Renee Wants to Know

Brewed

Beverages

At Sharetea in Corneliius.

What is bubble tea and where can you find it?

by Renee Roberson photography by Renee Roberson

My 19-year-old daughter has been a fan of boba tea (also known as bubble tea) for quite a while, although no one else in the house ever really tried it. She was thrilled when she found a shop specializing in it on a visit to New York City, and she breathed a sigh of relief when she saw her future college campus has one just a few blocks away from her dorm.

After a place called Sharetea opened over in the Oakhurst neighborhood across from The Waterman Fish Bar in Cornelius, I noticed she was making trips over there a few times a week and offered to go with her to check it out myself.

So, what exactly is bubble tea? According to a little online research, the tea originated in Taiwan in the 1980s, and migrated over to the United States about a decade later. Boba tea starts with a tea base that is combined with milk or fruit flavoring and then poured over dark tapioca pearls. The tapioca pearls are gluten free and consist of tapioca starch and a brown sugar mixture. The drink is served with a straw big enough to suck the tapioca pearls through.

I was a little surprised at how much my daughter likes this drink, as she’s been known to be picky about food textures. But the more I talked to people around me, the more I realized this drink is very popular. We had to wait at least 15 minutes in the line at Sharetea before we even ordered our drinks. Because I try to avoid milk products, I opted for a fruity drink instead, and got a Passion Fruit, Orange, and Grapefruit Tea. You can choose how much ice you want, the sweetness level, and topping. (I got something called Crystal Boba as my topping). The Crystal Boba were chewy, gelatinous, citrus-flavored pearls included into the drink. I liked that the menu has calories listed along with other nutritional facts.

In between sips I chewed the boba, and I must admit it kept me from sucking down my drink too fast. The fruit tea was just the right level of sweetness and refreshing. My daughter got a Classic Pearl Milk Tea. I learned after we left that I might have been fine trying a drink with a milk base, as it sounds like a lot of restaurants use soy milk instead of regular milk in their concoctions.

I watched to see what other people ordered. There was a Strawberry Ice Blended with Lychee Jelly and a scoop of ice cream that looked popular, along with a non-alcoholic Strawberry Mojito.

I’ve heard that Kung Fu Noodle in Birkdale Village serves bubble tea. And Sharetea has another location in Charlotte on Central Avenue. Pho Ginseng Vietnamese in Huntersville also serves it. Give some bubble tea a try and see what you think!