Popping the mystique of bubble tea at Watami

Not too terribly long ago, Watami in Cape Girardeau reopened after what felt like a very long closing due to a remodel. I didn't suffer too badly, but I did finally get to revisit them recently to see if it was still as delicious as I remember.

I feel like I write about sushi often because I love it, and while I did order sushi, and it was incredible, you won't hear me desperately urging you to try it if you haven't yet, or praising its complexity and vivid play of flavors. No, no, none of that today. Today, we're going to dive into the world of bubble tea.

Bubble tea, also known as boba tea, originates from Taiwan but has spread worldwide, as evidenced by the fact that I can get it in several places throughout Southeast Missouri, including Watami. In its original manifestation, bubble tea contains tea, ice, lots of milk, fruit, fruit juices, and the bubbles, which are tapioca pearls that sit at the bottom of the cup. The first time I tried one a few years ago, I tried a very traditional bubble tea, lychee flavored, and was incredibly surprised to find the tapioca bubbles are actually hard pressed balls (boba) about ¼-inch in diameter that shoot up the abnormally large straw served with the drink for exactly that purpose. So you get some cold, milky, sweetened tea and then all of a sudden a tapioca pearl is in your mouth. So I chewed up the pearl as intended and found that it tasted mostly like nothing at all. Very little flavor, odd texture, and I felt like it interfered with the rather yummy taste of the tea. Bubble tea was obviously not in my realm of worldliness.

Watami's Angry Dragon sushi roll in the back, with the Watami House Roll anchoring the front.Submitted by Rebecca LaClair

But when I went to Watami, right in the front of the menu is a small insert with bubble teas. And I thought to myself, "Self, you've never shied away from trying a food in your life, and maybe you should give bubble tea another try. It would make a good article at any rate, probably." So I did the best possible thing I could do and talked to my server, who was a bubble tea angel in disguise. I asked her if Watami's bubble tea had the hard little pearls and the oversized straw, and she said yes. I asked about the "add lychee" option on the menu. She lit up and told me that she doesn't particularly care for the tapioca pearls, because she didn't think they had much taste. Huh, so far, we were on the exact same wavelength. So, what she does when she gets a bubble tea, which is every shift she works, is orders a brown sugar bubble tea, hold the boba and add lychee. Sold. I want one just like that. And she brought it out not long after that.

I'm familiar with lychee. It's a white fruit, oddly soft and yet crunchy, kind of like a water chestnut in texture, but not really. It has a great, super-powered sweet flavor that doesn't taste like any of the fruit we have regularly available here. At Watami, they cut it up into small strips and put it in the bottom of their bubble tea instead of boba, if you so desire. The brown sugar flavoring was exquisite, and I quickly stirred it into my tea as it was concentrated in a syrup on the bottom of the cup. The lychee strips slid up into the straw, leaving me with a much more pleasant bite of fruit with every sip. Really, there is no equivalent to this drink. It is unique, and my server assured me that it is perfectly normal to zip into Watami, order a tea to go, and leave with what would be a perfectly good snack, perhaps even lunch.

The dinnerware at Watami is adorable. Just look at this little soy sauce pot.Submitted by Rebecca LaClair

Sometimes the lychee strips did get stuck in the straw, but that's all part of the experience, and I didn't find it frustrating. The drink was energizing. I was starving, so I appreciated the jolt of fruit while I waited for my sushi, which I'm absolutely not going to spend time writing about how amazing it was. (So good, try the Angry Dragon if you like shrimp and just a hint of spice).

Watami can be found at 45 S. Kingshighway in Cape. It has beautiful food, interesting decor, and some of the loveliest plating I've seen. Brave the bubble tea and try something new soon.