But what ARE those multicoloured, fun looking drinks in takeaway slushie containers with little jewel-like balls floating around the bottom? I often silently pondered this question when spotting the many drinkers about the city on my lunch break, until a friend tipped me off that the beverage trend was courtesy of Easy Way.
This iced tea chain hails from Taiwan with Asian-inspired, tropical flavour combos to match. Though bubble tea - that is, sweetened milky tea with added 'pearl' tapioca balls - is the focus of their menu, they also sell blended ice drinks, smoothies, and chilled black and green tea with injections of fruit flavours.
This streetside edition on the way into Central Station became nothing short of an addiction for me last summer, my old office located just across Belmore Park. My regular order was either the chilled green passionfruit tea with squishy little lychee jellies, or chilled black mango tea with chewy taro pearls. The liquid component is ridiculously sugary, but these massive ice cold treats are easily shared between two people and with extra ice can be watered down to a more palatable level of sweetness. read more