The Black Pearl

Last night I was watching a movie, and wanted a snack. I don't know why I decided to cook some of this up, but I'm glad I did. It's extra large black pearl tapioca (served warm with cane sugar sprinkled on top). Where in the world does one find this you may ask? Well, that's exactly what I thought when I first tried these rubbery balls of goodness floating around in a "bubble tea" in Seattle several years ago. I had never known that there was such a thing.

My sister, Dori and I were hanging around in Seattle one spring, and stumbled across this Asian shop that sold these drinks. Bubble Tea is some sort of liquid (slushie or tea) with these little black pearls at the bottom of the cup. My sister wanted to try this new discovery of ours (saw bubble tea advertised everywhere) , but I passed at first.

"Eww, they look like fish eggs, or eyeballs." I just wrinkled up my nose. During our stay there she had enjoyed many of these cool drinks with the same tapioca. One day I gave in and just really fell in love with the drink. The tapioca was nice and gummy, they didn't taste like much, but were very satisfyingly chewy. If you like that sort of thing!

I was able to have bubble tea a couple times later in Manhattan and here in Colorado Springs.

When I visited her in Houston earlier this year we stumbled across another shop that sold bubble tea. The place was called Chewy Balls! What a funny name huh? They said that their last name was Chew and like the play on words, and that it was a bit naughty. You know how I like those naughty little sort of things! Anyway...I decided that I could make these myself.

Dori and I were out on a mission to find this tapioca. OMG! It was like searching for the Holy Grail I tell you! We did find it in a Vietnamese food market, and I bought several packages and stuffed them in my luggage for my use at home. I would have thought that I could find the black sort in most Asian food stores, but not so. Tapioca comes in many sizes and colors, but the black does seem to be my favorite.

Oh yea, I bought the big-ass drinking straws for when I make my own bubble tea at home.