Bubbleology - Rupert St W1

 I am a big fan of bubble tea.  In fact I have written before about Jen Cafe in Chinatown - there is something so cool about wandering around in Summer sipping a sweet iced tea, with rubbery tapioca balls floating in it, through a giant straw (stay with me people).  So it's no surprise really that bubble tea has gone mainstream and there is now a branded chain store specialising in bubble tea - Bubbleology.  There is a concession in Harvey Niks and also a cute store in Rupert St in Soho (just near where Brewed Boy used to be...sniff).  I visited the Rupert St shop today and had a delicious passion fruit tea with tapioca balls and extra flavoured lemon jelly slivers.  Sounds weird right?  It was - but in a good way.  I love bubble tea - I still have a fondness for the old-school Jen Cafe version but I must admit the glitzy, colourful Bubbleology store is pretty cool and the version I had there today was delicious.  My tip - try them both out.

Bubble Tea at Jen Cafe, Chinatown WC2

One of the things I love about Summer in central London is going to Jen Cafe in Newport Place in Chinatown and having a bubble tea.  Sometimes called pearl tea or boba (apparently in LA), this stuff is so weird but so cool.  You can have all sorts of different flavours - tea flavours, fruit flavours, sweet flavours like chocolate, but they all contain rubbery, sticky tapioca balls, which you suck up along with the tea, through extra thick straws.  Trippy huh?  There is so much to see and experience in Chinatown, even if it is relatively small.  I love browsing through the supermarkets like Loon Fung on Gerard Street and what better way to do it than with a bubble tea in your hand?  Once you're done, head to Imperial China on Lisle Street for dim sum.  I have yet to find my favourite bubble tea flavour but the one pictured is pineapple, which was really nice, although be prepared - these babies are really sweet!  My friend Rachel had mint tea, which tasted a bit too much like mouthwash so stay clear of that one...