If you haven’t already heard about bubble tea, expect to find out about it soon.
This is a very popular sweetened drink that has its origins in Asia. It’s a mixture of sweetened tea, natural flavors, as well as a layer of tapioca, also known as “pearls”.
It looks like bubbles as they come up from the straw.
Hence the name bubble tea! If you’ve ever wanted to try it yourself, you’ll also learn how to make bubble tea at home!
Here’s How to Make Bubble Tea at Home
Other names include “Boba”, pearl drink, ball drink, pearl shake, or tapioca tea.
It is served cold with an extra-wide straw for sucking up the chewy Boba and is available in most tea shops offering extensive menus and flavors.
In the following article, we’ll take a look at some of the benefits of bubble tea and why you should be drinking it.
Bubble tea is a highly caffeinated drink, also known as Boba tea.
It is also referred to as a Zhen chu nai cha in Mandarin and is a sugary drink made from tea, syrup, milk, and very noticeable tapioca balls.
This amazing tea has its roots in 1980s Taiwan. However, it has since become somewhat of a global sensation.
The boba tea sensation started off at the Chen Shui Tang tea shop in the city of Taichung, where the owner of this innovation was selling oolong tea.
Ultimately the owner of this idea wanted to change the way people drank tea and experimented by using traditional milk tea in a cocktail shaker with ice.
The Bubble tea craze takes off!
Much to her surprise, the tea became so popular, and this became one of the best sellers in the shop. Ultimately people started calling it “bubble tea”.
The name is synonymous with the way the tea looks and the thick layer of foam that forms on the top of the drink. Additionally, the pearls or large tapioca balls float to the top as you suck it up through the straw.
This innovation in the tea industry lead to other Asian countries and communities worldwide. It was suddenly adopted in popularity in mainstream North America in 2014.
Competition arose in the tea and drinks market and which called for more exotic flavors of bubble tea such as Jasmine milk tea, Taro milk tea, avocado milk tea, and mango green tea. The toppings included can be anything from aloe jelly to brown sugar panna cotta and tapioca seeds.
Ultimately, this tea was made popular because it tastes amazing, not to mention having a range of health benefits.
Recipes for How to Make Boba Tea at Home
Bubble tea is probably one of the best things to drink during the summer.
This amazing drink originated in Taiwan and consists of sweet tea with milk and contains the signature tapioca balls.
The drink is available in a variety of flavors such as plain tea, black or jasmine tea, fruit flavors such as honeysuckle and strawberry as well as taro which is a root vegetable used in Asian dishes.
Bubble tea is available in various tea house chains; however, some people find this version a little too sweet for their liking.
Can I make bubble tea at home?
The good news is that you can learn how to make bubble tea in the comfort of your own home quickly and easily.
While there are lots of bubble tea recipes available, below we’ll be taking a look at three of the most popular and easy to make bubble tea recipes.
So why should you make bubble tea at home, when you can just go out and buy one from the store?
Well, the honest answer is that it is super simple to make your own bubble tea, and it is healthier as well.
This is especially if you are into fruity flavors. In most cases, tea houses use syrup instead of real fruit, and if you make your own bubble tea you can use the real deal. So it really is a no-brainer.
Additionally, it’s much cheaper to make your own bubble tea at home using a few ingredients than paying someone to make it for you.
Lastly, it’s undoubtedly one of the most comforting things to whip up a batch of this homemade bubble tea, then put your feet up and relax while sipping on it.
Follow these recipes and you’ll be making bubble tea at home in no time!
What you’ll need
Tapioca pearls is one of the main ingredients since you are definitely going to use it irrespective of what type of bubble tea you make. The truth is you can’t make bubble tea without the aforementioned bubbles.
It can be purchased online or from any local Asian grocery store.
You also need wide straws to accommodate the pearls, and these can be purchased online or at Asian grocery stores too.
Plain bubble tea
For plain bubble tea, you’ll need the following ingredients:
- 1 cup of tea or flavored iced tea
- Lemon slice
- 3 to 4 ice cubes
Milk bubble tea
For milk bubble tea, you will need:
- 1 cup of unsweetened black or green tea
- 1/2 a cup of milk or almond milk
- 3 to 4 ice cubes
Fruity bubble tea
Ingredients:
- Approx 1 cup of fresh fruit of your choice such as strawberries
- 1 cup of plain milk or almond milk
- 1 tablespoon of honey
- Approx 1 cup of ice cubes
Instructions:
- Bring 8 cups of water to a boil over high heat in a large saucepan. Then add the pearls and stir gently until they begin to float on top of the water.
- Then reduce the heat to medium and cook for approximately 40 minutes while stirring occasionally.
- Thereafter remove the saucepan from the heat, cover and let it sit for another 20 minutes.
- Once you’ve done this, you can drain the pearls and transfer the tapioca to a small bowl.
- Add honey, fully coat the tapioca balls and then set aside for five minutes.
- Once you’ve done this, divide the pearls equally into 3 glasses.
Once you’ve done this, in the next steps, you can create plain, milk or fruity bubble tea by adding in the rest of the ingredients.
Remember that you need a wide straw to suck up the tapioca and remember to enjoy.
Bubble tea flavors
Bubble tea is available in an astonishing number of types and flavors.
This popular milk tea drink that originates from Taiwan has taken the wall by storm. When it comes to bubble tea, you will find a variety of fruit flavors to slightly more adventurous bubble tea flavors like avocado.
It’s easy to make it home, and you’ll find bubble tea shops throughout the world. It’s a happy drink, and it’s fun to make and enjoy as well.
Bubble tea has four elements that are used as the foundation of the tea, and that is brewed tea, milk, flavor or sweetener and tapioca pearls.
There may be a few extra ingredients; however, any of these four can be swapped out or eliminated completely. When it comes to the type of flavors and types of bubble tea, the list is endless.
The Possibilities are Endless!
It can take on almost any taste that you can imagine, and you can use any combination of ingredients, so basically there are endless possibilities when it comes to bubble tea.
Perhaps the main flavor in bubble tea comes from the powder with a syrup. Coffee houses have a selection of flavor bottles to flavor lattes. Bubble tea shops are fully stocked with every imaginable syrup and powder flavor.
The most popular flavoring options are syrups since they easily mix into the cold milk tea.
Some of the most popular flavors include tropical fruits. It’s important to know that bubble tea flavors that include sour fruit should not include mocha.
The acids in these foods will ultimately cause the milk to curdle, and that’s one of the things that all bubble tea drinkers want to avoid at all costs.
With an endless list of flavors, where should you start?
Well, it is suggested that you start of the most popular fruit bubble tea flavors since they are popular and it must be for a good reason.
Some of the most popular fruit bubble tea flavors include:
- Plum
- Strawberry
- Honeydew
- Lychee
- Passion Fruit
- Peach
- Mango
Savory bubble tea:
- Taro
- Coffee
- Ginger
- Pudding (e.g., chocolate, custard, mango, or taro)
- Almond
Fruity flavors:
- Pineapple
- Watermelon
- Avocado
- Banana
- Jackfruit
- Grape
- Green Apple
- Kiwi
- Lemon
- Cantaloupe
- Coconut
For the discerning palate:
- Sesame
- Violet
- Barley
- Chocolate
- Mocha
- Rose
- Caramel
- Lavender
Bubble tea ingredients
The four main ingredients are brewed tea, milk, tapioca balls and fruit.
Bubble tea health benefits
Tea on its own is an invigorating and healthy drink. Bubble tea has many health benefits and here are some of them:
Boosts energy
Due to the amount of sugar in bubble tea as well as the caffeine content found in the black, green and white tea, this popular tea drink provides a major boost of energy.
Then again, you don’t want to overdo it on this beverage since it has a high calorie and sugar content.
If you use natural sugar, it will still provide you with a kick start to your metabolism.
Strengthens immune system
Green tea is one of the most popular flavors contained in bubble tea.
It contains lots of antioxidants such as polyphenols and catechins all of which strengthens the immune system and keeps oxidative stress at bay.
If you use fresh fruits in bubble tea such as kiwi, strawberry and mango, you also get a healthy dose of vitamin C, further boosting your immune system.
Prevents free radicals
The polyphenols found in green bubble tea has impressive effects on free radicals that are simply roaming around your body.
These free radicals can lead to chronic diseases such as cancer and cause mutation as well.
Adding green tea to your drink and diet is always a good choice.
Good cardiovascular health
In most cases, sugary drinks and diets are not good for your cardiovascular health.
However, in the case of bubble tea, if you prepare a healthy version of it, the anti-inflammatory compounds and antioxidants found in the tea may help to maintain a healthy heart and body.
DIY bubble tea
Although the drink is given the name bubble tea, it can be made with or without tea.
Tea simply adds a completely different taste to the drink. It also comes with lots of health benefits if you are using black, green or white tea.
However, if you’re not generally a fan of tea, then you can substitute it with water.
Alternatively can also add black tea flavored powder to the recipe. Bubble tea drinks can be served as a smoothie instead of using a shaker cup. In order to do this, you need to add all the ingredients into a blender until it is smooth.
Ultimately there are lots of ingredients that you can use however the brewed tea, milk, fruit and of course tapioca are fundamental ingredients that you would need to have on hand irrespective of what type of bubble tea you’re choosing to make.
