Indeed, having bubble tea as your best friend could be farthest from your mind. Truth be told, there may not be a more reliable ally you and everyone on the planet can have than the drink that’s quintessentially Taiwan.
Here’s a rundown of what bubble tea can do for you at work or play:
- The drink can energize you when you’re spent.
- Boba can help you deal with stress, allowing a good night’s rest.
- As a nootropic, it can keep your mind sharp when you need productivity the most.
- Best of all, it can lead you to live the best version of yourself for the rest of your life.
- Plus, the drink can give you better chances to connect and drive deep into the foundation of true friendships.
Doesn’t that sound like someone worth keeping? Someone you can go to in times of need? And let the best of you out?
In this post, we’ll show how bubble tea can help you in your most trying times, the best companion you and everyone you love should have through thick and thin. In short, your best friend right from the very first sip. Read on.
How Can Bubble Tea Be Your Best Friend
Are you looking for a true friend? Someone you can always rely on in times of need? Well, fret no more. Bubble tea can be the best friend everyone deserves.
If you’re wondering where the bubble tea craze that caught the world started, know it’s a true blue invention from Taiwan in the 80s. Also called boba, QQ milk tea, or pearl milk tea, bubble tea has been considered Taiwan’s “national drink,” with the island declaring a National Bubble Tea Day every April 30. Today, the island is home of gao shan, widely considered the best high mountain oolong tea on the planet.
In its most essential form, bubble tea equals tea + milk + sugar + tapioca pearls. Of course, we are referring to tea from the leaves of the Camella Sinensis shrub.
IMPORTANT NOTICE: When we talk about bubble tea here, we’re referring to a drink based on a true tea, one coming from the leaves of the Camella Sinensis plant.
So, without further ado, let’s begin:
1. Energize You When You’re Tired
As finite as we are, some time or another, we grow tired. Mental work and facing people can draw out your reserve energy if you're in the office. Even when you’re just doing nothing at home, just scanning your smartphone all day long or watching Netflix, some time or another, you’ll get tired.
Of course, if you lack sleep or have not eaten a full meal for hours on end, being tired is a natural side effect. But if you’re tired more often than usual, you may have to see a doctor as you could be down with a health complication.
The good news is that a glass of bubble tea can pick you up when you lose strength. That’s because the boba drink contains the stimulant caffeine allowing you to stay strong and awake.
Sounds familiar? Caffeine is a natural stimulant that has been mostly identified with coffee. Though coffee may have a more potent dose of caffeine than tea per gram, the caffeine in tea has been utilized earlier than coffee (and is more manageable too). Reason enough of why Buddhist monks as early as the 7th century used tea to stay awake and do a series of meditations all day long.
- In fact, the first brewed tea was recorded in 2737 BC, long before Ethiopians discovered coffee.
Indeed, bubble tea can give you caffeine and the boost you need when you’re tired. Moreover, the drink oozes with carbohydrates that easily convert to energy for the brain and the body.
So, the next time you’re working late or need to finish homework late at night, bubble tea can be the perfect companion you can be with.
If you’re worried about the amount of caffeine in tea, note that it depends on what kind of tea is used as a base in your bubble tea. Here’s a rundown:
| Type of Tea | Nature | Caffeine Content |
|---|---|---|
| Black tea | Most oxidized tea; usually black | 40 to 70 milligrams per eight-ounce serving |
| Green tea | Least oxidized tea; lighter in color than black tea | 35 to 45 milligrams per eight-ounce serving |
| White tea | A green tea that’s least processed | 15 to 30 milligrams per eight-ounce serving |
| Oolong tea | Oxidization level is between black tea and white tea; most diverse tea type | 37 to 55 milligrams per eight-ounce serving |
Table 1: Tea Types and Caffeine Content
Source: Garfield Medical Center data.
So, there you have it. The more oxidized a tea you use, the more caffeine content. With that said, if you want to drink tea in lieu of coffee, black tea is your best bet. Coffee can have as much as 95 to 200 milligrams of caffeine per eight-ounce serving.
Isn’t a friend someone to bring us back to life when we’re tired? Bubble tea surely ticks that box. Let’s move to another key point and discuss how boba tea can be your go-to ally against everyday stressors.
2. Help You Deal with Stress
It’s no secret that stress can put you in a bind. How much it puts you in a quandary may not be fully known, but one thing’s for sure, stress is a top contributor to life-threatening illnesses.
In fact, the relationship between stress and heart attack, asthma, high blood, cancer, and all sorts of deadly diseases has been well-documented. Small wonder stress is dubbed as the #1 KILLER by no less than the US Department of Justice, citing how it puts the body under duress.
The good news is that drinking bubble tea can help you fight the onslaught of stress. Indeed, that’s another most wonderful trait you need from a friend, to comfort you when you’re struggling.
Bubble tea contains L-theanine, an amino acid that has been proven to help reduce stress and improve mood. In short, it brightens your outlook, greatly aiding you in dealing with stress.
A 2022 study has shown that true teas, both black tea and green tea, contain L-theanine. Here’s a bird’s eye view of how much theanine each type of tea harbors.
| Type of Tea | L-theanine Content |
|---|---|
| Black Tea | ~24 mg/200 ml |
| Green Tea | ~8 mg/200 ml |
Table 2: L-theanine Content in True Teas
Source: McGill University
If we are to base our decision on how much L-theanine to consume in a day, we can take a look at supplement bottles which recommends 200 - 400 mg of the compound daily. If we’re to equate that to tea, that would mean 8 to 16 cups of black tea daily or 25 - 50 cups of green tea.
3. Sharpen Your Mind
Now, have you ever been in a situation where your mind failed you? When, for instance, you were asked a question at work, the answer seemed to evade you. It’s just at the tip of your tongue.
Well, a cuppa of bubble tea with all those bouncy tapioca balls at the bottom can be your savior. And fast.
Bubble tea is a nootropic drink. The L-theanine in a true tea can boost your cognitive function. As such, a cuppa can:
- Increase your focus and attention.
- Improves your quality of sleep.
- Promote calm neurotransmitters.
- Modulate the alpha waves of your brain.
In short, bubble tea can sharpen your mental prowess. And one study has proven that to be true.
A group of youngsters was given brain-demanding tasks. The researchers found out that those young participants who took L-theanine could focus better and complete the tasks more efficiently and faster than those who did not. Further, those participants were more active and less tired.
So, next time you face a grueling task or a mentally-draining exam, you know who to turn to. Your best friend is a cuppa of bubble tea. In all its creaminess.
What’s more, the L-theanine you find in boba can effectively fight cognitive diseases. For instance, L-theanine, as many patients realized, can help keep the negative effects of Parkinson’s Disease to a minimum.
If that did not catch your attention, know L-theanine can also have a positive effect against Alzheimer’s Disease. The compound can even increase dopamine production in our body, letting “good mood” circulate.
4. Let the Better Version of You Out
Remember the good times you have had with your friends. Have you not wondered how much our friends let the good times roll and our good side come out? They complement us, bringing our best foot forward.
You can say the same about bubble tea. In fact, the drink’s ability to put the best version of you out could be its greatest come-on.
It’s simple, actually. The drink teems with antioxidants and polyphenols thanks to its true tea content. Antioxidants are vital to fighting the vast damage of free radicals — unstable atoms in the body that is the leading cause of some of the world’s most dreaded diseases. Not to mention aging itself.
Polyphenols are nutrients found in plants that have health-promoting properties. In short, like antioxidants, they stop free radicals in their destructive path.
As a result, you have greater chances of fighting the planet’s killer diseases. Some of these are:
- Heart Disease (claims almost 18 million lives yearly),
- Cancer (claims nearly 10 million lives yearly),
- Diabetes (claims nearly 7 million lives yearly)
Now, imagine how much better a person would be if he’s beaming with health, protected from the onslaught of the planet’s scourge of illnesses. Remember, those three diseases above claim millions of lives every year.
WARNING: Drinking bubble tea without the true teas as a base means you won’t have similar protection in health. The leaves of the Camella Sinensis plant are the secret to bringing forth healthy goodies. So for best results, drink only with these in your cuppa.
Now, isn’t all that wonderful? A cuppa of bubble tea filled to the brim with antioxidants and polyphenols to bring out the best in you. That’s another strong point you should consider the drink as your best friend.
5. Widen Your Circle and Drive Friendships Deeper
Boba became shot up to the top from Taiwan. If you look at the island, it’s puny compared to mainland China, from where the origins of the tea plant have been traced.
So it’s incredible how Taiwan concocted the boba drink and marketed it with great success to the world. Though much marketing work may have been done, the drink itself was key to its success.
- Bubble tea is a most customizable drink with a customer given the option to choose which is his/her choice option.
- The drink became a social media star as Millenials and many young schoolers in America and worldwide flooded their platforms with pictures of their boba experience.
- Bubble tea became the ‘healthy alternative’ to cola drinks.
In time, bubble tea became a social glue allowing people to share experiences and palate adventure over a cuppa. Small wonder it became a hit with America’s college students over time, ushering boba shops everywhere. The same story happened in the United Kingdom too. Pretty soon, the whole world was crazy about a cuppa.
In this regard, you could use bubble tea to bond closer with your colleagues. You bring a health aspect to the experience, widen your circle and deepen relationships, not to mention make everyone you love healthier than ever.
How to Drink Bubble Tea Best
As excellent as bubble tea, you need to be wary about the health consequences of your options in ordering or making one. Note that too much of everything is poison.
Top of the thing you need to watch out for is sugar. Though bubble tea has fantastic health benefits, putting too much sugar in your drink will have health consequences. If you choose to overload, don’t make a habit out of it. Or you can develop diabetes and all sorts of illnesses that flow naturally with too much sugar intake.
Secondly, you need to limit your tapioca balls. With that said, too many glasses of bubble tea daily is also not recommended as you accumulate on the sugar and tapioca balls.
Per se, tapioca balls bring a whole suite of health benefits. In fact, if you want to bulk up right, these balls are spot on.
If you take too many tapioca balls, you could be in trouble. And the truth is, one young girl had found out the hard way. She was hospitalized after taking in hundreds of tapioca pearls that the doctors found undigested in her stomach.
FAQs on Bubble Tea
How much bubble tea is recommended daily?
To maximize the benefits of bubble tea, limit yourself to one to two cups daily. But, no more. Anything in excess is not recommended. Thus, it’s important you limit the amount of sugar per serving.
How much sugar is recommended daily?
American Heart Association (AHA) recommends a limit of 6 teaspoons of sugar for women and nine teaspoons for men. That’s 100 calories and 150 calories per day, respectively.
Is it alright to drink bubble tea before bed?
Bubble tea is not recommended before bed due to the caffeine content in the drink. The L-theanine in bubble tea may calm you, but the caffeine will wake you up. So, you may have trouble sleeping if you drink one.
How do I guarantee I have good ingredients for bubble tea?
You can only guarantee you have quality ingredients to make bubble tea if you buy from reputable sources. Getting your resources from sellers with known offices and established reputations is best.
A glorious example here is the bubble tea components from Oriental Tea Box. Indeed, when dealing with quality bubble tea, you know you've found a best friend for keeps right from the first sip.