Oh, bubble tea

Bubble tea (Photo credit: are you gonna eat that)

First, everyone went through the donut craze, err, phase (although I feel bad that by the time Krispy Kreme  finally opened its doors here, it was at the tail end of the mania), now it's bubble tea. It's crazy - every mall and commercial area has at least one of big chain bubble tea joints (Chatime, Gong Cha, Share Tea, Ochado...). There's usually a long line of people patiently waiting to order their drinks, especially at Chatime. I don't know why.

I get it - the chewy tapioca pearls and miscellaneous toppings and sinkers in the drinks give the orally fixated something to do with themselves while they're out and about. It's also not just pearl milk teas - you can get them black, you can get them fruity and milky... endless possibilities. Also, way cheaper than a frappucino or other angmo ice blended coffee drinks (there, I said it): the price of one Frappucino is the (approximate) equivalent of two bubble tea drinks. You can also customise how sweet and cold your drink is, which a lot of people can get on. I suppose you don't have to pay so much for the swanky mall ones because there's always the pasar malam ones (which has been around way before the swanky ones opened up), but blue-coloured champagne pearl milk tea? Am I the only one that thinks something is not right there?

Me - I admit, I'm sucked into (haha) it to a degree, but I only have a couple drinks a week at most because most of the them are in malls. I only know of one non-mall bubble tea place, and even then I hardly go there on my own volition. I really don't have a favourite bubble tea place, I'm a opportunistic consumer: If there was a long line, I rather go without. If I had a choice between Chatime and some other joint, I go for the latter. If mini pearls are an option I'll take it. While I do enjoy the standard pearl milk tea, but I do enjoy the black/red/green fruit teas too. If I'm anywhere near one at night I get something that's not tea or coffee, even though my tolerance for caffeine is crazy high. I draw the line at fruit flavoured milk teas.

One major niggle I have with some of these chain bubble tea joints is the expiry date on the loyalty cards (you know who you are), which is highly annoying because I don't buy one everyday, there's no bloody way I could get the card filled before the date. I don't like being rushed and pressured to fill the cards up. If I can transfer the stamps to a new card I would be fine with that, but places like bloody Share Tea don't allow that. I hate starting from scratch.

There were more, but because of said expiry dates, I had no reason to keep them..

I'm not sure what will be the next big thing in recreational snacking, but I have a feeling bubble tea might stick around for awhile.

Anyone have a favourite place, or am I the only one that does not discriminate?