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Bubble Tea Specialty Cafe Comes to Downtown Brooklyn

By Janet Upadhye | September 23, 2013 3:47pm
 Downtown Brooklyn just got its first bubble tea shop, plus a new bakery, frowzen yogurt and cake shop.
Downtown Brooklyn Sweets
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DOWNTOWN BROOKLYN — Something's bubbling up in Downtown Brooklyn.

The neighborhood's first bubble tea shop — infiniTEA café — has opened its doors at 150 Lawrence Street near Fulton Street, serving over 100 types of milk tea, coffee, shakes, and frozen drinks with 13 tapioca and jelly flavors.

"I went to high school in this area and worked here later on. There was never a good place to get bubble tea," said owner Sarah Xie, a Brooklyn Tech graduate who grew up in Sunset Park.

Bubble tea — also known as pearl tea, tapioca tea, boba tea, milk tea, or momi tea — was created in Taiwan during the 1980's and consists of iced tea, sweetened milk and black "pearls" made of tapioca.

Despite growing up in a Chinese-American neighborhood, Xie didn't fall in love with the delicacy until a recent trip to Houston, TX. She visited a small shop that served the best bubble tea she had ever tasted and asked if she could train with the owner. He agreed.

After four months spent studying the best practices for boiling tapioca pearls and straining teas, Xie concocted and perfected her own unique method and felt ready to open her own shop. But she declined to share any of her secrets, saying only that she spends two hours every morning making fresh balls that have the right mix of softness, chewiness and bounce.

Some of her favorite flavors include green bean, almond, sesame and logan, she said. But tarot is the shop's best seller.

Other openings for those with a sweet tooth in the Downtown Brooklyn area:

Myrtle Avenue's Cake Joy has a new location and a new name — Brooklyn Sweet Spot. The local favorite has revamped their menu adding cupcake flavors such as tropical fruit rum punch, chocolate coconut rum punch and their new white chocolate raspberry mousse cake. Brooklyn Sweet Spot is located at 364 Myrtle Ave. in Fort Greene.

Frozen yogurt chain, Orange Leaf, is set to open on Oct. 3. The self-serve shop offers a rotating menu of flavors such as pumpkin pie and root beer float with candy, fruit, nuts, or other treats as toppings. Orange Leaf is located at 345 Adams St.

Mara and Glenn Magley opened recently Mara’s Café and Bakery at 88 Livingston St. serving cakes, pies, cupcakes and homemade gelato.