Ruby Tandoh and I are standing in Purcha, a bubble tea joint on London’s Charing Cross Road, where we’re both about to be handed gargantuan plastic cups holding Floral Xiao Zhong Black Tea—with “Fresh Milk, 30% Sugar, Boba Pearls, Creme Top, and 50% Ice.” I have ordered exactly the same drink as Tandoh’s, because that’s the whole point of today: I’m having what she’s having, as part of our tour in honor of her rather wonderful new book, All Consuming (Alfred A. Knopf).

We’re at Purcha because, well, Tandoh rates it. “You can see they’re actually making it with tea, which sounds obvious, but it really isn't in the bubble tea world,” she says. “Very often it's milk based, or it's flavoring based, so it’s more like a milkshake 2.0.” And we’re also here because she has a whole chapter, “I l

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