Cotton Candy Afros
Food novelties like Thai rolled ice cream, rainbow bagels, and Black Tap milkshakes are popping up all over the New York food scene and everyone's Instagram feeds. Establishments all over the city are coming up with their own unique food twists. While some stand the test of time, others fall into the list of being nothing but a "food trend." One of the newest gimmicks are these bubble tea floats. When I first saw a photo of these I scrolled past it thinking that these only existed in California. To my surprise, these are actually in New York and they're exclusive to the Vivi Bubble Tea location on the LES. Knowing that Vivi has below average bubble tea, I couldn't resist the way these were presented and had to try it for myself.
Price: They are $5.50 which is only $1.50 more than your typical bubble tea without all the fancy additions.
The Works:
The bubble tea float comes in multiple flavors the ones shown are taro and green tea. They also come in chocolate, caramel macchiato, black tea, and a jasmine honey tea. Hovering on top of your tea is fairy floss and a sprinkle of pop rocks (as if there wasn't enough sugar to put you into a sugar coma already). Hidden underneath that cotton candy is a scoop of oreo ice cream fulfilling the float aspect of this drink. It sounds great at first, sadly the quality wasn't there —there's nothing worst than ice crystals in your ice cream—it just felt out of place.
The Process:
Yes, there's a process to eating these. After waiting about 10 minutes for them to put all of the components together, you get a 5 minute spiel from you server telling you the steps to drinking the tea. She lost me at "you have to eat the ice cream." But luckily, Natalie listened and I just followed her lead.
1. Take the candy floss off the top
2. Eat the ice cream
3. Drink half of the bubble tea from the big jar
4. Stuff cotton candy into jar
5. Dissolve the cotton candy with the remaining bubble tea in small jar
I suggest saving some of the candy floss for your own enjoyment the tea doesn't need all that extra sugar anyway.
(Disclaimer: I had to simplify and tweak the process because this isn't rocket science)
Or maybe it is rocket science...
Evidence of the Struggle:
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| snapchat riaaaclemente |
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| snapchat by ianasterrr |
This is one of those things you try once and probably never order again. It's messy and by the time you drink your tea, it's room temp. Essentially what you're getting is the experience and the presentation. You can sell me to anything with bamboo cutting boards and mason jars, especially mini ones. Huge plus if you score the corner seat in front of the cramped store with perfect natural lighting and a white brick wall #foodiestarterpack. As you can tell from the pictures, we had to settle for the less than special spot next to the wall with the random beach memorabilia and CPR instructions (which can actually come in handy when you accidentally swallow the bubbles without chewing). For now I'm back to drinking bubble tea out of a plastic cup!
