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Lesson Introduction
Your last Chinese dining experience has left you with a little post-traumatic stress, yes, but let us assure you that that toothsome slimy black ball you just sucked up your straw was NOT a fish eye. Or fish egg for that matter. Was it a drink, a food, or an unidentifiable glutinous object? You be the judge. Learn what it is and how to get some gluey goodness in Mandarin in this podcast.
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tezuk says
Great topic. I adore bubble tea. Such a shame that it costs £2.50-£3.00 here in the UK!May 14, 2008
TingLan says
Tapioca is a root starch derived from the cassava, or yucca plant. I've used it in cooking to thicken soup and to make pudding. I haven't seen bubble tea in the mid-western US, but I have had it when visiting the west coast.May 14, 2008
calkins says
Good lesson, it's nice to know how to say 珍珠奶茶. There are quite a few bubble tea shops in Chicago. Small mistake in the Expansion: 我不要冰的，我要热的。 should translate to.... I don't want an iced one, I want a hot one.May 14, 2008
calkins says
Did Clay do the drinking sound effect for this dialogue? If so, his slurp has become quite refined!May 14, 2008
lilywhytelegs says
我喜歡珍珠奶茶. Bubble tea is getting mainstream in Toronto. There are shops in non-Chinese areas and shopping centres. In case you are in Toronto and looking for a 珍珠奶茶 fix. http://www.bubbletease.com/main.htmlMay 14, 2008
sushan says
What about the mighty 饱冰 băo bīng - shaved ice with all kinds of great things piled on top? My chinese ability has been strained to the limit getting my regular fix. Most places where you get 奶茶 also serve 饱冰 băobīng in the summer. Here is my 饱冰 bar vocab so far, besides the fruit. (I usually refuse the 经女果、 tomatoes) 珍珠 zhēnzhū - the pearls 果酱 guŏjiàng - jam 牛奶 niúnăi - milk 酸奶 suānnăi - yogurt 冰淇淋 bīngqílín - ice cream 红豆 hóngdoù - red beans Still trying to figure out green beans and how to refer to the different kinds of jelly....May 14, 2008
Andy says
interestingly no one refers to this as Boba milk tea, which is the Taiwanese name. Boba indeed originated in Taiwan, thus the Chinese here call it 波霸奶茶 because that is the Taiwanese name. Thus 珍珠奶茶 is a regional name to the PRC. unfortunately, the name Bubble tea has been cloned in the English world.... however, here in the States at least on the West coast, it is still called Boba, even by most Westerners. popularity of Boba amongst the Chinese populatino peaked a few years ago and the fad has passed, but it has been slowly spreading to Westerners. but some will balk at calling it 波霸奶茶 since it can also mean "big breasted milk tea"May 14, 2008
Andy says
let me restate, no one in this lesson refers to this as "boba milk tea 波霸奶茶"May 14, 2008
bluemoons says
Is "ng" actually a word??!! Or is that a mistake... ? (sorry, someone teach me how to insert characters!!)May 14, 2008
jennyzhu says
Years ago in Singapore, I saw vendors attach a plastic doll to the pump which makes the tea bubbly. The doll would bounce up and down frantically. Quite quirky.May 14, 2008
jennyzhu says
The pearls kind of look like googly eyes.May 14, 2008
jennyzhu says
bluemoons, 'Ng' is 嗯, which is 'en' in pinyin.May 14, 2008
davett says
我太喜欢喝珍珠奶茶！在哈尔滨珍珠奶茶很便宜，所以我常常喝。May 14, 2008
bryan says
Andy, is it you? You're back! a.k.a. TheABC, 对不对？May 14, 2008
davett says
Tapioca is really useful, I was surprised at how many kinds you can find in China. (Good for thickening pie fillings too!) Oh Jenny, by the time you're done with all your creepy stories about 珍珠奶茶 the sellers will be out of business! I don't think I'll be able to drink that stuff without thinking of frog eggs! HaMay 14, 2008
sophie20461 says
i liked it very much before,but now i don't like it .i don't know why. mabe drink too much haha. now i prefer juice than pearl tea. and green apple juice is my favorite. so deliciouse! heheMay 14, 2008
changye says
I’ve never drunk pearl tea before, although I’ve lived here in China for a relatively long time. To tell you the truth, not a joke, I thought that the drink was made with powder of shells until today. I’ve been fooled by the word “珍珠” in the name.May 14, 2008
misterjess says
Now I have to go to Chinatown and get one this Sunday. Here in L.A. we call it "Boba", I don't know why. Jenny, my son has basically the same feeling that you do about it.May 14, 2008
texastochina says
I found the difference in texture a little odd but the flavor was good. There is a Thai tea that is similar. Anyway, good lesson. I thought of Jenny's experience in the airport seeing Yao Ming last Monday. He was in a little restaurant that I popped into on a whim. There were only 8 tables and it was my first time to see him up close. He seemed very pleasant and the tallest human I can ever imagine!May 14, 2008
elainegu says
Yes, I've always know it as Boba, not bubble tea or pearl tea. At any rate, I miss it as I used to alway stop by for one in SoCal.May 14, 2008
andrewm says
"珍珠奶茶 zhēnzhū nǎichá" and/or "波霸奶茶 bōbà nǎichá". Both of these names are used here, on the east coast of the US. I often drop the "奶 nǎi" because I prefer to drink the fruit flavored varieties of bubble tea such as passionfruit or mango, with green tea and no milk. There's some good information about bubble tea on the wikipedia site at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pearl_Milk_Tea . There are plenty of places in the Washington, D.C. area that sell bubble tea such as 天仁Tiān rén, 好客来 Hǎo kè lái, for example. They're bubble tea shops or stands in most of the large indoor shopping malls that I have shopped in. Many Chinese restaurants also sell bubble tea.May 14, 2008
riceeater says
I enjoy cold tea on a hot day. Lots of those here in Taiwan each summer! But, I could never get used to the shot gun like effect of those zhen zu comming up the straw and hitting the back of my throat.May 14, 2008
riceeater says
"coming" not "comming"May 14, 2008
changye says
Speaking of 奶茶, I’m more interested in traditional 蒙古奶茶 (meng3 gu3, Mongolian milk tea) than 珍珠奶茶. I hear that it is not sweet. On the contrary, they say it is salty! Is there anyone who has tried it before, preferably in a yurt (蒙古包 bao1) on the Mongolian steppe? 蒙古奶茶 http://images.google.cn/images?complete=1&hl=zh-CN&newwindow=1&q=%20%E8%92%99%E5%8F%A4%E5%A5%B6%E8%8C%B6&um=1&ie=UTF-8&sa=N&tab=wiMay 14, 2008
sushan says
蒙古奶茶! Hah, I didn't drink it in such an authentic environment but I had one student from Inner Mongolia last term who kept the stuff in powdered form and gave me a few packets. (His classmates razzed him for bribing the teacher but also told me I would hate it.) The first time I tried it I didn't like the stuff much but the second time it was surprisingly good and comforting on a cold damp Chinese morning. I also liked to drink it with a little piece of dark chocolate.May 14, 2008
wildyaks says
蒙古奶茶好像有一点像藏族酥油茶。 It seems that this Mongolian tea is similar to the Tibetan butter tea. It's also salty and they also add butter. It takes some getting used to, tastes more like a broth. I like it a lot, though.May 14, 2008
trangbabii says
dude, you mean BOBA? ilurvittMay 14, 2008
changye says
Hi sushan and wildyaks, > and gave me a few packets You might perhaps be able to get 蒙古奶茶 tea bags at a department store in China. I’ll have a look at the tea section in a store next time, but I don’t think I can find that 藏族酥油茶 (zang4 zu3 su1 you2 cha2) here in 东北地区 (dong1 bei3 di4 qu1)! Is it fatty?May 14, 2008
ewong says
我很喜歡珍珠奶茶！ 這裡賣的珍珠奶茶都是冰的沒有熱的。 The big straw 是真好玩！中文 "Straw" 怎麽說？May 15, 2008
changye says
Straw 管子 (guan3 zi)May 15, 2008
wildyaks says
Changye and Sushan, 藏族酥油茶is available in packets in many shops in the Wuhouci area of Chengdu. However, I am a bit distrustful of those. I would much rather go into a Tibetan restaurant (and there are plenty in the same area) and order a pot. If you get the Jiarong Tibetan variant - people from the area near the earthquake hit zone - then it is even tastier, because they usually add walnuts to it.May 15, 2008
john says
I drink way too much of this stuff. Could it be related to my weight gain?? :-0May 15, 2008
henning says
First time I hear about this drink. My collegue brought some 奶茶 from his 蒙古-home for us but I haven't tried it yet.May 15, 2008
ewong says
謝謝 changye!May 15, 2008
sushan says
wildyaks, 我住在武侯寺区、 我喝过 tibetan butter tea, 但是我不太喜欢。 很油油、 一点酸。蒙古奶茶 不 相似 的。 I live in the wuhou area and have drunk the tibetan stuff but it is kind of strange - oily and sour. Based on that limited exposure I don't think it resembles the Mongolian drink much. (I will look for the version with walnuts though!) I have another question: if a yurt in Mongolia is a 蒙古包 then what do you call a yurt in Xinjiang (where the Chinespod t-shirt was spotted)?May 15, 2008
hitokiri6993 says
When I listened to the 對話, I was surprised when the girl asked for a hot pearl tea. Here in the Philippines, we only have cold pearl tea. Does the hot one sell as good as the cold one?May 15, 2008
chubbeecheeks23 says
in the expansion for 冰, "牛奶很冰，不能喝" i think 冷 was said instead of 冰? or did i just hear it wrong? =)May 15, 2008
mei9 says
hello! nice lesson.i just want 2 ask what is the name of the song ,that in the beigning of the lesson??????i like it very muchMay 15, 2008
light487 says
I commented on this phenomenon in a conversation about a month ago. The brand we have in Sydney are called "EasyWay" stores from Taiwan. My cousin, who lived in Taiwan for about 4 years, first introduced me to it and I have been intrigued by it ever since. I have never tried it with the "pearls" in it.. because I am scared I won't like it and waste my money.. I don't like weird textures in drinks. I once had one of those Aloe Vera drinks, which had the pearls in it and I had the reaction I thought I would.. it's just too strange for me. I do enjoy the Milk Tea immensely though. I usually get a Sesame Milk Tea, which is sweet and has a unique flavour. They used to have Caramel as well but it wasn't very popular so they removed it from the product list.. I liked the caramel one :(.. Every time I go past the EasyWay store near my work there is a big line of people waiting to be served, mainly Asian people but a lot of westerners too. The only problem with ordering Milk Tea using Mandarin in Sydney is that the people behind the counter expect that you will speak English.. even though they can speak Mandarin.. May be I could try wearing my 请讲普通话 t-shirt and then asking in Mandarin.. still I think the automatic thing people do when they see a westerner is expect them to speak English.. I don't know..May 15, 2008
injun says
this topic is great to help me.May 15, 2008
chillosk says
I had 珍珠奶茶when I went to Shanghai a couple of months ago. Pretty good. Had it in the little coffee shop beside H&M in 淮海路。好喝！ The whole Pearl Tea thing exploded a couple of years ago in the Philippines, to the point that it became like a starbucks phenomenon - little shops popping up like mushrooms everywhere. It was cool for business folk until the market got to saturated and business ended up killing itself. :PMay 15, 2008
lester says
Hi All, In this lesson, Jenny said 冰的means "an iced one". But if you ask for a 冰的啤酒you get a cold one. If you want it iced (on the rocks), you'd say 加冰块儿. I understand that can ruin 啤酒, but I can't fathom how 啤酒 can be made worse (except possibly served warm). http://chinesepod.com/lessons/buying-a-drinkMay 15, 2008
almajors says
There is tons of bubble tea places in Toronto and surrounding areas, particularly Markham and Richmond Hill, around highway 7.May 15, 2008
ewilc773 says
My American friends in Shanghai introduced me to 珍珠奶茶. One of them hated it and said she felt like she was drinking snot balls. Another one loved them and drank one almost every day. Until she joined 珍珠奶茶 Anonymous, that is. She kicked the habit over a year ago.May 15, 2008
evahui says
In Pittsburgh, Pennslyvania, a hot bubble tea (comes in a small pot) costs about $3.50 last year. I haven't had it for a while. The coconut milk tea is my favorite.May 15, 2008
boran says
This was a nice "Upper Newbie" lesson, if there was such a thing. That is, it's a nice transitional lesson between the two levels - Newbie and Elementary. It contained some high frequency language including the formation of multiple questions. The dialog speed was at a Newbie pace. Lately, I noticed some Elementary dialogs being spoken much quicker almost at a conversational pace (see "Not My Fault" and "Hungry Traveler-Hunan"). I wonder if the differences in dialog speed among the Elementary lessons is accidental or done by design.May 15, 2008
kesirui says
Thanks for this lesson! I love bubble tea, now I can say it in chineseMay 15, 2008
frances says
Boran, I was thinking the same thing. The lesson introduced a couple of good vocabulary words, but no grammatical constructions. And, as you said, it was short. On the other hand, some of the Intermediate lessons are starting to be more like upper-elementary. CPod may have decided that the leap between levels was too broad and are re-calibrating all the levels to a slower pace. If so, the advanced students might miss out, but my Chinese is not nearly good enough yet to know. I'm sure that the addition of the new language sites has caused them to spend a lot of time thinking about instructional design, so I can hope that any changes they're making are based on good theory. And they've added the Media section, which is pretty advanced.May 15, 2008
penben says
I noticed some echo in the podcast, particularly when Ken was speaking. Was this a new setup in the recording room?May 15, 2008
molijing says
They recently opened a store that sells bubble tea across my university in Miami, I tried it and I have to say I could only take one gulp before feeling queasy. The texture of those 'pearls' is just too weird for me. It's just wrong!May 15, 2008
darylk says
Boba cha is delicious. There's a Taiwanese milk tea shop about 2 blocks from our house. But I don't drink it very often because I find it very rich. And check out this description of the calories in a single cup Most bubble tea, also known as pearl tea, tapioca tea, boba, milk tea and zhen zhu nai cha, contains brewed black or green tea, tapioca pearls, milk and honey or sugar. Some of them are blended with fruit juice and other flavourings as well. "The amount of calories will depend the size of your cup and also the type of milk bubble tea you order. One source gives the calories for a basic milk bubble tea with tapioca pearls at about 360 calories per 16 oz cup. Rumour has it that 7 pearls are about 100 calories and there are about 30 pearls in a drink. That makes each serving of bubble tea fairly high in calories when you compare it to a cup of regular milk tea which is only 60 calories per cup! So yours may have had 540 calories, being 1 1/2 cups."May 15, 2008
darylk says
I think there's an error in the expansion exercise. Milk is very "bing" not "leng."May 15, 2008
asiababy says
The local news here in Taiwan has been reporting the link to drinks like Pearl Milk Tea and obesity in youth for a month or so. Young people try to lose weight by not eating meals, then drink up to three drinks like this a day. If you drink one Pearl Milk a day for 14 days, you can put on 1kg in body weight. Also, the pearls now contain a lot of preservatives and artificial colorings and flavorings. No more of these milk teas for me!May 15, 2008
frances says
High calorie beverages seem to be getting blamed for obesity all over the world (at least in places where people are getting fat). The idea is that people don't think beverages feel like "real food", so their calories must not matter. This is similar to the mom rule, where food you make for your kids is automatically calorie-free. 珍珠奶茶 defies the definition of beverage as it is. If you took away most of the water and were left with tapioca balls in a tea-flavored sugar syrup, no one would have any difficulty identifying it as a high-calorie desert. High-calorie deserts definitely have their place, but they should be recognized as such.May 15, 2008
kip64 says
I loooooovve pearl tea. Only problem is, it gives me stomach upsets. DARN!May 15, 2008
twowrights says
TO: mai9 The song is called "Breathe In" by Frou Frou from their "Details" album. Great song! Great album! Listen to it and a few others on Myspace while drinking your zhenzhu naicha and I guarantee it will taste even better: http://www.myspace.com/froufrouMay 15, 2008
boran says
frances, I do think it is a good idea to mix up the dialog speed and difficulty at each level in order to provide better transitional support between levels like you said. However, how do newbies know that this is a good Elementary lesson for them? Also, I do dip my toe in the Intermediate pool on occasion so it would be nice to know which ones are "easier". Perhaps, a new piece of meta-data for each lesson indicating its difficulty is needed (a difficulty rating from 1 to 3). That way, I can find the "easy" Intermediates quickly through the search screen.May 15, 2008
boran says
penben, There was something odd about the commentary audio in this lesson. When it first started, I thought I had accidentally downloaded the 32kbps version. The echo is more noticeable when listening through headphones but I think it improved as the lesson went on - or maybe my ears just adjusted to it.May 15, 2008
Cornelia says
Hi, I would love a lesson about zhen1zhu1 - how to buy pearls in Chinese. For me this should be "upper elementary" or "lower intermediate" - I consider boran's suggestion very good! Maybe just two i.o. three sub-levels could be sufficient.May 15, 2008
nuevacarpeta says
Is it possible to prepare this tea at home, using a kind of ready-made mixture? Does anyone know of a place to enjoy this beverage in Germany? (I'm sure the culturally diverse cities like Munich or Berlin must have bubble tea shops.) If you're worried about the high calorie content, why not consider cutting that Starbucks coffee gulped down before rushing to work? ;-) "If you drink one Pearl Milk a day for 14 days, you can put on 1kg in body weight." The thing is, you drink that on top of your usual meals. It's pretty obvious that you gain weight if you increase your daily calorie intake, regardless of what you actually eat. Five additional bananas might yield the same result (and you definitely get rid of diarrhea ;-) ). But I agree, consuming high-sugar/calorie food is probably not particularly healthy. (I think if drank more than a glass of soda* a day, it would give me a heart attack, especially what with the caffeine.) *which I don't drink anyway, I stick with the hot water of my childhood ;-) Ok, I'll quit the pointless rambling alright. Have no intentions of wasting your valuable time. But before that, a few questions: 1. 好啊 appears in the dialogue. When would 啊 be used, and when "呀"? Does it depend on the preceding sound? 2. "绿茶真好喝。" I knew the 是 was superfluous with 很, and judging from this sentence, this seems to be the case with 真 as well. Are there other adverbs etc. that render the 是 obsolete? Are there exceptions? Would a 是 be necessary with the adjective + 死+了? (And is the 了 obligatory?) 3.Windows Vista provides several modes for typing Hanzi. Among these are QuanPin, ShuangPin, ZhengMa. What does that mean, and what are the differences? (My computer literacy does not exceed an elementary level. If my grandchild hadn't coerced me to buy a PC, I would spend my time knitting jumpers instead of learning Mandarin.) I hope I'm not being too nosy.May 15, 2008
junhui says
I think the "frogs'eyes" are actually sago from the sago palm. They come as white small balls but turn into 'frogs eyes when cooked.May 15, 2008
elee8888cn says
Pearl Tea was originally invented in Taiwan in 1983 and has became one of the most famous branches of the Bubble Tea. It was later introduced to Chinese and US market by a couple of Taiwanese owned cafes. The "pearls" in the tea are made of fenyuan （粉圆）and the big straw used we call it xiguan (吸管). Fenyuan is made of sweet potato powder and has two types - Pearl 珍珠 (regular sized) and Nipple 波霸 (bigger sized). Pearl tea comes with regular straw while Boba milk tea normally comes with thicker straw. For those of you interested in making Pearl Tea at home, please message me and I will forward a couple of original recipes to you. In the meantime, enjoy your Pearl Tea wherever you are in the world ;-)May 15, 2008
amber says
hi nuevacarpeta, 1. 好啊 appears in the dialogue. When would 啊 be used, and when "呀"? Does it depend on the preceding sound? 好啊 (a), 好呀 (ya) - either can be used. Either 啊 or 呀 can be used when the word ends in: a,e,i,o,u 2. You don't need a 是 (shì) with the following adverbs: 很 (hěn)，太 (tài)，真 (zhēn)，非常 (fēicháng) adjective + 死+了 you need the 了 (le), but you do not use 是 (shì) with this sentence structureMay 15, 2008
henning says
CPod Academic Team, this gets creepy. Yesterday evening a collegue and I decided to have a pizza. The place was overcrowded so we continued to a Mexican bar. No seats for us there either. We eventually ended up in a (fairly authentic) Chinese restaurant. But when paying the bill, we didn't get the usual free liqueur but instead...yes, exactly. My very first. This is not the first time that this type of CPod-prophesy-stuff happens. At least I haven't given up that beauty contest yet ;)May 15, 2008
briana says
我也爱奶茶! ^_^ Here in Hawaii it's pretty popular too, but we only drink the slushie ones. I've only seen the hot ones in China, but I was very thankful for that during the COLD Harbin winter! Many of my friends here love bubble drinks, but don't like the tapioca balls, so they just drink it without them! We also put coconut or lychee jellies inside...they're really good! Some of the Dippin' Dots stores sell bubble drinks with dippin dots ice cream on top too. I've only seen it called "Boba" once before (here in Hawaii though, not China!). Interesting to know that it originated in Taiwan。。。I thought it was vietnamese! (My family orders packets of it from vietnam for parties =) hehe) I always thought that "zhen zhu nai cha" was the name for the regular flavored nai cha... i never realized zhen zhu meant pearl >.< is there a name for the regular flavor? i don't like the regular flavor, but i love the other ones! (taro, strawberry, mango, honeydew melon...etc.) --My thai friend was obsessed with the regular one though... =PMay 15, 2008
briana says
哎哟 我的天！！ I just read all those comments about the calories in those drinks!! No wonder I gained so much weight in China!! Oily food plus drinking naicha so often= pang le hen duo hen duo!! Although we have naicha here, I don't drink it everyday like I did in China!! (here it's $3.50 as opposed to 3 kuai) Thank you Darylk for the shocking reality check!! nuevacarpeta: yes you can buy kits to make it on your own at home. They sell them at some stores here, but I doubt they'll have them available in Germany =P My family makes a LOT when we have parties so we order it online. Basically, they send you the tapioca balls, uncooked in an airtight bag, flavored powder, and the cups/straws. You have to cook the tapioca balls and soak them in sugar-water to make them all slimy/chewy and then just put them aside in a container to add before pouring the drink into your cup. The drink is typically water, powder, creamer/dairy powder (we add that to ours), a few spoons of premade sugar/water, and ice. blend it up, and pour into a cup that has a few spoons of tapioca balls in it. And that's it! (i can't believe i never really realized just how sugary it is!!!)May 15, 2008
danjo says
Just this afternoon I had a 蓝莓刨冰 lan2mei2 bao4bing1, the cold drink with crushed ice and a kind of fruit jam mentioned in one of above comments. They are great for the scorching hot summers here. 蓝莓 is the blueberry, and 草莓 cao3mei2 (strawberry) is also quite good. As for hot milk tea, I like Hami melon (哈密瓜 ha1mi4 gua1), strawberry, and sometimes banana (香蕉 xiang1jiao1). I had a peanut butter (花生 hua1sheng1) one the other day which was much better than it sounds.May 16, 2008
sophie20461 says
henning you should try it! 正宗的蒙古奶茶 is very delicious! i like it very much but i never add the oil into it. i can't accept it.May 16, 2008
briana says
sophie... when you say "i can't accept it", do you mean “受不了”？ In the U.S., i believe that a more common way of saying it would be "I can't stand (something or someone)". For example, if you were to say "我受不了她!”, we would typically say "I can't stand her!"May 16, 2008
waiguoren says
Bubble/Pearl tea IS NOT a girls drink!May 16, 2008
maoxian says
elee8888cn, Thanks for the explanation about Nipples versus Pearls (relative ball size). I don't like the texture of the pearls or the surprise you get when you suck one up unexpectedly. And they're very caloric drinks, as other commenters have noted. I agree with Jenny that manly men should avoid drinking girlie drinks. :-)May 16, 2008
mei9 says
TO:TWOWRIGHTS thank you very very much:))May 16, 2008
ewilc773 says
A comment on the dialogue files: I listen to them repeatedly every day on my walk to school, and I have found them to usually be quite clear. But on this lesson as well as "Not on Purpose," I had trouble hearing the dialogue. Compared to other recent dialogues which were just fine ("Paris" and "Hungry Traveler: Hunan," for example), it seemed like the dialogue was too low, and the sound effects were too high. As the buses were whizzing past me on my walk, I was straining to hear 她怎么没来, then got my ears blasted by a cricket! I was a cinema major in college, so maybe I'm just 太挑剔了！May 16, 2008
canadamartin says
One of my fondest memories is making the stop home from work a little tea drinking session. My personal favorite was the pomegranate/green tea combination. Oh yeah, and the BingLang; the red sticky narcotic Betel Nut taxi driver chewing concrete staining cultural glory that fueled the island. Ah, memories...oh yeah, and that Taichung earthquake in 1999, for a prairie boy that was new and different, to put it mildly...May 16, 2008
redandy says
Wow, what a topic! I think in the U.S. just about any city with a discernible Chinese/Taiwanese population has Bubble Tea/Boba/Pearl Tea, if you know where to look. It's quite abundant here in Greater DC but I've also been able to find it in places like Dallas or Houston. One thing though, the Pearls themselves never seem to be quite as good as the ones I've had in Taiwan. They must make them differently somehow over there.May 16, 2008
kribbel says
Jenny, your remark about the 嗯 is VERY important. I know many people who are not aware that these little sounds can have completely different meanings in different cultures. So a Chinese may want to express agreement and the western person understands "maybe", "don't know" or even "Who cares?" - and then may be frustrated. Of course we PODies have heard you using this "ng" or "m" many times. :-)May 16, 2008
jyoung547 says
I agreed with what "elee8888cn" says that "Pearl Tea was originally invented in Taiwan in 1983 and has became one of the most famous branches of the Bubble Tea. It was later introduced to Chinese and US market by a couple of Taiwanese owned cafes..." . Since the Pearl Tea was invented by Mr.Liu Hanjie 刘汉介 in my hometown, Tai (2) Zhong(1) 台中(the biggest city in central Taiwan), and I had had at least 5 tons of all kinds of pearl tea from mid 80's to 2002 (I moved to the U.S. in 2002), I think I have to add a little bit story to the commonly called "Boba" tea (refer to bigger sized bubbles added in the tea). The original meaning of 波霸 Bo(1) ba(4)，is quite a condescending nickname for women who have HUGE breats. The word "波 bo(1)" means "tits" or "boobs" in Cantonese (since it's a nickname from Hong Kong, and Cantonese is the main dialect in Hong Kong area), the 2nd word "霸 ba(4)" means huge or gigantic. Hence "波霸“ actually means "HUGH BOOBS" in Cantonese (now you know why I said it's a condescending word for femals). Why it's from Hong Kong? Why hugu boobs? In late 80's, there was a very famous actress in Hong Kong named "葉子媚 ye(4) zi(3) mei(4)", who was famous mostly because of her 36F cup sized breasts. As you may know, for most Asian women, they tend to have flatter breasts. So, when this Hongkong-nese "Pamela Anderson" type of actress showed up in media, people soon gave her a nickname "波霸“ to compliment on her breasts(sure, there were also all kinds of rumors said that she'd done some plastic surgery to make them that big, but, hey, it was last 80's... and we're not going to discuss this here). Anyway, after the "Pearl Tea" was so popular in Taiwan for a few years, people seemed to get tired of it. Therefore, one bartender at the tea houses in 台南 tai(2) nan(2) (a big city in southern Taiwan) was "inspired" by that actress' popularity, and made some special orders of multi-layered "pearl", "bubble","tapioca" (whichever you'd like to call it), and sold with the also super-sized straw (so you can suck the bubbles up smoothly), tried to make this special tea drink a new life. BOOM! Big success! Then the name "Boba" tea spreaded around the world, people enjoy drinking it without knowing it's actually named after an actress with speical talents. More info on this actress (or if you want to see what she look like), check this link on Wiki: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amy_Yip I can still remember for those years in early 90'sMay 16, 2008
jyoung547 says
p.s.: I personally prefer "Pearl Tea 珍珠奶茶“ though. It is just more elegantly original. I'm so proud of Pearl Tea. Not only it's invented in my hometown, but it has become one of my best dishes when it comes to party time!May 16, 2008
tomtomtom says
Awhile back, boba was huge in Monterey Park; there were shops that specialized in it. Its popularity seems to have sagged, though.May 17, 2008
helenaoutloud says
I didn't read all of the comments above, but I live in the Orlando area and I can find Boba Tea (as we call it here) all over Asian neighborhoods. I've had it a couple of times and it's "not bad".May 18, 2008
misterjess says
I'm as good as my word, I went to chinatown and had 珍珠奶茶。I also had bun bo nuong (真好吃）。between parking and eating and taking my son shopping and donating i figure that 珍珠奶茶 cost over 50美元May 18, 2008
clay says
nuevacarpeta, we have recently covered the 啊 & 呀 (a & ya) on Qingwen. click on the link to hear more about them. http://chinesepod.com/extra/ending-your-sentence-with-%E5%95%8A-%E5%91%80-a-ya/discussionMay 19, 2008
brandonruss says
There are lots of Bubble tea places in Seattle. I have one right across the street that I frequent often. I like it extra chunky, with tapioca and milk pudding. Slurping pudding through a straw is the best.May 19, 2008
redandy says
Believe it or not, on the American version of Iron Chef last night the Chef made bubble tea.May 19, 2008
nourhane says
hi everybody, can someone tell me how to make it, i didn't see it when i was in china, i only saw the cold tea preseved in bottles which wasn't really tasty.???!!!!!!!!!!!May 21, 2008
suburbanite says
Hi nourhane, I suppose the bottle tea might be old or have been pasteurized. So the flavor might be off. There are a number of recipes on the web. I have not tried this one, but it does have a video. I like to compare and see which uses fewer heavily processed ingredients. http://coffeetea.about.com/cs/bubbletea/ht/ht_bubble.htmMay 21, 2008
pab205 says
I hate the sound of that dude gulping. and then going 'ahhhh!'May 21, 2008
entendre1 says
Hey Molijing! I heard about that boba place across from the campus of a Miami U. Which college was it again? I have to get my bubble tea fixes from the Veitnamese restaurant by my house, but I've overdosed on all 6 flavors. Btw, when I lived in SoCal, the Filipinos called it "Sago" instead of Boba.May 21, 2008
user25958 says
Po Ba in SamPa! Well, that´s my favourite idea for refreshing a day. Po Ba (BBT, Bubble Milk Tea, Bubble Tea Drink, Boba, Boba Drink, Boba Nai Cha, Boba Tea, Momi, Momi Milk Tea, Pearl Milk Tea, Pearl Sago Tea, Pearl Tea, QQ Drinks, Tapioca Pearl Tea, T. Tea, Tran Chau, Zhen Zhu Nai Cha) has become very popular here in Sao Paulo/BR and "tapioca" (a beady starch obtained from the root of the cassava,used for puddings and as a thickening agent in cookingis – Portuguese Tupi: typióca: ty, juice + pyá, heart + oca, to remove ) easily found everywhere. One of my fav. Recipes is ( http://video.about.com/chinesefood/How-to-Make-Cold-Bubble-Tea.htm ) 挕 蠍 佷May 24, 2008
tigereye says
May 27, 2008
Does anybody know, whether the Russian word for pearl "zhem chug" is related to the Chinese zhen zhu?
zeerou87 says
May 27, 2008
asking questions sometimes makes you to start thinking about the meaning of something.
for me, as a russian native speaker, was also realy interesting to find out whether the word zhen zhu is related to the word zhemchug.
russian etymology dictionary says that the word "zhemchug" was borrowed from Turkic languages - probably it was ancient Chuvash language which in it's turn borrowed this word from Chinese. so although the process of borrowing was not direct, I'm just wondering how it was managed to save so close-to-original pronunciation in russian! =)
tigereye says
May 27, 2008
Thanks, it would be interesting to find more words with a Chinese origin in the Russian language.
My father, when learning French in Evening school, found it very amusing to see so many French words in Russian: bottle, sausage, beach, ... (the equivalent of which in French).
Maybe there's is more Chinese words as well.
user20941 says
August 21, 2008
I love Pearl Tea. If any of you guys live near Washington D.C go to Teaism.com and find 1 of the 3 restaurants. Their food is extremely good and Zhenzhou Pearls is even better. Its an Asian mix of old and new.
user20941 says
August 21, 2008
if "not bad" is 90% then what would 100% be?
annar says
August 24, 2008
This tea...I must try it... *rubs hands together* but hell, I'd try it even if those ball things were fish eyes.
btw, hi (first post)
light487 says
September 30, 2008
As I am unable to locate a lesson on specifically what I want and my Chinese tutor is on holidays for a week, for the National Day Holiday, I thought I'd ask it here instead. Basically what I am trying to say is: "I would like to buy a large chocolate milk tea with no topping."
I know how to say that I want to buy something.. I know how to say chocolate milk tea.. and I can even leave off the "no topping" bit, then wait for them to ask if I want topping and then simply say "bu yao.." but what I am having difficulty understanding is how to indicate what size I want. This also goes for buying a large coffee.. or a small/medium/regular/large "serving" of anything. And of course putting it all together into an understandable sentence is another thing altogether.. :)
请我想要买巧克力的奶茶。。 qǐng xiǎngyāo mǎi qiǎokèlì de nǎichá.. or something like that.. but how, and more importantly how do I use it with other contexts, do I indicate that I want a large cup of it? Do I simply separate the sentence, rather than trying to cram it all into one sentence like I would in English?.. I guess, also I could separate the adjectives too like: chocolate, large, no-topping; or in the case of coffee: large, white, 2 sugars.
In English I would say: I want a large, chocolate, milk tea with no topping; I want a large, white coffee with 2 sugars. I am just unsure how multiple adjectives work with mandarin.. and where the measure word goes if I need to even use one..
Re-reading through what I just wrote I can see how I could easily end up saying that I want a "large chocolate", a "milk tea", and a "no topping".. haha.. but this is my dilema.. and it has been irking me for a number of weeks but finally decided to ask about it.
sushan says
September 30, 2008
I will give this a shot....you don't need please or I want or the 'de' though it sounds a bit rude translated back to English. If you need to add descriptions it's easier to separate the adj at the end.
巧克力 奶茶、 大 杯子、 不要 (whatever topping is)
Drinks often come in 杯子 (cups) so you order a 小、 中、 or 大 杯子
For portions of food, you ask for
small order: 小份
medium order: 中份
large order: 大份
99% of the time I hear 'fer' instead of 'fen' for portion.
You can say 大份 炒饭, or something like 炒饭, 大份、 加 一点 香菜, 少一点油
light487 says
September 30, 2008
Thanks :) I'll check it out when I get home and can read the HanZi.. the topping is the "pearls" or "jelly".
penhui says
October 27, 2008
I appreciate y'all's dedication to sound effects and all, but the slurping was a bit, um, obtrusive in this lesson. I ended up not listening the second three times.
I barely made it through the first three!
greg11 says
January 16, 2009
I live in LA and it seems to be only popular in the asian areas, like San Gabriel Valley, Monterey Park, Sawtelle Blvd (Where there are many Japanese shops there). I live close to an area where there are alot of Asian Shops. They Have 4 Boba Places within a couple of blocks of each other. I like ZhenZhu Nai Cha but I wish they would have soy milk instead of the non-dairy creamer as that would be much more healthy. I find you can get it that way in a few of the ones in LA, but not many. In Taiwan forget about it.
WIthin the last 2 or 3 years coffee shops are popping up in Taiwan much more than the Boba shops. Boba drinks are highly addicting too like coffee, as it has alot of caffiene. They have Starbucks in Taiwan too and it's just as pricy as LA, but it's still packed with people regardless. Milk Tea is much cheaper in Taiwan too. It's almost the same price as Starbucks in LA.
light487 says
February 26, 2009
Well I was buying this yesterday and I did it almost all in Mandarin.. but what through me off the most was when she told me the price, which she got wrong incidentally.. She was saying "si kuai liu" but I was hearing "si kuai le" so I couldn't understand.. context may be king but in a real-world situation it's not always so simple. The real price was "si kuai" but in any case, it was this that I couldn't catch even after she kindly repeated it for me..
I order a "da bei" (large cup) most of the time.. :) Simply saying "da bei qiaokeli naicha" is enough to get my favourite milktea.. and then a quick "buyao" to the question about whether I want "zhenzhu" takes care of that :)
sebire says
February 26, 2009
Are you off a-travelling yet, Light?
light487 says
February 27, 2009
Less than 3 weeks now! :) 18 days! :) wooot! :)