Simply put, bubble tea (also known as boba tea, pearl milk tea or foam tea) is sweet beverage originated in Taiwan in early 1980s. The drink is based on tea or water, mixed with fruits and/or milk. The most characteristic ingredient of the tea is tapioca pearls floating at the bottom of the tea cup. You can find various types of the boba, depending on the tea house. Some of them use fruits with fruit syrup, others are served with ice. The possibilities of bubble tea preparation are nearly endless, limited only by your imagination, so you are free to experiment.

Bubble tea ingredients

Generally, there are two bubble tea categories: fruit-flavored tea and milk one. As with everything, the types usually mix with each other, so you can find hybrids, like fruit milk teas. Depending on what kind of drink you are up to, you will need various ingredients. I will list and describe here the basic components that you can find in boba tea world. The bubble tea ingredients are as follows:

• Liquid
• Flavor
• Sweetener
• Creamer
• Texture

Bubble tea`s liquid ingredient

Bubble tea can be made on filtered water, tea or milk base. Some boba gourmets recommend using filtered water as liquid component but originally bubble tea drink was supposed to be made on tea base, which I strongly recommend. The most commonly used teas are black tea (like Oolong or Earl Gray) and green jasmine tea. You likely have some taste preferences about them. For me, it took some time to get used to Chinese teas, but now I do like them more and more every single day. The good thing about these Chinese teas is that they have some nice health benefits. For example drinking Oolong tea regularly can prevent you from obesity and effectively assists you in weight lose efforts (for more information take a look at bubble tea nutrition profile). Oolong also helps your overall vitality, reducing high blood pressure and relieving physical and mental stress. Concluding, I urge you to experiment and find your best liquid deal. As you see bubble tea, if done using right ingredients, can be not only tasty but quite healthy drink either.

What about boba tea flavor?

Clean bubble tea (which I mean by tapioca pearls infused with tea) is tasty, but you can make some tweaks, to make boba tea delicious. To give your drink specific taste you can use cream flavored powder, juice syrups or fruits. There are many flavors available in the market, e.g. mango, hibiscus, blueberry, strawberry, yogurt, banana and so on. The juices and powders differ not only in flavor but in types as well so make sure you get the high-quality ones. I personally prefer to use only one type of flavor source, either juice or powder, but you can do some mixing if you like. You really can`t go wrong with any of these favor components during boba preparation process, as long as you maintain the appropriate proportions mixing with liquid.

Bubble tea, sweet!

Bubble tea is mostly sweet beverage because of cream flavored powders and syrups. If you like boba to be even sweeter, you can add white, brown or cane sugar. You can also experiment adding some honey. Doing so will bring out more flavor from the fruits making your bubble tea smoothie even more delicious.

Boba tea milk shakes

You can think about adding creamer to your bubble tea if you are coffee or shake lover! The creamer makes your drink denser. To obtain this try to add some milk, yogurt or even ice creams. If you can`t or don`t want to consume lactose, you can drink “milk” bubble tea as well, just use some of the non-diary creamers or soy milk.

Bubble tea texture, famous tapioca pearls

The texture is the “thing” where bubble tea stands out of other drinks. When you order boba the first time you may be surprised seeing black balls floating near the bottom of a cup. You can be even more surprised when you touch them; they feel like little hairy creatures. You can drink your bubble tea without worry – this little balls are famous tapioca pearls. Just in case you`re curious about more detail – tapioca pearls are produced from the root of a plant named cassava (also called yuca or manioc). Tapioca starch is passed through a sieve under pressure to form tapioca pearls. Pearl tapioca is commonly used all over the world in various desserts and drinks. The most popular ones are kolak, tapioca pudding, fruit slush, taho and of course bubble tea. You can find tapioca pearls online in two forms: semi-cooked and row. The row ones are harder to ship, because they sort of scatter, but on the other hand, they will stay chewy longer. Of course there are also alternatives for tapioca pearls; for example, you can make delicious bubble tea based on coconut jelly texture.

Bubble tea, the new tea culture revolution

Over the last 15 years or so, bubble tea has evolved from cheap, refreshing Taiwan beverage into some kind of fancy (cool, pop culture) business drink. Companies around the world are trying to make it more and more appealing for consumer. I am talking about decorative cups, bubble tea`s in wide variety of pastel colors, rainbow tapioca pearls and so on. The tea culture is moving ahead, bubble tea is setting the standards, be a part of it, taste it, you will love it.