Chill Bubble Tea: A Review/Tragedy part uno

Hello internet.

Before I write my first real post, I'd like to take a moment to address a topic very close to my heart: smoothies.  More specifically, the immense danger I put myself in every day in my constant search for another good smoothie.

Incidentally, this search is exactly what led me to wander into a certain restaurant on Franklin Street the other night. Its name...."Chill Bubble Tea".

I had heard they also carried smoothies, so my brave friend Laura and I decided to journey inside to "check it out".

First of all, the main room of the store is essentially just a long hallway; All you can see from the street is a profile view of the extensive counter, and occasionally an employee.  This means that to actually inspect the menu and decide if the restaurant is for you, you must venture all the way inside to the counter, and find the menu on the wall behind it. And by the time you're there, it can be slightly awkward to say farewell to the good cashier and make your exit, if you happen to decide that the menu is not to your liking.

Fortunately (or unfortunately), the menu did nothing but make us more enticed and excited for our beverage.  They had several choices:

1) Frozen yogurt:  classic frozen yogurt, available in several sizes.  There are many delicious looking toppings available... if you decide it's worth paying an extra dollar fifty for a couple pieces of fruit.

2) Tea:  There are many different types of tea available, sometimes mixed with fruit, and you have the option of sugar or no sugar.

And finally.. 3) the smoothies.  These are essentially the main attraction, as they may or may not be the store's namesake: bubble tea.  smoothies are available with fruit or tea as the base, and, regardless of ur choice of smoothie, filled with one extra ingredient: tapioca pearls.  This is the so called "bubble" for their "tea".

So, as classic smoothie enthusiasts, we both got fruit smoothies.  I bought the watermelon one, and Laura selected the "fresh mango" smoothie.

Now at this point I'd like to take a little while to talk about an elaborate contraption I saw at the end of the counter.  I'm no ruler, but I'd say it was about 3 feet tall, and looked ridiculous.  You can't tell very well in the picture, but there's a multitude of buttons and numbers on the panel in front, making it look awesomely complicated.

So once one of the maybe two at most people working there (what is so interesting in the back room that they want to spend so much time back there??) got to work on our smoothies, they progressed rather quickly down the counter, rapidly approaching the frightening blue machine on the end.  Honestly, I couldn't wait to see it in action.

Finally, the time came to see this marvel work its magic.  The lady behind the counter placed my smoothie, already in its cup, into the holder at the bottom of the machine.  A button was pressed, and the smoothie was carried into the machine, and slid back out in the same position.  Just like that, it was over.  All the smoothie had to show for it: a thin plastic film fixed to the top of the smoothie cup.  I was in shock for a moment, and then the disappointment slowly mounted as I realized that was all that was going to happen.

I tried not to let this get me down though, I did my best to focus on the smoothie.  Laura's smoothie spent its brief time in the machine as well, and we were almost ready to go.

Come back next time for the chilling result for  "Chill Bubble Tea: A Review/Tragedy  part uno"

-Michael

(Why is the machine even that big and intimidating?? The cup just slid in the bottom! It didn't even get lifted up or spun around or anything!!!)