About Me:
First, since this is a blog, you’ll probably care about who’s writing it. No, I’m nobody special, I’m definitely no food critic (though I have been told my tastes are expensive), but I am a human being, so I do have biases and opinions. Here’s a brief biography…
I’m a Chinese (with Taiwanese influence) – American , who grew up in a pretty populated Asian community in the 2000s. I went off to college…but you probably don’t care about that other than what I’ve been drinking in the meantime. The key takeaways from my life that are relevant: I’ve been consuming boiled tapioca starch my entire life, and with the growing boba boom it ain’t gonna stop (in the foreseeable future).
Typical drinks I’ll order: Thai Milk Tea, Black Milk Tea, Jasmine Milk Tea, Brown Sugar Milk, Matcha; All with boba, half sugar, no ice 😉 I do enjoy a good fruit drink, but my defaults are milk teas.
About Boba:
I’m no expert but this is what I’ve gathered. Boba goes by many names around the world including but not limited to: bubble (tea), tapioca, pearls, milk tea, chewy balls, among others. What the heck is it?! Nowadays, boba comes in many forms, but basically it’s balls of tapioca starch, usually infused with some kind of sugar (brown sugar, honey etc), that’s boiled and then soaked in more sugar. Then you put them in a milk tea, slushie, tea, juice, whatever. YUM! There’s quite a bit of debate on it’s origin (and I did visit the shop that claims it invented it), but there’s a general consensus that it was born in Taiwan. For whatever reason, it’s super popular now and it’s a hip young people drink now. I can say that because I am a young people. I don’t know if I’m hip though. What I do know is that it’s good.
Note on terminology: For the record, “drink” will exclusively refer to non alcoholic beverages. In my household, I grew up with the word “drink” as a noun to mean a sweet drink, typically referring to a drink made by a boba milk tea joint but can be used for drinks that come from places like Starbucks or such. I do not consume alcohol, nor am I keen on having it anytime soon. For amateur wine reviews, contact my dad.
About “Boba Excursions”:
The phrase “Boba Excursion” originated when I went out with friends to try a new place in town. Now it’s the title of my blog because I can’t wait to try more boba and share it with you all! I wanted a place to document my opinions on boba because I’ve honestly tried so many places, sometimes it’s a little hard to keep each one straight. If at least one person has a positive experience, then I’m happy.