Sucking Up the Bubble Tea Hype

These Heytea drinks look messy but they taste oh so good!

I finally succumbed and tried one of many bubble tea brands that have sprouted in Hong Kong in the past year.

My colleague and I went to Heytea, which opened a store in the basement of Times Square two months ago so we went to check it out.

We came just before lunchtime so there wasn't much of a lineup thank goodness.

Many Heytea outlets look like this when they are busy

The shop doesn't have any seating -- everyone stood outside to wait for their number to be called on a digital board with a ding dong sound.

I was surprised to find the prices were very reasonable too. We chose to share an Oreo-flavoured boba tea (boba meaning the large tapioca balls), in a milk tea flavour that cost HK$28; for a matcha flavoured one it would be HK$36.

The wait was about 10 minutes or so which wasn't too bad and when our order was finally called we got a small plastic cup with the black pearls at the bottom, the milk tea and crushed Oreo cookies on top.

I haven't had bubble tea in decades -- it's not a drink I would normally choose because the black pearls are hardly nutritious, and I never finish eating them either.

But that first sip -- I sucked up those tapioca balls and they had a caramelized sugar flavour that complemented the milk tea drink (more milky than tea). And on top of that the crushed cookies -- with a tinge of salt -- made the drink sweet, salty, chewy and crunchy all in one.

Oreo-flavoured bubble tea with the black pearls looked like this

Thank goodness we shared that drink -- I wouldn't have finished one on my own -- or maybe I would have drunk all the milk tea and left most of the tapioca pearls behind. In the end we did just that... a waste, but we didn't need to add more inches to our waists.

Heytea is one of the hottest bubble tea brands at the moment, and has had a meteoric rise since it started in 2012 in Jiangmen, Guangdong province. It now has its headquarters in Shenzhen, and is best known for its cheese topping on the drink... which didn't quite seem appetizing to us.

Will we try Heytea again? Probably, but not anytime soon... but that caramelized sugar taste was so good....! Like drinking a liquid form of milk tea creme brulee...!

Heytea
B216, B2, Times Square
1 Matheson Street
Causeway Bay
3106 2996

Comic Lacks Political Chops

Tsang resigned from the Jiangmen provincial CPPCC today

When you're appointed to become a delegate of the Chinese People's Consultative Conference, it's not something to be taken lightly.

While card-carrying Communists who have proven their worth are usually invited into this elite group that gives suggestions to the Central government in the hopes that they will be made into policy, there are others who get conferred these titles by merit of their celebrity status.

Such is the case with Hong Kong comedian Eric Tsang Chi-wai, who was appointed a delegate of the Jiangmen provincial CPPCC in January 2011.

But mainland Chinese media have criticized him in the last few days for failing to show up at the annual political consultative conference in Jiangmen for the fifth consecutive year. He also didn't submit any consultation proposals, according to the Southern Metropolis News.

China Youth Daily also chimed in with an editorial, urging Tsang to step down.

"To some celebrities, a local political consultative conference title is just an additional feature to them and they might not [take] it seriously. Delegate Zeng has never fulfilled his duty... and served as a poor example," the commentary said. "Those who cannot fulfill the duties should either resign or be sacked," it added.

And so today Tsang followed the editorial and resigned. "I am very sorry," he said, according to Hong Kong media. "As a delegate on both the Guangzhou and Jiangmen political consultative conferences, I could only attend the one in Guangzhou because the dates of the two annual assemblies clashed.

"I have already telephoned Jiangmen Political Consultative Conference to announce my resignation."

Despite the embarrassment, Tsang must be breathing a sigh of relief with having one responsibility taken off his shoulders.

But why was he appointed to two CPPCCs and what made him a suitable candidate to be chosen to join in the first place?

This is a similar situation to former Olympic champion hurdler Liu Xiang who is a member of the national committee of the CPPCC. He attended the annual session at the last minute after public criticism of him not showing up for two years.

He had to cut short his medical treatment in the United States to fly back to Beijing two days before the session ended, and apologized for his absence.

Athletes and celebrities may be too busy to think about recommendations to the central government, let alone be qualified, unless they really are advocates in their respective communities.

Let's not forget Tsang resigned as chair of the Hong Kong Performing Artist Guild in October 2013 after he was criticized for not speaking up on behalf of fellow actors on the television license issue.

Politics is clearly not in Tsang's blood. Let him continue cracking jokes instead on the stage where he belongs.