Boba tea, or “bubble tea,” is a Taiwanese sensational beverage that originated in hot and steamy Taichung, Taiwan tea shops during the 1980s. My friend Grace recently took me on a trip to our local Chinatown to get the ingredients and explain to me how to make this fun drink. I had no idea it was SO EASY!:)
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The essential ingredient in boba tea (which doesn’t even necessarily need actual tea!) is tapioca (粉圓 fenyuan), which is processed into chewy balls
that are often called “pearls.” Did you know tapioca comes from the cassava (aka yuca!?) root? The tapioca balls are larger than those in traditional tapioca pudding, but small enough to be slurped up through special, wide straws. In the Asian supermarket we visited, there was an entire aisle of different tapioca products- why had I never seen them before!? While you’re in the store, ask for the wide straws for “boba tea,” so your tapioca can be enjoyed with the drink.
The base of the drink varies tremendously. Grace explained that little kids will normally have their tapioca peals in juices, so we made some passion fruit juice. Other popular flavors include strawberry, mango, lychee, pineapple, peach, or grape juices (among many others!). Adults will drink boba teas made of black or green iced tea, with milk (regular milk or sweetened condensed milk), and some sugar or honey. It is now popular around the world, spreading from Taiwan to other East Asian countries, and then to the US and Europe and beyond.
INSTRUCTIONS
1) Boil tapioca. The tapioca is each processed differently, so some will need to be boiled for longer (check the directions). Ours boiled for only 5 minutes.
2) Drain the water and sprinkle sugar over the tapioca pearls. They can “marinate” while you are making your juice.
3) Make your juice, tea, or frozen smoothie. Add a couple of tablespoons of the tapioca into your drink.
4) Use your special straw to enjoy!
Send me a picture of yourselves enjoying this new summer drink!:)
How fun to be able to make this ourselves! Can’t wait until the kids are old enough to drink this (almost!), but in the meantime, I will be practicing for me 🙂 Thanks for sharing the recipe!
No problem! It is such a fun drink:).
I have never heard of this before. Very interesting!
If you can find the tapioca pearls, I highly recommend trying this!!! The kids love it:).
Wow, this sounds much btteer than the sickly-sweet, artificially flavored bubble teas I’ve had. I’m excited to give it a try! One question, though – what kind of tea do you typically use? Right now the only black tea I’ve got in my cabinet is Stash Earl Grey, and I’m not sure how that would be…
I had heard of Bubble Tea but had no clue what it was. Thanks for the info!!
The tapioca pearls have a gummy texture, and remind us of those candy-type “fruit snacks.” Once my kids got past the “what’s the black balls in my juice” and tried it, they liked it!
I have been able to find the big straws in Asian grocery stores. Smaller Asian markets don’t usually have them but there’s a big grocery store that I go to that carries them. You might have to do some hunting, but they aren’t impossible to find.
I’ve never had bubble tea but it’s always something I wanted to try! It doesn’t look too hard to make either. I just bought a cocktail shaker (on clearance at Ikea for $2) to make mocktails with so I’ll have to give this a try when I can find some tapioca pearls.
One of my very good friends is Vietnamese, and owns the best restaurant in Denver. She always tried to get me to like the bubble teas, and I hated them for the longest time, but I got over it when I thought of the tapioca as gummy bears! Now I love them.
Our town is full of tea houses and coffee shops and you can get this everywhere. For kids and caffeine sensitive folks a really good base is any tea with rooibos. Chocolate is my favorite!There are also companies on-line that sell powdered flavorings.The thing to watch out for with kids is they suck the balls down awfully quick and I worry about choking. Also some of the tapioca balls are full of the worst kind of preservatives and artificial colorings. So I would would shop around on-line vs the Asian market to find the best quality. It surely is addictive in the summer and what a fun idea for a birthday party.
What a wonderful and fun drink! We love it!! Replace the tea with juice is such a good idea and we do it with lemonade over the summer. When we visited Taiwan my children also enjoyed the jello in the juice drink at the Tea House. We also make hot boba milk tea in the winter. Great recipe! Thank you!!
I have NEVER had it in hot tea!!!! That is something we will have to try this winter!!!!! 🙂
So cool! Our little one in Taiwan isn’t with us just yet, but so excited to do this with the three we have. What a fun way to get a little taste of their sister’s home country! Thanks for sharing 🙂
Fantastic!:) Have fun!!!! We are an adoptive family too (China and Ethiopia)- it’s fun to get the kids involved in learning about the family’s cultures!
Wow! I’m obsessed with bubble tea! Although I live in Asia I haven’t been able to find the pearls at a store here in Jakarta! A lot of tea places do have delivery so I can satisfy my cravings but I would love to make my own!
http://www.thekitchn.com/whats-the-deal-17-24054
Yuca and Yucca are not the same thing. But Bubble tea is great!
Yes! I can’t find where yucca is written, but it should be yuca:).