Mystery Solved

A few days ago I posted the picture above and asked if people knew what's in the picture. I was surprised that a lot of people knew. Except for you, Paul. I am disappointed. Okay, drinks shown above are originally called Boba (Chinese name). They originated in Taiwan. The black "balls" are actually like tapioca. People in Taiwan generally put them in milk green/black tea. They are chewy and taste a little sweet. As time went by, more and more flavors were invented. People began putting them in smoothies or adding different flavors into the milk tea, such as mango, almond, etc. Some people also put other "chewy" items in the drink, such as coconut extracts or lychee. The black balls are sometimes called tapioca, which is a name that you all white people are familiar with, or pearls, which sounds fancy and gave the vendors a reason to jack up the price. I've also heard people calling them bubble tea, which is completely ridiculous because the drink is really not bubbly. I personally like calling it its original name, boba. My personal favorite is the "semi-sweet iced almond black milk tea with boba" at Cha for Tea. There's one in Long Beach, CA for those of you that plan to visit soon. :-)

Now, you might wonder where the name came from. For those of you who think us Californians calling it boba is weird and strange, here is a history lesson for you. Boba in Chinese literally means "gigantic waves." The phrase boba is almost always used to refer to women with big breasts. When the drinks first came out, the black balls reminded people of the "tips" (sorry, I won't use the other T word to keep this lesson G rated) of those big breasts, and since they are immersed in milk (tea), people decided to call them boba milk tea. That's where the name came from. We Taiwanese and Californians are not weird or strange. We are just PERVERTED!!

So if you haven't tried any boba drink before, I highly recommend you to try it out. The chewy sensation of those balls might weird you out at first, but you will get over it soon enough.