I wouldn’t recommend cooking the tapioca pearls more than an hour ahead because the pearls harden quite quickly.If you’re looking to try out a new type of drink during the summer season, you can bet that the bubble tea drink is one of the best choices out there. Also, you can make the simple syrup several days ahead. You can steep the tea 1 or 2 days before and store it in the refrigerator. CAN YOU MAKE THIS BUBBLE TEA RECIPE AHEAD? Some people might want more syrup in their drink. Typically, I use about 1 1/2 tablespoons of simple syrup for each drink, just so it tastes barely sweet. Once the simple syrup has cooled, bottle it up, and it’s ready to be used. Cook until the sugar dissolves and turn off the heat. Combine 1/2 cup of water and 1/2 cup of sugar in a saucepan and heat to a boil. You’ll probably need at least 2 tablespoons of honey for every 2 cups of tea.īecause everyone has different preferences for sweetness, I recommend preparing simple syrup and having each person add however much simple syrup they want into their drinks. Of course, this will mean that you’ll have to approximate how much sweetener you’ll need before the bubble tea is ready for tasting. However, if you use honey (or any thick syrup), it is best if you mix in the honey while the tea is hot so that the honey can dissolves evenly.

WHAT KIND OF SWEETENER DO YOU USE?Īny kind of sweetener works. It felt as if my mouth was coated with a thin layer of coconut fat.

I tried using canned coconut milk once, and the coconut milk left a funny feeling in my mouth. You can also make a dairy-free version with nut milks or soy milk. Perhaps using half-and-half is a good compromise? While the flavor of the tea was even better than the version I made with whole milk, it felt too decadent.

I tried a version of the bubble tea with heavy cream. I prefer using whole milk the most because the rich flavor makes the beverage tastier overall. WHAT KIND OF MILK DO YOU USE? CAN THIS BE DAIRY FREE? Instead, use a slotted spoon to remove the pearls from the saucepan, and leave any excess pearls in the saucepan. In other words, don’t drain the hot water once you are done cooking the pearls. However, if you leave the pearls in their cooking water, the pearls retain their soft texture for a longer time. The pearls stiffen as they cool, so they do not keep well overnight. One important thing to note about these quick-cooking tapioca pearls is that you should only cook as many as you need. (For reference, slower cooking tapioca pearls can take up to an hour to cook.) You can find these tapioca pearls in Asian supermarkets or on Amazon. I like that these pearls cook quickly, but the texture could be better. I typically use this brand of tapioca pearls, which cooks in about 5 minutes. WHAT KIND OF TAPIOCA PEARLS DO YOU USE FOR BUBBLE TEA RECIPE? Another tea blend I recommend is equal parts Assam and Ceylon tea leaves. I used Numi’s Chinese Breakfast Tea for the recipe, but any strong tea will work. Because you will water down the tea with milk and ice cubes, you want a strong tasting tea that will retain its flavor. The best kinds of tea to use are those that have a robust flavor, such as black or jasmine tea. The good thing is that you can make bubble tea at home easily! In this bubble tea recipe, all you really need is tea, tapioca pearls, milk, and a sweetener. While I enjoy drinking bubble tea, I don’t particularly like the ones sold in the teahouse chains because they contain too much sugar. (You can read more about the history of bubble tea here). Bubble tea comes in many flavors: plain tea flavors such as black or jasmine tea fruit flavors such as strawberry or honeydew and even taro, which is a root vegetable commonly used in Asian dishes. Originating from Taiwan, bubble tea (波霸奶茶/珍珠奶茶) usually consists of sweetened tea with milk and the characteristic chewy tapioca balls, also known as boba (波霸). Bubble tea is one of my favorite things to sip on during the summer.

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