The search for the perfect boba

Yesterday I had an almost perfect bubble tea. The liquid was sweet but had a strong tea flavor, the tapioca was flavorful and chewy but not overly so, and best of all, I was really thirsty when I drank it. So why 'almost' perfect? Too much ice. Not only did it reduce the quantity of bubble tea I received, but it made it difficult to get those last few boba at the bottom!

A brief digression for the uninitiated - bubble tea is a drink which can take many different forms but always consists of some type of liquid, mixed with some type of solid, in a plastic cup with a lid and a big straw. The 'classic' would be pearl milk tea, where the liquid is black tea mixed with sweetened condensed milk (or cream), with black tapioca pearls (boba) with diameter slightly less than 1 cm. However, I personally have tasted different kinds of tea, with or without milk; powder-based drinks mixed with water or milk; and fresh fruit drinks. All of these can be made a) mixed with ice b) blended with ice c) hot. The solids generally take the form of pearls, fruit jelly, or pudding. Personally i favor pearls and disfavor pudding.

I recommend trying it at least once. The idea of sucking something solid up through your straw seems strange to begin with, but it can be quite addictive. To wit - my search for the perfect bubble tea! Since moving to Brisbane, I've tried new and exciting flavours at >10 places. I've also used the 'classic' as a standard to rate each place. The quality of pearls is generally uniformly high, but the best and most consistent ones come from EasyWay. However, their milk tea tends to be a bit too milky and sweet for my taste. The best milk tea I've ever had actually comes from an Asian market in Cary, NC. You can watch them mix the ingredients in front of you, and the colour of the drink is darker than most places, so even before tasting you can tell it will have a strong tea flavour. After all, I'm not looking for the perfect tea-flavoured milk!