How healthy is boba tea?

ASAM NEWS

Walk past many boba tea shops in the San Francisco Bay Area and its common to see a line out the door. The drink is especially popular among young Asian Americans.
While green tea is considered a healthy drink filled with anti-oxidants and anti-inflammatory components, reports indicate that boba or bubble tea may be a different story, according to the Insider.

Bubble tea contains about 300-400 calories due to all the added sugar and syrups added for flavoring, not to mention the tapioca pearls. Boba also lacks any minerals, vitamins or fiber. In fact, calling it “tea” may be a misnomer.

“Bubble tea, however is not just tea … It’s like sugar disguised as tea,” said Bonnie Taub-Dix, a registered dietician to the Insider.

Reader's Digest explained how the bubbles are round pieces of tapioca, called "tapioca pearls," which are made from starch extracted from cassava root, a nutty-flavoured vegetable grown in South America.

Although this could be mistaken for being healthy, the pearls are boiled, before sugar and honey is added for flavor, and thus the "bubbles" alone could have 160 calories per quarter cup serving.

“One of the most popular bubble tea shops generally serves their drinks in 500-ml cups, and they will have 10 or more teaspoons of sugar in them. A 600-ml Coke has about 15 teaspoons of sugar in it, so it’s pretty on par with soft drink.” dietitian Milly Smith said to the Honey Coach.

Both Smith and Taub-Dix agree, traditional green tea is the best choice for tea drinkers.

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