the missing milk tea

time: 10.16pm

Remember how bubble tea was once a novelty only found at pasar malams? Well..i remember. There were long queues and drinks that cost up to $3 a cup. And i especially miss seeing the little doll working furiously at the bubble tea machine. The doll that will be pumping a machine furiously, standing on display at the store front. My mum and i used to complain that the doll was suffering from child labour. haha. seriously, she looked like she was being worked too damn hard.

But now, bubble tea has lost its place in the night markets. Instead they have made their way into our neighbourhood store, first as a frantic craze, then finally into just another regular item in busy streets.

The novelty is sadly gone.

Business trends rise and fall with human wants and needs. Human wants and needs similarly follow the tides of business. When bubble tea was at its heights, we were consumed, literally by the waves of shops. Tasting too much of it then made us sick of it. Customers leave, shops close and prices drop for the remainder. Then people start to miss it.

This is such a strange thing to be talking about, i know. Its just that recently, im back to my craze for milk tea with yummy coconut jelly after a long dry spell. And i realised how much i miss the sweet taste on my tongue. Absense really makes the heart fonder. :P And now, you cant find outlets as easily as before.I know there are still places that sell these stuff, but i know how i loved the milk tea from Cool Station.

Where have they all disappeared to??