Growing up in a small city was not always easy for me as a teenager. My friends and I were constantly bored by our hometown and the lack of fun you could have there. The only rare of hope was when we were able to travel to Schwerin, the next bigger and parent approved city. Even though our time was limited there, (most of us had to be home by 7pm.) we always made the best out of it and found crazy and unnecessary ways to spend our money. One day, it was a hot summer day, my friends and I were craving some cold drinks and we came across a small shop. It had a really weird name that wasn’t even German and a small sign that said: „Bubble Tea – only here! “. We were curious what bubble tea was and went into the shop. Let me just say this: after that, we never ever left Schwerin before we had a bubble tea from there!
Unfortunately, not everybody liked it there as much as we did and the shop had to close. Moreover, not only our shop had it bad, every other bubble tea store in Germany had to close. Rumor has it that they banned them because a child choke on the pearls and died. Now a few years later big cities covered again with Bubble Tea shops, also Rostock. Therefore, a friend and I made it our mission to find the best place for a good Boba tea so you do not have to look for one. I present you the two best locations in Rostock for Bubble Tea but first, let us start with some basic knowledge.
Bubble tea, also known as tapioca tea or milk tea, has its origins in Taiwan where you can find it on every corner. Whatever you like to call it, the basic ingredients are always the same. It starts with a tea base, most of the time green or black tea and then you add sweeteners and flavors. (Think about any kind of fruit you like; it is most likely that this flavor exists.) That would be a clear tea or if you want a Milk Tea, a creamy component is also added, such like milk or for vegans/lactose intolerants almond milk is also possible. Once the ingredients are all together, the drink gets shaken really good! Now you can see why it is called bubble tea: while shaking like a martini, bubbles appear on the surface. After that, the fun part about Bubble Tea is added: tapioca pearls or popping pearls, both also known as Boba. Tapioca pearls are small and chewy they are boiled and sweetened with brown sugar and honey. They are more traditional. On the other hand, the popping pearls are small pearls filled with juice flavoring and once bitten into they ”pop”. Usually Bubble Tea is served cold and with a fat straw (I know I could have used wide instead of fat, would be more polite BUT fat straw is more accurate) otherwise you could not suck up the pearls.
We tried two different shops that are easy to get to by public transportation. The first one is in the KTC (Kröpeliner Tor Center) on the first floor, next to Starbucks. You cannot miss it because of its big light sign saying „Boboq“. It is a really beautiful and authentic little shop. They have a huge variety of flavors such as sweet and classic strawberry to the unusual lychee. My friend chose a caramel milk tea with black Bobas and I tried a clear tea flavored with mango and with passion fruit popping pearls. They only have medium and large sizes; i would recommend taking medium. We paid four euro for each tea. The milk tea was really good and better than the ones we had before. The chewy tapioca pearls were a good contrast to the sweet tea. Mine was also good; the pearls were smaller than usually but still delicious. The tea was not too sweet and tasted like summer. They had many different flavors for the popping pearls and I can see myself trying all of them!
The other shop I would like you to visit is not really a shop. It is kind of a drive-through without the drive. When you are at the Neuer Markt you just follow the shopping street and then on the left side next to Shin Shin, a Chinese takeout restaurant, is the bubble tea shop. They also have a big menu with different kinds of Bobas and also serve medium and large teas. They are a little cheaper than Boboq. We paid 3,70€ for a medium one and it looked bigger than the previous one. I had guava tea with lychee Bobas and it was so good! Not as sweet as the first one but still delicious. The pearls were bigger and juicier. The Milk tea was sweeter and the Bobas tasted funny. After having the other milk tea before we were a little disappointed. Anyhow, the price-performance ratio was still pretty good but If you want to have a milk tea, I would recommend the Boboq.
So these are my favorite Bubble Tea places in Rostock. Let me know if you try one and how you liked it!