Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun An iced drink made from tea and small black balls of boiled tapioca, usually served sweetened and mixed with milk.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun a tea-based sweet drink mixed with fruit juice, syrup and/or milk and other ingredients such as tapioca pearls, of Taiwanese origin

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[Partial translation of Mandarin pàomò hóngchá : pàomò, foam, froth (because the tea, milk, tapioca balls, and honey or other sweetener were originally shaken together to produce a froth before serving) + hóngchá, black tea (literally, red tea) (hóng, red + chá, tea).]

Support

Help support Wordnik (and make this page ad-free) by adopting the word bubble tea.

Examples

    Sorry, no example sentences found.

Comments

Log in or sign up to get involved in the conversation. It's quick and easy.

  • I tried this for the first time recently and it was every bit as weird and wonderful as I'd hoped; like a space-age milkshake. It was a cold, windy, shitty evening. I had taro flavour and I will always remember the sensation of the warm pearls sliding up the thick straw and dissolving on my tongue in a sweet wash of taro.

    I recommend bubble tea to anyone unfamiliar with it.

    October 24, 2007

  • Ooh! I had some last Friday. I had honeydew flavor. Someone I was with had mango, and I got to try that one too. I liked honeydew better.

    Weirdly, I was told there was no milk or cream in it (I have problems with lactose). I'm not sure I believe them, though I had no ... uh ... digestive issues.

    October 25, 2007

  • I think I had milk in mine.

    Funny, I don't have a strong desire to do it again. But I know that when the circumstances are right, the urge will possess me.

    October 25, 2007

  • What is that? Is it like boba tea? I'm so uncultured when it comes to food...

    Edit: Wikipedia tells me they are one and the same. A lot of my friends like that stuff. I think it tastes decent, but the floating blobs are gross.

    October 25, 2007

  • I've not heard it called boba tea before. I wonder if it was served on board Slave 1? And the pearls (or "floating blobs") if you prefer) are kind of icky I suppose, but therein lies the appeal. It's rather an obscene drink, all told.

    October 25, 2007

  • I think Boba is just the brand name of the local company that sells it here. But that's what my friends call it. The strangest drink I've had since Orbitz.

    October 25, 2007

  • I hate the bubbles! They ricochet out of the straw and punch you in the roof of your mouth. Pearls, my ass. *twitch*

    October 25, 2007

  • I admit the floating blobs--we decided they were either adzuki beans or tapioca pearls, or both--were kind of funky-weird, but it was tasty and fun. Like a chewy milkshake.

    October 25, 2007

  • Trivet, this is one of the funniest comments I've seen in a long time. Every time I see it flying by, I crack up.

    *twitch*

    Ha ha!

    October 25, 2007

  • trivet - from what you say about the pearls hitting the roof of your mouth, I hate to say it, but it sounds like you're sucking too hard.

    October 25, 2007

  • haha... thanks for a laugh tonight!

    Orbitz - i drank a bottle of it so fast once on a dare, when I puked all i could do was laugh cause the little balls were still there! .. i guess i kinda snowballed that one..

    Swany

    www.Swany.cc

    October 25, 2007

  • Eew. Eeeeeeew.

    October 25, 2007

  • I (stereotypically) drink these rather often.

    October 25, 2007

  • Ha, sorry trivet but I'm swept away by the epicaricacy of envisioning you being beaten up by bubble tea!

    September 2, 2008