Huge signs advertise "bubble tea" or "boba tea" from the shop windows on Grand River Avenue bordering campus.

This trendy imported beverage is popular with students and others desiring a twist on the traditional fruit-flavored, icy drink. The twist is the tapioca pearls submerged in it.

Also called bubbles, or bobas, the pearls are small pieces of tapioca that add surprise and texture to the tea, which is not tea-like at all.

"Sometimes people are scared of the bobas," English senior Katie Schwartz said, a waitress at Sushi-Ya, 124 W. Grand River Ave. "We explain it to them so they know what is being sucked up their straws."

The tapioca bobas aren't flavored, they just provide texture to the drink by being chewy and squishy.

"It's like chewing gum," marketing senior Yeong-Yen Yong said as she and a couple friends drank their boba concoction.

They were at Sushi-Ya to escape Tuesday's hot and humid mid-afternoon weather.

"We went to the bookstore and just thought we'd stop by," electrical engineering senior Chatwin Hoe said.

Bubble tea is very easily made at local coffee shops and sushi restaurants, local creators of the brew say.

"It's really simple, actually," Schwartz said, as co-worker Jane Jun, an education junior, demonstrated how to mix their version of boba tea.

Mixing a cup-and-a-half of ice with a little kiwi-flavored syrup, Jun also tossed in about half-a-cup of water and several fresh pieces of kiwi. She completed the process by blending until frothy and then poured it into a tall glass over a couple dozen tapiocas.

"It's basically juice," Jun said. "We call it a slush, a boba slush."

The tea contains healthy ingredients with no fat or cholesterol, just sugar.

"We use real fruit, so it is nonartificial and very fresh," she said.

The recipe does vary, though, with each establishment. Boba tea is made at a handful of separate East Lansing cafés and restaurants.

It is called bubble tea at Caffe Latte, 130 Charles St.

There it includes a powdered tea-like mix to which water or milk is added and blended with ice, said shift supervisor Geoff Streit, a finance and economics senior. It is then poured over tapioca pearls bought from a supplier.

Because of the differences in the places that serve bubble tea, drinkers have preferences about flavors, portion sizes and cost.

"In terms of variety, they have more here," Hoe said about Sushi-Ya's. "They let you mix flavors, which is good."