Asian Tea - Tapioca Express

[Kerrath]

It's definitely possible. I dont know if it was here or at teaforums that I mentioned my Qimen being closer to the right taste. It bothers me though that somebody would be a misinformant and say that unequivocally they use Assam.

As for brewing parameters, I've tried a variety, by the book and not, altering temperature between 87 and 100 degrees and for between 3 and 7 minutes, pretty much covering any realistic expectations of the correctness of brewing black tea.

That leads me to think that they may use an alternate brewing method but I can't conceive what.

I've never tried Yunnan or Dian Hong tea before though so it could be one of those as well.

What I was really hoping was that somebody who has worked at TapX or TenRen would respond but the more I think about it, the less a worker there would have want of a forum like this. However, a forumgoer's friend might work there and that'd be just as good if they'd ask for me.

I do appreciate all the advice you folks have given me though and look forward to more.

[Space Samurai]

Is it possible they are using an instant powder or mix of some sort? Our coffee bar makes boba tea, and they use an assortment of powders, tea and flavorings premixed, then they use a machine to mix the whole thing up.

Usually companies try to guard this type of information, the specifics on how they make their products, for these very reasons. It would not be for them if just anyone could go home and replicate their product.

Just some thoughts.

[divintea]

Ooh, good point Space Samurai! I believe the place I used to frequent was also using a powder!

How do we feel about powder-based teas?

[Kerrath]

I've occasionally found bits of tea leaves in the bottom of the cup. Ridiculously small though so it doesn't rule out the possibility of tea powder. You're absolutely right about it being a guarded secret though. I asked one of their employees what brand their tea is.

"Do you know what brand of tea you use? Like, is it written on the bag or anything?"
"Uhhh. Our supplier gives it to us." "So there's one supplier for all of Tapioca Express?" "Uhhh, yeah, that's right."

I'm pretty sure there's not one supplier for the whole chain. Considering first that I read somebody's response in a forum to the end that an individual store had changed their supplier so the tapioca was too hard.

So assuming it's a powder, is it a true tea powder, or is it more like the powder they use for Honeydew Slushes? Also, I wonder what sort of sweetener they use. Unprocessed sugar, white sugar, pre-made syrup, flavored sugar? The possibilities are manifold.

Also, somebody mentioned Yunnan tea or Duan Hong, forgot the name of it, but I'm interested in what the differences are between that between say Keemun and Assam and also where a good quarter pound can be found for under $8.

[Kerrath]

I was there this evening with my girlfriend and I noticed in the bottom of the cup bits of tea leaves. No larger than 2/32" across. Pretty much rules out teabags, but it could be not-well-filtered bop, op or dust.

[Antony]

I like Tapioca Express, i wish there was one close to me.

[Kerrath]

I'm reviving this, because after ages and ages, I still haven't found what I've been looking for. I've ordered about 5 varieties of chinese tea, indian tea and whatnot from specialteas.com and they all had that annoying smoky flavor. I learned to brew it with less of that, but it just doesn't go away. I also tried some generic black tea from an asian grocery store near my house and it was just as bad.

SO, does anyone have any more information on this subject?

[Chip]

What exactly are you looking for? Is this a flavored tea you are asking about? It seems that you are actually asking about black tea? Or are you asking about tapioca tea ... bubble tea that has tapioca added?

There are lots of non smoky teas out there. Keemun can be a bit smoky, but the better ones usually are not and can be quite good.

Oh, and generally speaking Asian grocery store tea is just that, "bad."

There are many topics on the forum, perhaps if I may suggest, you abandon this very old topic and simply start fresh by reading and posting in more current topics.

For instance, the Darjeeling 2nd flush topic is full of discussion on non smoky black teas.

[Kerrath]

It's in the flavored tea section because when I have mentioned sweetening tea in the past, people got pissy about it not being in flavored teas.

The asian grocery store tea was better than many of the more expensive ones I ordered from specialteas. I'm actually using a jasmine tea from the same asian grocery store and I've very pleased with it.

But, I will take your advice and start over.

[figgin]

Tapioca Express has very specific brewing times and temperature for each of their teas. Their teas are made from tea leaves and not powder. As for what kind of tea leaves they are I am not sure.

[noelnbd]

I used to work there and it s very easy to make it, I just forgot the exact measurements and brew time so im going to go off of what I think. What sucks is that they use this tapEX secret labeled coffee black tea. https://www.bossenstore.com/products/coffee-black-tea. this ling has one I think will work. I cant do the conversion with is comes to the making it because we made it in a huge vat. you wanna boil like 4 gallons of water then put in like 132 grams of loose tea. let t sit from like 30 minutes then add filter it. add like a liter of non dairy creamer and a liter of brown sugar. then we would measure the sweetness with this microscope gauge. I hope this helps. If you want to make thai tea I am working on recreating that recipe. I did find the exact loose thai tea leaves we used when working at tapEx.

[thirium]

I used to work there and it s very easy to make it, I just forgot the exact measurements and brew time so im going to go off of what I think. What sucks is that they use this tapEX secret labeled coffee black tea. https://www.bossenstore.com/products/coffee-black-tea. this ling has one I think will work. I cant do the conversion with is comes to the making it because we made it in a huge vat. you wanna boil like 4 gallons of water then put in like 132 grams of loose tea. let t sit from like 30 minutes then add filter it. add like a liter of non dairy creamer and a liter of brown sugar. then we would measure the sweetness with this microscope gauge. I hope this helps. If you want to make thai tea I am working on recreating that recipe. I did find the exact loose thai tea leaves we used when working at tapEx.

I’d be very interested and appreciative if you could share your recipe for tapex’s thai tea, as no matter what tea/powder I use nothing comes close to tasting like their thai snow bubble.

[tapexsdlizzy:)]

I'm reviving this, because after ages and ages, I still haven't found what I've been looking for. I've ordered about 5 varieties of chinese tea, indian tea and whatnot from specialteas.com and they all had that annoying smoky flavor. I learned to brew it with less of that, but it just doesn't go away. I also tried some generic black tea from an asian grocery store near my house and it was just as bad.

SO, does anyone have any more information on this subject?

Hi! I'm hoping that you found your answer by now since your last post was a long time ago; however, if you didn't yet, I used to be a manager for a while at one of the TapEx locations and am happy to answer your questions!

All of the TapEx stores are supplied by the corporate brand - meaning that corporate delivers all of the materials that we need to make our drinks (this ensures that all of the items are consistent across locations). Because of this, it's challenging to determine the actual black tea since the bags would just say "Tapioca Express Black Tea." I believe the black teas were a blend of mostly Assam black tea.

---
As for the recipe, this is what I remember for a small barrel of black tea (so you can adjust the ratios for a smaller portion):

_Ingredients_:
*1 bag of Black Tea (1 bag was probably ~2,000 mL)
*10 L 185'F water
*1,250 mL brown sugar

_Steps_:
1. Steep the black tea in the hot water for 8 minutes
2. Strain the tea leaves from the water
3. Add the brown sugar (while it's still hot so it melts easily)
4. Refrigerate!

----
To answer a previous user's comment about the coffee black tea, that was the tea that we used for a different drink (regular milk tea).

-----
And to answer another user's comment about the THAI TEA RECIPE:
_Ingredients_:
*Thai tea blend (we used the generic thai tea that you can find in any asian super market since those are legit)
*12 L boiling water
* 1,400 mL white sugar

_Steps_:
1. Heat the water and turn off the heat when it starts boiling
2. Dump the thai tea in & stir to make sure that everything is saturated
3. Cover and leave it on the counter to steep for 8 hours (or overnight)
4. Afterwards, use a cheese cloth to strain out the tea (this can take a while since it gets kinda muddy, and make sure to use gloves so you don't stain your hands!)
5. Add sugar
6. Refrigerate
7. When ready to serve, add half & half (we used white sugar and H&H instead of condensed milk since it was easier to adjust the sugar & could swap out the H&H for non-dairy options)