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boba milk tea

boba milk tea

Boba milk tea was basically my entire childhood. I vividly remember in high school, we would create these lists that ranked the best boba shop to the worst. Even though it was so delicious, it can get a little expensive. With this recipe, you can make a ton at a very low price. This treat super fun to make with family or with friends and because you are working with dough, don’t be afraid to play around and make your own shapes! Plus, hand-making the tapioca pearls is a good alternative because then you know exactly what you are putting in your body. There’s nothing processed, nothing faked. This is just about as natural as you can get with a drink like this.

With this recipe, you can really make it your own. You can swap out the matcha powder for strawberry ice cream or mango puree. You can even try green tea instead of black tea. Using almond or cashew milk instead of regular milk is super delicious as well!

What will I do better next time? My goal would probably be to make the boba way smaller. As you can from the video, I made some thicc balls, thicc enough I could barely get them up the straw. Oh well! We’re all still on a learning curve right? I’d also like to explore into the realm of Hong Kong milk teas. I recently came back from Hong Kong and apparently there is this super famous shop named Lan Fong Yuen on Hong Kong Island that will filter your tea through a woman’s stocking! Because its such a fine sieve, the tea will come out silky smooth. They also will add in some evaporated milk I believe. Stay tuned for a new recipe soon!

Note: I was so lost when making the boba, so the recipe is one I adapted from TaiwanCooking on YouTube.

  • enough for 4 people
  • 30 minutes
  • 45 minutes

ingredients

Tapioca Pearls

  • 5/6 cups (100 g) tapioca starch
  • 1/8 cups (40 g) brown sugar
  • 1/4 cups (65 ml) water

Milk Tea

  • 3 cups of water
  • 2 tbsp of condensed milk
  • 1/8 cups of granulated sugar
  • 1 1/2 cups of milk (I prefer whole)
  • 5 bags of black tea

Flavors (Optional)

  • 2 tbsp hot water
  • 2 tbsp flavoring powder

directions

Tapioca Pearls

  1. Whisk together the brown sugar and water until the sugar has dissolved.
  2. Pour the liquid mixture into the tapioca starch slowly while stirring the starch.
  3. Use hands or a spatula to combine the wet with the dry ingredients. The mixture should be malleable but not fully able to hold its shape, kind of like a drier version of oobleck.
  4. Boil water
  5. Take a piece of the mix, about 3/4 the size of your palm and toss it in the pot.
  6. Once the piece starts to float, fish it out and place it back with the rest of the concoction.
  7. Mix together until a dough begins to form, don’t be afraid to be messy!
  8. Sprinkle more tapioca starch on the table before you begin to knead the dough so that it won’t stick.
  9. Once the dough has a uniform consistency, break it into sizable pieces.
  10. Line a bowl with more tapioca starch.
  11. Break off a small piece and roll the dough between your palms into marble sizes, tossing them into the bowl.
  12. When you are finished, simmer a pot of water.
  13. Toss in the balls and turn up the heat. It is a good sign when the balls begin to float.
  14. When the water comes to a boil, let it boil for 10 minutes
  15. Turn off the heat and put the lid on the pot, letting the balls steam for 15 minutes
  16. Strain the boba into a separate bowl and add a tablespoon of brown sugar. Give the pearls a nice toss.

Milk Tea

  1. Bring 2 cups of drinkable water to a simmer and toss in the tea bags.
  2. Let the tea boil for 5 minutes and then let it steep for 10 minutes.
  3. While it steeps, pour in the third cup of water with the sugar.
  4. Fish out the tea and whisk in the milk and condensed milk, then let the mixture steep for another 5 minutes. The condensed milk contributes most to the sweetness of the tea, so add as much or as little as you prefer.
  5. Strain the milk tea into a serving container and refrigerate for at least 2 hours.

Preparations

  1. (Optional) Mix 1/2 tablespoon of matcha/cocoa/ube powder with 3 tablespoons of water until the powder has dissolved
  2. Pour the flavoring into a serving cup, topping off with the milk tea. Mix together with a spoon.
  3. Add in the tapioca pearls.
  4. (Optional) Add ice.

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