Bubble Tea
By Tiffany Lee, Special Contributor

What's the best part about drinking bubble tea? The bubbles, of course! Who can resist those chewy balls of tapioca? Let's face it; without the bubbles, it's just plain tea. You would think that this drink, also known as "boba," would be fine to drink everyday. It's only tea and pearls after all. It's probably healthier than coffee too! Wait, stop right there. How healthy is this stuff? If you're watching your weight, you might want to think twice about asking for those extra bubbles in your tea.

Now you're definitely right about tea being healthier than coffee, and milk tea is definitely healthier than, let's say, a frappuccino. That's basically a given because bubble tea only consists of brewed black or green tea, milk, and sugar or honey. Sometimes they're blended with fruit juice or other flavorings. Those ingredients are obviously pretty healthy and all natural. A typical 16 oz. cup of milk tea with pearls contains about 360 calories, 13g of total fat and 28g of sugar, with the high fat and sugar content coming from the full cream or milk and sugar in the tea. Drinking the tea without the milk would be a lot healthier, as it only has 170 calories, 6g of total fat and 28g of sugar. The addition of milk makes all the difference in terms of fat content.

On the other hand, if you're a calorie-counter, you've got to watch out for those bubbles. Although they are fat-free, they're all starch, and so those pearls are about 100 calories in 7 of them. Every drink comes with about 30 bubbles, making the bubbles alone more than 400 calories. They're not all bad though because they do supply modest but significant amounts of iron and calcium to your diet, due to the fact that they are made from cassava root, along with sweet potato and brown sugar. Tapioca is also believed to help keep your bowel movements in check, and we all know how important that is. You should still be careful though; people have been known to choke on these marble-sized wonders.

With all good foods (or drinks!), it's best to keep things in moderation, no matter how addicting it is! Nutritionists recommend that bubble tea fans should not treat themselves to this drink more than twice a week. However, if it's a tossup between going to Saint's Alp or Starbucks, and you're feeling health-conscious, bubble tea is definitely the way to go.