In case you guys haven’t heard, there is a big drink craze going on right now. It’s called Boob Tea, also known as Bubble Tea or pearl Tea made of tapioca balls. Boob (Tapioca) milk tea has been very popular in Asian communities for a few years already. The term ‘Boob,” is roughly pronounced in Mandarin it literally meant bubble tea and in my own interpretation of history, I surmise that the name was it just derived from the addition of bubble-like tapioca balls but its common preparation that the bubble tea was made in a cocktail shaker (Went).
They are big, soft, and chewy tapioca balls that sit at the OTTOMH of your boob drink. You slurp the gelatinous balls through a huge wide straw and chew on them while you drink. It’s both a refreshing beverage and healthy snack in one! Boob drinks are great for diets because they are low in calories and filling, like a small meal. It’s quite an interesting experience that you’ll love once you try it. The whole part that you eat your drink, it’s very exciting and enjoyable.
According to Laurel Went, in her research she found that Tapioca comes from the cassava root (also known as yucca, manioc, anodic), which is an essential in Africa and South America. Cassava roots can be bitter or sweet and should be cooked before eating. They are an important source of carbohydrate calories in tropical regions throughout the earth. Tapioca comes from the starch extracted from the cassava root (Went). Also the cold drink made of tea, milk, flavoring and small pearls of the chewy tapioca originated in Taiwan in the early 1 sass. Since then, it has swept Asia and invaded the USA.
Went quoted that the boob drink industry is, “moving from the West to East. At first, only Asian people were drinking it, but now the mainstream is drinking it also. It is sold both as flour and as pearls. The pearls are what give it the bubble look at the bottom of your drink. I personally love boob! I can put it in my milk teas, shakes, iced teas and slashes it is definitely my all-time favorite thing to drink. As went back to my hometown to Los Angels during Veteran’s Day weekend, my friends and I went to get our favorite drinks at Boob Local Coffee and Tea House.
This place is amazing, once you walk in you can feel the relaxing atmosphere, they have colorful walls and some art work hanging up, and they have music playing, gig chairs to sit on, and nice comfy couches to hang out with friends and family to enjoy the refreshing drinks in addition they also have large screen TV’s. In the back room they have a photo booth where you can take pictures with friends or family with your drinks and they will play them on their TV’s throughout the day, that way other people can see how happy costumers are with their drinks.
The customer service at Boob Local is great; all the employees are really friendly and nice and can hold causal conversations with their customers. I’ve had the opportunity to see the owner walk around and ask his customers if everything is Okay. TO me that’s a surprise, but it is a great sign that they care for their customers satisfactions. My friends and have been coming to this place for a couple of years already, I also introduced my family members to boob and they all love it, it never disappoints us.
On my last visit had the chance to interview a young man named Nathan, he has been working for the Boob Local Coffee and Tea House for about two years as a cashier and drink preparer. My first question to him was how much boob is made in a day? Because every time go in, it’s always so busy. He then explain to me the process on making the boob, first they get their boob delivered from their own Boob Local warehouse every morning before opening time, they make about 4-6 batches (pots) depending on how busy it is. Even had the chance to go ‘%Enid the scenes” and the pots they use to cook the boob are huge! Thousands and millions of tapioca balls fit in eat batch. I also asked what time they start to make it so it can be ready; Nathan said that they start making it around 9:30 a. M. Before they open at 10 a. M. He explained to me how it’s cook and the time it takes to make, he said that they boil water in the pots and pour the tapioca balls in and stir it and let it cook for 25 minutes, then they take it off the stove and let it sit for another 25 minutes before straining it and rinsing it with cold water.
They keep making batches all day long so that way the boob is fresh all the time. But then what happens is there is leftover boob? Nathan stated that if it’s a lot of boob left they will keep it stored because it stays good till the next day, if it’s a little left then they just throw it out. Every day the Coffee House gets full of all the different age groups, Nathan states that there is a pretty good range from little kids starting at ages 5 all the way up to about 50+ in adults. Everyone enjoys the delicious boob milk teas, shakes, slashes or just plain coffee.
According to Nathan, the busiest day for them is always Sundays. He believes that it is because it’s everyone’s day off and they just want to go get their favorite boob drink and enjoy their Sunday with family and friends. I was curious to know what their most popular drink was. Or the one that sells the most? Nathan stated that it would probably have to be between Thai Milk Tea or Tapioca Milk Tea, which is one of their classic drinks on the menu. Have tried both of them and think they are great. Wink know why those two drinks would be the most popular, they are classic drinks in the origin of Taiwan, as we know most of us are not very daring to try new different things so we try to stick on the safe side and just drink what we already know is good. Yes, the drinks might taste a little different from other boob places, but by just having an idea of what it can taste like gives us the satisfaction to keep ranking the same thing. As we all know not every customer can be pleased in the food industry. Some people can be very complicated and of course people always make mistakes.
I questioned Nathan on how often do they get complaints about their drinks not being good or the cashier got an order wrong and etc. , he said, “not a lot but every once in a while we do; for example when someone doesn’t like the flavor they ordered or it’s not what they expected it to taste like, but we can always remake their drinks however the customer likes. ” I personally think this is a great way to keep customers, cause although sometimes the employees mess up, they always try to make it up to the customer because they are paying for what they want to drink.
I learned that the Boob Local Coffee and Tea House is a family owned business. They started off by just making boob drinks at home, nothing fancy just simply buying the tapioca balls from their local Asian markets and putting it in their milk teas. As they saw that it started to become a mainstream drink throughout the IS. S, the Korean family decided to open up their local Boob Tea shop. Nathan explained that the family started out at a small place, but hey began to get customers like crazy. Then they moved on to bigger and better, and that is where Boob Local stands at now.
The family has twenty coffee houses throughout Southern California and one in the Bay Area. Their business has transformed numerously throughout the time. You might ask what is so special about Boob Local, than other boob places? Well Nathan spilled out the secret ingredient, honey! Theses right; honey is the so called “secret ingredient” for their delicious, chewy, sweet boob. He explained that the difference about their boob from other places is that they soak the pica balls in honey which gives it a Way better flavor and it is very sweet.
Also by soaking it in honey, the tapioca balls become softer. Nathan says that not many people know about it, and also not a lot of tea houses do it to their boob because that is spending more money on the honey, but he says that in Boob Local they like to go the extra mile for their customers to be satisfied. This caught me by surprise; I would have never guessed the secret of their boob because I just know that love it and it is a lot softer and sweet than other places I have tried. So you are probably thinking if they soak it in honey, what about allergic reactions?
We know that some people are allergic to honey substances. Nathan cleared that question up for me; by explaining that in every Coffee House they have in their menu that their substance contains honey or interacts with it. He said that, so far during his experience Of working at Boob Local he hasn’t had a situation on allergic reactions. Why has boob milk tea become so popular in the U. S? I think people like the texture of the pearls, the eating-your-drink factor and the big neon straws that come in efferent sorts of colors.
I think everyone should get the opportunity to try the amazing boob drinks. You can put the pearls in any type of drink from iced teas to healthy shakes of your favorite fruits. It is not like your regular soda you get from your favorite fast food restaurant, boob tea is creamy, sweet, and you get a little extra something at the bottom of your drink. So when you think that your drink is done, it really isn’t because the little, chewy, sweet, squishy pearls are there waiting for you to eat and enjoy the excitement in your mouth.
