How to make Bubble Tea

I can't think of anything more refreshing than an ice cold milk tea bubble tea on a hot Summer day. It's one of my favorite sweet drinks and I fell in love with it when I first travelled to Thailand almost 20 years ago. Although it originated in Taiwan, you can find it sold on street corners and in little hole-in-the-wall shops all over South East Asia. With its growing popularity came a growing price tag. So, I taught myself how to make bubble tea at home and it is so easy and inexpensive at about $0.78 per serving! Once you learn this, you will impress yourself and save a ton of cash.

WHY THIS RECIPE WORKS

• Easy to make - once you see how easy it is to make bubble tea at home, you will make it all the time! You can even make the tea and syrup in advance to have it ready for a few days.
• Not too sweet - the great part about making homemade bubble tea is that you can control the sweetness level by adding more or less syrup.
• Soft and chewy boba - if you follow this recipe you will get the perfect boba! They are inexpensive and store for so long in the freezer so you can buy a pack and use them as you need them. Freezing them doesn't affect their quality and texture.

WHAT KIND OF BOBA DO YOU USE FOR THIS BUBBLE TEA RECIPE?

I only ever use this brand of tapioca pearls. These are instant boba that cook in about 5 minutes, although I always cook them longer for my taste since they will harden as they cool in the cold drink. You can find them in Asian supermarkets and they are also available on Amazon. You can also make your own from a cooked mixture of tapioca starch, sugar; however, the commercial varieties have flavors added to them that give them a really distinct and signature taste that reminds me of Thailand. If I could describe it, I'd say it's a type of pandan flavor with hints of toasted rice.

INGREDIENTS FOR BUBBLE TEA

• Brown sugar - for the most rich and authentic flavor, use dark brown sugar to make the syrup. In Taiwan they use "black sugar" which is a type of unrefined can sugar similar to muscovado or turbinado sugar but with a higher molasses content.
• Black tea - you will need any variety of black tea to make homemade bubble tea. It is important to make strong, concentrated tea because it will get diluted by cream or milk and ice which will also dilute the flavor. I use Twinnings Ceylon Pure Black Tea and also Tetley Bold Orange Pekoe Tea. Red Rose Orange Pekoe is also a good choice. You can use tea bags or loose leaf tea.
• Jasmine tea - I like to mix orange pekoe with some jasmine tea to get a really balanced floral and woody taste. I always have this loose leaf variety on hand, and Stash Jasmine tea bags are really great with strong floral taste.
• Oolong tea - you can use oolong tea in place of jasmine tea for a different flavor profile that is more buttery, roasted and woody.
• Tapioca pearls (boba) - I only ever use this brand of tapioca pearls. These are instant boba that cook in about 5 minutes, although I always cook them longer for my taste since they will harden as they cool in the cold drink. You can find them in Asian supermarkets and they are also available on Amazon.
• Milk or cream - my preference it to use half & half cream with 10% milk fat (coffee cream) for bubble tea and you can also use milk. Using cream adds richness without diluting the tea flavor. If you use milk, you need to use more to get the same creamy taste, however it dilutes the tea a bit more depending on how much you use.

STEP-BY-STEP INSTRUCTIONS: HOW TO MAKE BUBBLE TEA

• STEP 1). Make the syrup. Add brown sugar and water to a small saucepan over medium heat and stir until sugar dissolves. Bring to a boil and then simmer for 2 minutes. Remove from heat and set aside. Keep it warm - there's no need to cool it before adding the pearls.
• STEP 2). Make the boba tapioca pearls. Bring a small pot of water to a boil. Add tapioca pearls and boil for 7 minutes. Turn off the heat and leave them in the pot for another 5 minutes, covered. Drain the tapioca pearls and quickly rinse under water for a few seconds. Drain again and add it back to the pot with ⅓ cup of warm brown sugar syrup. Cover and let marinate for at least 15 minutes or up to 30 minutes at most.
• STEP 3). Make strong tea. Place black tea bags and loose jasmine tea into a large jug or tea pot. Pour boiling water over it, cover and let steep for 10 minutes to make a strong tea. Strain tea with a very fine sieve and set aside to cool to room temperature.
• STEP 4). Assemble the bubble tea. Add about ¼ cup of the tapioca pearls along with the brown sugar syrup to the bottom of each serving glass. It's best to use a tall narrow glass for bubble tea. Add as much as as you want (I like to fill it up to the top). Pour in 1 cup of the black tea. Add 2 tablespoons of cream or up to ½ cup of milk according to your taste. Stir to mix before drinking. You can adjust the sweetness by adding more syrup from the pearls.

HOW DO YOU SWEETEN BUBBLE TEA?

You can use any type of sweetener for milk tea, such as regular white sugar, brown sugar, black sugar, maple syrup or honey. My choice is for brown sugar as it complements the black tea flavor very well. Since the boba need to marinate in the brown sugar syrup anyways, it makes sense to use the brown sugar syrup to sweeten the tea. If you use granulated sugar or honey, you will need to mix it with the hot tea first so that it dissolves easily.

If you choose to use white sugar or honey, I recommend that you make a simple syrup first so you can easily add more to the tea to adjust the sweetness after the final drink is prepared. To do this, just combine equal parts sugar or honey and water in a saucepan, bring to a boil, cook for about 1 minutes until the sugar fully dissolves and turn off the heat. Once the simple syrup has cooled completely, you can pour it into a jar or a bottle for storage and serving.

EXPERT TIPS FOR MAKING BUBBLE TEA

• Brew very strong tea - bubble tea needs very strong tea that's more intense than how you would normally drink a regular hot tea. To do this, prepare very concentrated tea with a higher ratio of tea to water (i.e. less water per amount of tea). If you use milk instead of cream in this recipe, I'd recommend adding another bag of black tea since the milk will water it down more.
• Make the brown sugar syrup in advance. You can make a double or triple batch of the syrup and store it in an airtight jar in the fridge for up to 1 month so you have it ready to make boba any time you'd like. Just warm up the amount you need in a saucepan and add the cooked boba to it to marinate when you're ready to make bubble tea.
• Only cook as many tapioca pearls for as many servings as you need since they will harden as they cool and that is a result of the starches re-crystallizing in a process called "retrogradation". Although you can make the syrup and the tea the day before, I do not suggest making the pearls in advance.
• Use the tapioca pearls soon after they are ready. It's important that you do not make the tapioca pearls too early since they will get firmer over time as they cool. If you have extra boba that you want to use for another drink, you can leave them in the hot syrup for up to 2 hours maximum.
• Marinate the tapioca pearls in syrup - you may have noticed that the pearls in your bubble tea from your favorite shop taste sweet. Well, boba are not typically made with much sugar (if any at all) and don't taste sweet on their own. Instead, the pearls are soaked in warm sugar syrup so the pearls absorb some of the syrup and it also helps them stay soft and protects them from becoming firm too quickly.
• Do not refrigerate the tapioca pearls - tapioca is a type of starch derived from cassava. Once starch is cooked and cooled, it starts to crystallize and firm up. These tapioca pearls will harden over time especially if they are chilled and they will lose their nice soft texture.

TOOLS YOU NEED TO MAKE BUBBLE TEA

• Boba straws - I use these reusable boba straws and also love these stainless steel ones that come with straw brushes for easy cleaning.
• Tall glass or mason jar - these stylish glasses are perfect for bubble tea, these glasses with bamboo lids are great for taking out and these reusable plastic cups are nice and tall and great for take away.
• Small saucepan - you'll need a small pot to boil the boba. This is the one I use in the video - it's a 1-quart stainless steel saucepan.
• Pyrex jug - you can also use a teapot to steep the tea, but then you'll need to strain it into a pouring vessel, and I love these volumetric glass jugs.
• Sieve - a fine mesh sieve is important to strain out the tea if you are using loose leaf tea.

RECIPE FAQ

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