Taiwanese Bubble Tea
featured in Delicious Asian Drinks
Craving bubble tea but don’t want to keep spending so much money on it? Making your own is really easy — and much more customizable. You can buy tapioca pearls or boba from Walmart or Amazon (or your local Taiwanese store) then make the tea with a blend of your favorite black tea, sweetener, and half and half or non-dairy substitute. Just add ice and a wide straw, and you can have your favorite treat anytime!
Tasty Team
93% would make again
Total Time
1 hr 20 min
1 hr 20 min
Prep Time
1 hr
1 hr
Cook Time
20 minutes
20 min
Total Time
1 hr 20 min
1 hr 20 min
Prep Time
1 hr
1 hr
Cook Time
20 minutes
20 min
Ingredients
for 2 servings
Black Tea
- 2 cups water (480 g)
- 6 black tea bags
Tapioca Pearls and Brown Sugar Syrup
- ½ cup medium black tapioca pearls (50 g)
- 2 cups brown sugar (440 g)
- 1 cup hot water (240 mL)
Assembly
- ½ cup tapioca pearls (50 g), cooked
- ½ cup ice (30 g)
- brown sugar syrup, to taste
- 1 cup black tea (240 mL), chilled
- ¼ cup half & half (60 mL)
Special Equipment
- 2 wide-opening straws
Preparation
- In a medium pot over high heat, combine the water and tea bags. Bring to a boil, then remove the pan from the heat and let the tea cool to room temperature.
- Bring a medium pot of water to boil over high heat. Once the water is boiling, add the tapioca pearls and boil until softened, about 20 minutes.
- Drain the pearls through a strainer.
- Set the strainer with the pearls over a medium bowl. Add the brown sugar to the strainer and pour the hot water over.
- Stir to dissolve the brown sugar. Soak the pearls in brown sugar syrup for 30 minutes, then store the bubbles and syrup separately until ready to serve.
- Assemble the tea: Divide the pearls and ice between 2 glasses, then add the brown sugar syrup, tea, and half and half.
- Stir with a wide-opening straw, then serve.
- Enjoy!
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