11

I love bubble tea and I've seen it many places for sale while walking through Hong Kong.

I've read mixed reviews on the safety of Hong Kong's tap water supply, and so I am wondering whether this is safe for a foreigner to drink, since it is neither (1) hot or (2) pre-packaged.

Improve this question
1

1 Answer 1

Reset to default
14

I drank bubble tea in Hong Kong practically every day when I was travelling there but never fell ill. (Love bubble tea!) The way bubble tea is packaged in machines that seals the drink in means it's usually sold in shops with fairly good standards of hygiene. Besides, while the drink itself is not hot, bubble tea is prepared using chilled tea - and the preparation of any kind of tea does involve a stage where water needs to be boiled. That should effectively kill germs, if any, that remain in water.

Improve this answer
2
  • 2
    I'd imagine it's not an issue for bubble tea (since non-boiling methods take far longer) but I feel it should be pointed out that not all tea involves boiling water: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iced_tea#Sun_and_.22refrigerator.22_tea
    – dbmag9
    May 22, 2013 at 10:06
  • Point of order: the ice cubes may or may not be as safe as the tea water—if the bubble tea is with ice.
    – Jan
    Oct 6, 2019 at 13:05

You must log in to answer this question.

Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged .