How to Make Bubble Tea？

Bubble drinks are usually cool, refreshing, and a sweet drink with tapioca pearls sitting on the bottom of a clear cup. Sometimes the drink is made with fresh fruits, milk, and crushed ice to create a healthy milkshake. You can also find drinks that are made of powdered flavoring, creamer, water, and crushed ice. And if you like it as the Asians do, the cool drink usually includes a healthy tea, infused by a flavoring.

Tapioca pearls are black, but can sometimes be found to be white or transparent. Depending on the ingredients of the pearl, the color varies. I've been told that the white and translucent pearls are made of tapioca starch in its natural form. The black pearl includes tapioca starch, sometimes cassava root, brown sugar and caramel which add the black color.

The consistency of tapioca pearls is somewhere between Jell-O and chewing gum. In fact, many people think it's somewhat of a 'gummy bear' texture.  Nonetheless, the way the tapioca feels when you chew it is absolutely unique. The tapioca pearls used in bubble tea are the size of a marble. The tapioca pearls are also known as the "boba" in the bubble tea drink.  This is because it is described as having the same texture as the female breasts.

A clear cup with black tapioca balls on the bottom can easily identify bubble tea drinks. Another obvious trait is a huge fat straw. The fat straw is needed so that the tapioca pearls can be sucked up with the bubble tea drink and eaten. Bubble Tea's appearance definitely makes it unique.

So how to make bubble tea at home? And what kind of material should you choose? Read on!

Author: Lisa Lin 

Prep Time: 2 hours

Cook Time: 10 minutes

Total Time: 2 hours 10 minutes

Yield: 4 drinks

INGREDIENTS

8 bags of black tea

4 cups just boiled water

3/4 cup quick-cooking tapioca pearls

whole milk to serve (or your choice of milk)

simple syrup to serve (or your choice of sweetener)

For the Simple Syrup

1 cup water

1 sugar

INSTRUCTIONS

Prepare the tea: Steep the tea bags with 4 cups of just boiled water. Let the tea sit until it reaches room temperature. There’s no need to remove the tea bags from the water as the tea is steeping. You can stick the tea in the fridge to speed up the cooling process.

Prepare the simple syrup (if using): Add the water to a saucepan and heat the water until it starts to simmer. Add the sugar and stir until the sugar dissolves. Remove the saucepan from heat and let the simple syrup cool before transferring to a jar.

Cook the tapioca pearls: Bring about 4 cups of water to boil and add the tapioca pearls. Stir the pearls and let them cook for about 5 minutes. The pearls should have floated to the top by now. Drain and rinse the pearls under cold water. Transfer them to a bowl.

Assemble the drinks: Divide the cooked tapioca pearls into 4 large glasses. Next, add a few ice cubes to each glass. Pour 1 cup of the tea into each glass. Add 1 1/2 tablespoons of milk and 1 1/2 tablespoons of simple syrup into each glass. Stir and taste the milk tea. Add more milk or simple syrup to your taste. If you are serving the beverage to guests, have a small pitcher of milk and jar of simple syrup ready so that they can adjust the drink to their taste. The drink is usually served with large boba straws (large enough for the tapioca pearls to go through). If you don’t have the straws on hand, you can use spoons to scoop out the tapioca pearls.

Reference:

https://www.bubbleteasupply.com/bubble-tea-history/

https://healthynibblesandbits.com/how-to-make-bubble-tea/