Bubble tea shops are popping up all over the place; in malls, on corners, and anywhere else thirsty teens tend to gather. Bubble tea, also called pearl milk tea or boba tea, originated in Taiwan and has become a worldwide sipping and chewing - phenomenon.

But what is bubble tea anyway? Take a cup, plop in a handful of round, gelatinous pearls of tapioca, top it with brewed black or green tea, mix in some milk, sugar, flavouring, and ice. Then shake it all up, and you've got yourself a bubble tea.(1)

Bubble tea brings a lot of sweet excitement to our taste buds but it is also very harmful to health.

Milk essence is the main ingredient in bubble tea. Ten cups of fresh milk cannot match the taste of a teaspoon of milk essence.The main ingredient of milk essence is hygrogenated vegetable oil, a type of transfat. Experts says that a glass of 500ml of bubble tea a day far exceed the allowable limit of transfat for any person(2grams a day)(7). It will lead to heart and blood vessel diseases.(2)

Milk essence gives the bubble tea the fragrance and make it tasty. The fragrance and tastiness derived from a type of chemical. This chemical has trace of arsenic, lead, copper and many harmful minerals(6).Long term consumption can lead to heart and blood vessel disease, cancer, asthma and other health complications.(5)

Consuming the black bubbles pearls is equivalent to consuming plastic. Normally these bubbles were made from casava (tapioca) powder, which could lead to cyanide poisoning (8). This alone does not give the rubbery texture. To make it more rubbery, millet protein is added. Some “black hearted” businessmen felt that this is still not rubbery enough. so, an artificial plastic powder is added. This type of artificial plastic material will never be digested and absorbed into the body, and bear in mind, plastic is toxic to your body if consumed. It will remain in the body and cause havoc to our health. You can imagine what will happen to your health after prolonged consumption of transfat and plastic!(3) (4)

FOR YOUR HEALTH SAKE, PLEASE ABSTAIN FROM BUBBLE TEA. err....but this week, and today was forth times already. damn! haha~ but I prefer to add pudding rather than choose pearl in my bubble tea. (^______^)

Sources:

(1) http://www.livestrong.com/article/418232-is-bubble-tea-healthy/

(2) http://www.chinapost.com.tw/health/heart/2008/05/16/156703/Bubble-tea.htm

(3) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bubble_tea#Controversy

(4) http://www.whatsonxiamen.com/news20015.html

(5) http://www.chinapost.com.tw/taiwan/national/national-news/2011/05/26/303776/Bubble-tea.htm

(6)http://www.consumerreports.org/cro/magazine-archive/2010/july/food/protein-drinks/what-our-tests-found/index.htm

(7)http://www.heart.org/HEARTORG/GettingHealthy/FatsAndOils/Fats101/Trans-Fats_UCM_301120_Article.jsp

(8) http://www.livestrong.com/article/488622-risks-of-eating-tapioca/