You know anything bout VIETNAMESE\THAI DRINKS?!
what is it made from? is it milk?? does it have suger in it other than the suger from the fruits? you guys like it? I dont want to drink anything with alot of suger, so thats why I didnt even ask. how do they make it?! what the heck are those little black balls in there???
Answers: I had Pha (vietnamese noddle soup) at a resturant earlier, and I saw they have these drinks with the little black "balls" on the bottom, like jelly kinda balls (I think) they have it in many flavors; coffe, banana. strawberry, coconut, pinapple, apple even avacado.
what is it made from? is it milk?? does it have suger in it other than the suger from the fruits? you guys like it? I dont want to drink anything with alot of suger, so thats why I didnt even ask. how do they make it?! what the heck are those little black balls in there???
tapioca. you know tapioca pudding, same thing.
the black tapioca balls come prepackaged in dried form. you have to boil the balls to reconstitute them into chewy morsels. the trick is to boil them for a certain amount of time they become chewy, and not overboil them which would make them soggy.
the better shops will make sure to steep in tea so the tapioca balls have flavor in them instead of tasting like nothing.
here's a recipe on how to cook the tapioca pearls.
http://www.bubbleteasupply.com/index.php...
here's what a package of dried tapioca balls looks like
http://www.barryfarm.com/images/product/...
here is a package of smaller balls that are used in smaller drinks and desserts, especially thai desserts
http://z.about.com/d/thaifood/1/0/P/4/sp...
and here is a package (on the left) with tapioca balls that will turn black when you boil them
http://sweetlifewithmary.com/images/sago...
the black color depends on other ingredients added to it, "Tapioca pearls are black, but can sometimes be found to be white or transparent. Depending on the ingredients of the pearl, the color varies. I've been told that the white and translucent pearls are made of caramel, starch and chamomile root extract. The black pearl includes sweet potato, cassava root and brown sugar, which add the black color."
http://www.bubbleteasupply.com/what.html
to read a history of the tapioca balls, click here.
they originated in taiwan as a gimmick to distinguish your ice tea stand from everybody elses. over time, tapioca balls became popular, and everybody was doing it.
http://www.bubbleteasupply.com/what.html
and here is a list of alternative names for bubble tea.
http://www.bobateadirect.com/Bubble-Tea-...
Pho is yummy and little black balls is black beans. Those things are really sweet (sugar)and i dont think there any fruits in it. It look like there fruits in it but it not. They cook those and cool them and serve with ice.