Taiwanese milk tea is a popular drink that was invented in the 1980s in Taichung, Taiwan. It’s a more famous tea-based beverage than Taiwan’s Starbucks. Add-ins such as tapioca (boba) pearls, coffee jelly, or lychee jelly are often mixed together to add some chewy texture to the beverage. Beverages vary depending on the quantity of each of the critical ingredients, preparation methods, and other ingredient inclusion. Taiwanese milk tea is internationally known as bubble tea or pearl milk tea.
Taiwanese Bubble Milk Tea
- Author: Romae Chanice Marquez
- Recipe Category: Drinks / Beverage
- Cuisine: Taiwanese
Bubble teas fall under two categories: teas and milk teas. Both varieties can be made with your choice of black, green, or oolong tea, and come in many flavors. The whole preparation and cooking time is 2 hours. This recipe is suitable for four drinks.
The Taiwanese Bubble Milk Tea is known to be one of the most refreshing drinks today. Photo credits: @ccc_life_love / Instgram.com.
Taiwanese Bubble Milk Tea Ingredients
- 10 bags of black tea
- 5 cups just-boiled water
- 3/4 cup quick-cooking tapioca pearls
- whole milk to serve, or your choice of milk
- your choice of sweetener, if you desire, you can use 1 cup water and 1 cup sugar
Taiwanese Bubble Milk Tea Instructions
Step 1: Get the tea ready. With the boiled water, steep the tea bags. Let the tea sit until it cools down to room temperature. When the tea is steeping, there is no need to remove the tea bags from the water. To speed up the cooling process, you can put the tea in the fridge.
Step 2: If you are using a sweetener, prepare the syrup. Add the water to a pan and heat the water. Add the sugar and whisk to dissolve the sugar. Remove the dish from the heat and allow the simple syrup to cool before being transferred to a container.
Step 3: Cook the pearls of tapioca. Bring 4 cups of water to boil and add the pearls of tapioca. Stir the pearls and allow them to cook for 5 minutes. The pearls are now expected to have risen to the top. Drain the pearls under cold water and rinse them. Place them in a bowl.
Step 4: In 4 large glasses, split the cooked tapioca pearls. First, add to each drink a few ice cubes. In each cup, pour 1 cup of tea. Then, add 1 1/2 tablespoons of milk and 1 1/2 tablespoons of simple syrup. Stir the bubble tea and taste it. Add more milk or simple syrup to your taste. Have a small pitcher of milk and a jar of simple syrup ready to adjust the drink to your preferences.
Taiwanese Bubble Milk Tea Additional Information
- Per serving, this recipe has 232 calories, 11 g of total fat, 56 g of carbohydrates, 36 g of sugar.
- This recipe will take about 2 hours to prepare.
- As prepared, this recipe will make four bubble tea drinks.
- Each of the bubble tea ingredients can vary greatly depending on the tea shop. Generally, black tea, green tea, oolong tea, and white tea are used.
Image source: ohhowcivilized.com
About Taiwanese Bubble Milk Tea
The predominant chewy spheres in bubble tea are tapioca balls (boba). Still, a wide range of other alternatives can be used to add similar texture to the beverage. Because of the brown sugar mixed with tapioca, they are usually black. Green pearls have a small hint of green tea flavor and are chewier than the typical balls of tapioca.
Conclusion
Today, there is a wide variety of flavors for the bubble milk tea. However, this recipe will help you start making your own traditional Taiwanese Bubble Milk Tea at home. For more international recipes, click here.
Featured Image: @bubbateamx / Instagram.com, @dabobabrunei / Instagram.com