First bubble-tea bar in Mumbai hopes to get foodies hooked on to the Taiwanese beverage

The milk variant, which uses black tea as its base, is available in flavours such as chocolate, almond, hazelnut, vanilla and, for the local touch, masala chai. It is easy to see why this avatar is an acquired taste. A few sips of the masala chai bubble tea is neded before the familiar taste sinks in. The chewy tapioca, slurped through the stout straw, lends it texture and added flavour.

We try a milk-free, passion fruit variant — green tea is its base — with mango poppers. The taste is akin to that of iced tea but with a stronger tea infusion, the poppers literally bursting in the mouth. While the base teas are local, all the chewables are imported from Korea. The tapioca used in the bubble tea is different from the local sago or sabudana — it’s bigger and has a shelf-life of mere one day. “It has to be boiled for a certain duration to get the right texture,” says Sarkar.

The other fruit variants include green melon, berries, litchi and kiwi. “I tried these fruit infusions in London and loved them. I knew we couldn’t run a business on the milk variant as not everyone takes to the taste,” says Sarkar, adding that the flavours were created through a trial-and-error process.

For now, Dr Bubbles has two more branches in the pipeline, Bandra and Lokhandwala, in addition to the plan seasonal special menus and a system for online orders.

shikha.kumar@expressindia.com