Boba for Life

So, when I tried bubble tea for the first time, I guess I just didn't get it. I'm used to hot tea. I didn't understand what the big deal was. I had tried the tapioca balls once and didn't really care for them. So, I never had bubble tea again. Until, I was down visiting with my sisters and niece in Bloomington (Illinois) and my niece invited me to join them at one of her favorite places, Boba for Life.

I was little overwhelmed by all the choices. There was bubble tea. There was bubble milk tea. There were boba slushies. There was boba snow. So there were several varieties as well as coffee - and they had a case of beautiful macaroons (the hot chocolate one was amazing).

So, I wasn't even really sure what bubble tea was. According to Wikipedia, "Bubble tea is a Taiwanese tea-based drink invented in Tainan and Taichung in the 1980s. Recipes contain tea of some kind, flavors of milk, and sugar. Toppings, known as "pearls", such as chewy tapioca balls, popping boba, fruit jelly, grass jelly, agar jelly, alovera jelly, sago and puddings are often added. "

I thought I'd remembered the bubble tea I'd had before as being more like a smoothie and I do love smoothies from some local Asian restaurants. Cantaloupe is my favorite. So, I figured I'd order the snow, which would be similar to a smoothie. They didn't have cantaloupe, but did have honeydew melon, so that's what I tried, which was very tasty. Also, I knew I didn't like the tapioca, but my sisters told me about the juice balls that you can order to go in them. They said that they weren't chewy and were just little balls of liquid that pop in your mouth when you bite into them. So, I tried some of them in my drink - and loved them.

My niece said she often combines flavors when she orders tea. I think hers was a combination of strawberry and lemon. My son was also with us and ordered a mango slushy with some of the juice balls, also, which I got to try. It seemed like it would be especially refreshing in summer. 

So, I'm coming around now and catching on and seeing why bubble tea is such a popular thing. I'm looking forward to trying it again and trying some different flavors. Boba for Life has more than 50 different flavors of fruit tea. If you're in the Bloomington area in Central Illinois, take a little time to stop in and relax and sip on one of their many flavors of teas. For more info, visit bobaforlife.square.site or follow them on Facebook.