A10B| Tuesday, September 3, 2019 ** THE WALL STREET JOURNAL.
GREATER NEW YORK WATCH
NEW JERSEYParade Canceled
After Devices FoundAuthorities canceled a New
Jersey Labor Day parade that
the governor was supposed to
attend Monday because “de-
structive devices” were found
near the parade route.
Thomas Kaiser, 55 years old, of
South Plainfield, was charged with
two counts of possession of a de-
structive device for an unlawful
purpose, with additional charges
expected, Middlesex County pros-
ecutors and police said.
Authorities said a suspicious
package containing a destructive
device was left at Donovan’s
Reef bar in Sea Bright. That
prompted an investigation Sun-
day that led to Mr. Kaiser’s
home, and other devices were
found near the residence, au-
thorities said.
Since the home is located
near the start of the South
Plainfield Labor Day parade, the
event was canceled “out of an
abundance of caution and due to
the potential threat to the com-
munity,” prosecutors and police
said. Gov. Phil Murphy and his
wife, Tammy Murphy, had
planned to march in the 62nd
annual event.
The investigation by county
prosecutors and Sea Bright and
South Plainfield police also in-
cluded representatives of the
state homeland security office and
bomb squad as well as the Fed-
eral Bureau of Investigation and
various K-9 units, authorities said.
It wasn’t known whether Mr.
Kaiser had an attorney. A phone
message seeking comment was
left for him.
—Associated PressBROOKLYNMasked Man Killed
In Police ShootoutA masked gunman was killed
in a shootout with police who
confronted him on a Brooklyn
street and pursued him into a
backyard early Monday, the New
York Police Department said.
The shootout unleashed doz-
ensofroundsinayardinthe
Brownsville neighborhood, police
Chief of Department Terence
Monahan said. No officers were
injured.
The NYPD hasn’t released theidentity of the man, who was
shot numerous times, Chief Mo-
nahan told reporters.
The encounter began when
three uniformed officers on pa-
trol in an unmarked car spotted
a man in a mask around Howard
and Dumont avenues around
2:30 a.m. “He had his face cov-
ered walking down the street,
which is kind of suspicious on a
warm evening, so they went to
stop him. He immediately ran,”
Chief Monahan said.
As one officer got out of the
car and the others drove around
a corner, the man pulled a gun
and fired on the car, leaving a
bullet hole in the passenger-side
front door, Chief Monahan said.
He said the officer on foot fired
back, but the man got away.
About a half-hour later, a res-
ident told police that someone
was trying to break into a home
on Howard Avenue. Uniformed
officers entered the yard and
were met with gunfire and re-
sponded, Chief Monahan said.
In all, seven officers fired a
total of about 65 rounds, the
chief said, adding that police
were still counting shell casings
fired by the gunman. He was
taken to a hospital, where he
was pronounced dead.
—Associated PressWEST POINTCadet Candidate Dies
In Cliff-Diving MishapAuthorities say a Nebraska
man enrolled in West Point’s
preparatory school for potential
cadets has died in a cliff-diving
accident in the Catskills.
The U.S. Military Academy
said that cadet candidate Benja-
min Bochtler died Saturday in
the town of Hunter, where he
had gone during his free time.
Mr. Bochtler was 20 years old
and came from Bellevue, Neb.
New York state police said he
was hanging onto a rock ledge
at a spot known as Fawn’s Leap
when a piece of rock broke off
and sent him tumbling.
Mr. Bochtler entered West
Point Prep in July. He had al-
ready served about three years
in the Army, including a deploy-
ment in Afghanistan from April
2018 to January 2019.
The school enrolls soldiers and
civilians aiming to become cadets
and eventually Army officers.
—Associated PressForget cold-brew coffee.
Bubble tea is quickly becoming
New York City’s “it” drink.
A growing number of shops
specializing in the Asian fa-
vorite, which combines tea
with tapioca pearls (or bub-
bles or boba, as they are
called), are opening through-
out the metropolitan region.
Major chains are expanding,
while newer brands are start-
ing up or finding their way
into the market from other lo-
cales.
In the process, the drink is
undergoing a transformation.
Bubble tea now comes in
countless variations, including
versions topped with cream
cheese or a foamy “milk cap”
or flavored with a syrup of
brown sugar. The drink is also
often offered with customiz-
able options, including varying
the amounts of ice or sugar or
even picking types of bubbles
beyond the tapioca ones.
Kung Fu Tea, a New York
City-based chain that has loca-
tions throughout the world,
estimates that when all the
variations are added up, it of-
fers more than 3,000 drink
possibilities. The chain, which
added five new stores in the
metro area this year for a total
of 43 throughout New York
and New Jersey, also offers
drinks without tea.
“You can even get coffee,”
said Mai Shi, a Kung Fu Tea
spokeswoman. (And, yes, you
can add bubbles to your cof-
fee, Ms. Shi noted.)
The newest extreme? Alco-
holic bubble tea. It will be of-
fered starting in mid-Septem-
ber by Bubbleology, a United
Kingdom-based company
whose first New York store, lo-
cated in Manhattan’s East Vil-
lage neighborhood, is cur-
rently in a soft-opening phase.
Among the boozy options at
Bubbleology: a Passion in Par-
adise cocktail with coconut
and white rums and passion
fruit-flavored bubbles, among
other ingredients.
Bubbleology founder and
Chief Executive Assad Khan
said alcoholic bubble tea has
already proved a hit at one of
his chain’s stores in London
and he sees no reason why it
won’t take off in New York.
“The market is ready for it.
The market wants it,” Mr.
Khan said.
Some chains are taking
bubble tea in a more artisanal
direction, touting where they
source ingredients for drinks
or how they carefully craft
them. Luigi’s Ice Cream, a New
Jersey-based chain that added
bubble tea to its menu in re-
cent months, notes that it
makes its bubbles fresh everythree hours.
Otherwise, the pearls just
don’t have the same textural
appeal, said chain founder Lu-
igi Beltran. “They get very
hard and very gummy,” he
said.
Bubble tea is hardly a new
phenomenon. The drink traces
its roots back to Taiwan in the
’80s, according to those in the
industry, and made its way to
New York City at least a de-
cade ago.
The current growth in bub-
ble-tea shops reflects the in-creasing interest in Asian food
and beverages, observers of
the culinary scene said. As for
why so many chains are com-
ing up with new twists on the
drink, it speaks to the need to
differentiate in a more
crowded market, said observ-
ers.
“It’s looking for that com-
petitive edge,” said Stephen
Zagor, an instructor and for-
mer dean at the Institute of
Culinary Education and an ad-
junct professor at Columbia
Business School.
But some wonder if the
bubble will burst, so to speak,
and the interest in the drink
will diminish. Then again,
Danielle Chang, founder of
LuckyRice, a lifestyle brand
that promotes Asian food
events, said the same could
have been said of Starbucks
Corp. and the gourmet-coffee
trend of decades ago.
Ms. Chang is convinced that
bubble tea, in all its variety, is
here to stay. “It’s a sign of
Asian cuisine going main-
stream,” she said.Bubbleology in the East Village
will offer alcoholic bubble tea,
including a Passion in Paradise
cocktail and a drink featuring
Baileys and whipped cream.BYCHARLESPASSY
Bubble Tea That Comes With a Kick
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