You can call them bubbles if you like, or boba, or pearls or tapioca balls, but it's all the same drink which has been popular in Taiwan since the 1980s. The winning combination of chewy tapioca balls and sweet, fragrant black tea with milk has been a staple in Taiwanese drink shops for years under the name "pearl milk tea" (zhenzhu naicha). More than a decade ago, shops selling "boba" or "bubble tea" began to sprout up in overseas urban locales which are home to Taiwanese and Chinese people -- places like LA and New York.

In today's Feast Meets West, hosts Ellen Chu and Andrew Ryan go in search of authentic bubble tea. Plus, Andrew reports from one of the 800 McDonald's in Germany which is now selling 250 variations of the drink. (Have you seen the questionable ad which has been raising eyebrows?). If you'd prefer to try your hand at making the drink yourself, we'll have the recipe for you too. But you'll need to find some packaged pearl tapioca balls at your local Asian supermarket!