served with a large diameter straw to slurp them. I have never actually seen one of these outside of Chinatown. Bubble drinks are actually more popular in Queens then they are in Manhattan. Bubble tea is really a generic term now as it does not have to be made with tea at all, it can be a fruit drink or a milk drink. I would call this a MUST DO ACTIVITY in New York’s Chinatown and the Century Cafe is a great place to buy one. They are available after 10:00 AM.