Anna Mckay shares a recipe perfect for celebrating Chinese New Year
Laura Reynolds reviews the latest arrival to the York cafe scene
Anna Mckay tempts us to break the new year healthy eating streak.
Just 4 days until Christmas..get in the mood with some festive nosh!
Now, however, the latest fad arriving from abroad is bubble tea, which originated in Taiwan as long ago as the 1980s. Recipes vary widely, but it usually consists of a tea base, flavoured with fruit syrup or juice. There are also tapioca beads in the bottom, which, although flavourless, have a chewy, marshmallow-esque consistency. It can be served hot, although it is more common for it to be served as a refreshing ice drink.
I first encountered the idea of bubble tea in London (Camden, to be precise-where else?!), and although I briefly glanced the menu of the bubble tea shop (whose name now escapes me), I wasn’t entirely sure what it consisted of, so kept on walking. A few months latter, several shops under different names seem to have opened across London, and the trend has also spread to the US, particularly California (but of course).
Nathan Blades, The Yorker’s very own Games Editor, is a fan of bubble tea; “I suppose what I dig about bubble tea is the uniqueness of it. To us, it's a weird and new thing... while some of the combinations are incredibly sweet (a chocolate milk tea will taste as saccharine as you'd expect), cooling off in the summer with a lemon & green tea combo was refreshing, and arguably healthier than a large coke”
So will we be seeing a bubble tea cafe in York anytime soon? I’d like to think so; although this trend seems to have been contained mainly in London for the moment, things like this have a tendency to spread like wildfire. Nathan, however, disagrees; “While I wouldn't be craving one during the winter (and the unusual ethnicity of it would probably put off York locals); I definitely wouldn't mind having one around once summer rolls around.”
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