To name just afew, see HERE for more. Most of these combinations are the cold versions, though I am assured that as winter looms there will be hot varieties (exciting). As well as the main varieties you also have different types of balls which are called fruit pops which are flavoured balls which are full of flavour when you bite into them, cubed jellies such as coconut which I had in my final drink and again they are full of flavour and those tapioca balls which I have already mentioned.
This might not be the first time you have heard of Bubble Tea, apparently in SoHo it is also a popular drink served in many restaurants, but I am assure it just isn't the same and there are three things I picked up from Susan as to why that might be:
- Those Balls that are soft on the outside and chewy on the inside – There is a strict cooking process of 4 hours with Susan, if you leave them for too long they come harder and sticky when they should be glazed in honey or brown sugar and soft enough to eat with a slight chewiness to them. Apparently they also differ in size!
- Well made tea – As there is a skill to making good green and black tea it is all in the brewing. If you leave it for too long it becomes bitter and leaves your mouth feeling strange, almost as though you have burnt the team but on the reverse, if you don't leave it long enough then there is no taste at all – so you should, if the tea has been made correctly, be able to taste the tea even with the flavouring.
- To check the authenticity, check the Taro Bubble Tea – This fascinated me the most, the Taro tea I had was a beautiful lilac colour and it is quite hard to describe the taste, it wasn't too sweet nor was it too bitter it was perfectly inbetween the two which is the best way I know h0w to describe it.
Whilst I was at Yao Yao tea I made my way through a mango and strawberry frappe, a salted caramel tea of the month, a taro tea and the special tea which has been made just for the world cup, though it is very limited edition and the colour, as you can see below is simply amazing and it tastes just like a Caipirinhas but without the alcohol - it is instantly cooling and refreshing and perfect for this weather, but if you want to try it, I urge you to go there right now, because there are just 24 Virgin Caipirinhas available per day. Once they are gone, they are gone!
How much are they? Well a regular size tea is just £3.50 and you can go large for just £1 extra. Frappes are just £4.00.
The only thing I can say Blogger is that if you haven't been - Go, if you haven't tried it - Try it... it was honestly just fabulous and I am so grateful that I had the chance to go, test and drink as well as have Susan on hand to answer all my questions, as well as brainstorm some weird and wonderful flavours that could be introduced - look out for the July special!!
Have you tried Yao Yao Cha yet?