Bubble tea in a variety of flavors from Udon.

It’s sweet and very unique and it isn’t like any other type of smoothie or milkshake people have tried before. It’s something called Bubble Tea. For junior Thong Nguyen, he enjoys drinking Bubble tea and recommends it for people that have not tried it.

“I like how it’s sweet,” said Nguyen. “I wouldn’t drink it all the time but I do recommend it to people that never tried it before, it would be a fun and new experience.”

For those who are wondering what Bubble Tea is, it’s the most common name for endless unusual names of this drink such as: tapioca pearl drink, boba tea, and possibly many other names.

This drink is far from the plain-looking tea many are familiar with and it is hard to explain to the uninitiated. It is non-alcoholic and non-carbonated. The tea is sweet, though it has less sugar than a typical soft drink. There are a huge variety of flavors to try, depending on the tea house or stand you visit. Fruity flavors like watermelon, strawberry, or apple and for more creamy flavors like red bean, coconut, taro, etc. The drink is usually a mix of tea, milk, sugar, and marble sized black tapioca balls. Tapioca balls are consistency like gummy candy.

Here in Lansing there are many places that sell Bubble tea, but there are two popular places that students enjoy. One is a place called Bubble Island on Grand River in downtown East Lansing.  Another popular spot that students don’t know a lot about is Udon, a Korean sushi bakery on Harrison Road just west of East Lansing.

“My friends told me about Bubble Island so I decided to try it out, and it’s a cool place to chill,” said senior Jamele Favorite. “I never heard of Udon’s, but I would love to go try it because some of my other friends love it there.”

Bubble Island just doesn’t sell Bubble tea, they also have fried chicken and mocha ice cream, which is flavored ice cream covered with chewy dough.

“I’ve never had anything that I didn’t like at Bubble Island,” said senior Chase Owens. “My favorite would have to be strawberry and peach smoothie.”

It is a MSU chill spot that college students like to just hang out with their friends.

“I like the overall atmosphere of Bubble Island, it’s a chill place to go play games and hang out with your friends,” said senior Chelsea Sinclair.

Udon sushi bakery, don’t let the name fool those who loves bread. They also sell Korean food like seafood, sushi and Bubble tea with about 30-40 different kind of flavors.

“My favorite creamy bubble tea is taro with black bubbles because it’s a popular flavor,” said junior Phuong Hoang. “I love Udon’s because it’s a fun place to hang out, it’s tight and small but it’s a nice place.”

Everybody has different tastes and have their own opinions on where they like to go and what they like to drink. Comparing the two most popular bubble tea places in Lansing, they are quite diverse.

“I like Udon because you get more varieties of flavors to choose from and the environment is much more active and more fun than Bubble Island,” said senior Ka Xiong.

Depending on the tea house or stand you visit, there are different varieties to choose from but not the same. Bubble Island and Udon’s both sell Bubble tea but they differ in some ways. They both have fruity and creamy flavors but they are far from tasting the same.

Bubble Island has the basic flavors that some people are used to like, strawberry, peach, etc. Bubble tea is self-explanatory, tea with bubbles, but there are some people that don’t like the tapioca balls. Bubble Island also has different types of bubbles you can but in your drink. Mango stars which are mangos cut out like stars, there are jellies which are an Asian fruit called lychee.

“My favorite fruity Bubble tea at Bubble Island is mango slushy with mango stars because I love mangos,” said Hoang.

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