Make Bubble Tea

If you've ever tried bubble tea, you know how yummy - and inexpensive - this unique sweet drink can be. It's basically a sweetened iced tea or smoothie mixed with chewy Make Tapioca Cream pearls (boba). With a little time and the right ingredients, you can turn your kitchen into a bubble tea shop!

Steps

Preparing Tapioca Pearls (Boba)

Tapioca pearls usually come in two sizes and can be found in an Asian grocery store (or ordered online). Follow the instructions on the package if you can, but they might be poorly-translated into English. Generally, this is how it's done:[1]

  1. Pre-soak the pearls for a few hours if you want them tender all the way through, rather than soft on the outside and chewy on the inside (which is how most people prefer them).[2]
  2. Measure 7 parts water to 1 part tapioca pearls. Bring the water to a rolling boil.
  3. Add the pearls and stir them to make sure they don't stick to the bottom.
  4. When the pearls float to the top, cover the pot and keep the water at a rolling boil for 30 minutes. Stir every 10 minutes.
  5. Remove from heat and let the pearls sit covered for 30 minutes.
  6. Rinse the pearls with lukewarm or cold water.
  7. Sweeten the pearls with honey or the following sugar syrup to taste (which can also be used to sweeten the drink).[3]
    • Mix one cup of white sugar, one cup of brown sugar, and two cups of water in a pot.
    • Bring to a boil, then immediately remove from heat.
    • Let cool.
  8. Use them immediately, or cover them and put them in the fridge for no more than 4 days (or else they will get too mushy). When you want to use them, boil a cup of water and put the tapioca pearls in it for a few minutes to warm them.[2]

Soak in sugar water instead of cooking

  1. Follow the steps in the first method for how to cook the tapioca pearls. Rinse them off.
  2. Prepare the "sugar water". Mix 100ml of hot water with 100g of brown sugar (if you don’t have any brown sugar you can use white sugar and honey).
  3. Stir this until the sugar is dissolved. Then pour it into a bowl.
  4. Let the tapioca balls sit for 15 minutes in the sugar water.
  5. Now they're ready to serve.[4]

Traditional Milk Tea[2]

  1. Make the tea. Bubble tea was traditionally made with black tea, but you can use green, chai, yerba mate, or any kind of tea. You can even use coffee!
  2. Mix 3/4 cup of tea with 2 tablespoons of cream and 1 tablespoon of sugar syrup (as directed above) in a shaker. You can substitute the cream with soy milk, milk, half and half, sweetened condensed milk, or non dairy creamer.
  3. Add ice, cover the shaker, and shake the mixture until it gets frothy. (The bubbles formed by shaking are what the tea was named after, although most people assume it's because the tapioca pearls look like bubbles!)
  4. Put 3-4 tablespoons of cooked tapioca pearls in a glass and pour in the mixture.
  5. Stir and drink!

Fruit Bubble Tea

  1. Combine ice, fresh fruit (or fruit juice), sweetener (e.g. sugar syrup) and cream (or substitute) in a blender until smooth. The consistency and proportions should be adjusted to taste.
  2. Put 3-4 tablespoons of cooked tapioca pearls in a glass and pour the fruity mixture over them.
  3. Stir and drink!



Tips

  • You can also get 5 min cook-time pearls from your local Asian market. This makes it quick and easy to prepare them whenever you get a sudden craving.
  • If you prefer tapioca pearls to taste sweeter, you can marinate them in brown sugar for 5 minutes before serving.
  • If you can find large-diameter straws through which you can suck up the tapioca pearls, you might better enjoy the bubble tea experience! It's still good, though, without a big straw; just use a spoon to scoop up the pearls.
  • Tapioca pearls are high in calories! For a lighter alternative, track down some coconut jelly (Nata de coco)[5] and chop it into small squares.
  • There is a bigger, darker, and chewier version of boba pearls that is also used for bubble tea. However, these may be harder to find at stores, so check online!

Warnings

  • Be sure not to choke on the tapioca pearls. Kids should be watched carefully while drinking this, as the pearls can easily be sipped through big straws.

Related Articles

Sources and Citations

  1. ↑ http://www.bubbleteasupply.com/index.php?page=tapioca.html
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 http://www.ellenskitchen.com/recipebox/bubblet.html
  3. ↑ http://www.bubbleteasupply.com/index.php?page=recipes.html
  4. ↑ http://www.bubbleteaology.com/how-to-make-bubble-tea/index.php?page=tapioca.html
  5. ↑ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nata_de_coco Nata de coco
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