Pearl Milk Tea

Tea is a very popular beverage. There are many kinds of tea. Green tea, black tea and oolong tea are the three of most common tea in the world, and most people must have had a cup of those tea.

Pearl Milk Tea
Provided by Tracie

There is a very different tea called pearl milk tea. What is pearl milk tea? Actually, it was a combination of black tea, milk and tapioca balls. It was invented by a Taiwanese. In the early 1990s, tea shops were very popular in Taiwan. It’s just like Starbucks or Tim Horton's in Canada.

Bubble Tea
Photo by Jessie Qian

Tapioca Balls
Provided by Smilejean

Tapioca balls is a tradition sweet dessert in Taiwan. They are very chewy and sweet. There were also a lot of shops sell tapioca balls. One day a man was drinking black tea and eating tapioca balls. He thought what if he eat and drink the two kinds of food at same time. Therefore, he mixed two of them, and it worked very well. How did it work? Black tea made tapioca balls taste not as sweet as it was, and tapioca balls were chewy. He also added some milk, so the tea was more smooth. A new sweet dessert was invented. The tapioca balls look like black pearl, so the guy called the dessert "pearl milk tea".