do you like Bubble Tea?
If you’ve never tried it, bubble tea is a Taiwanese drink that is sweet milk tea with varied toppings. Some have boba (aka bubbles or tapioca pearls), popping boba, jellies…. I have only ever tried boba. It is a semi-flavorless, chewy snack that you can slurp through your over-sized straw throughout your drink.
So funny because the bubbles don’t taste like much, but I love them! It’s just fun and satisfying to drink haha! Liking bubble tea will depend on if you like tea (not southern sweet tea.. like earl grey or jasmine or oolong etc.) and milk. If you like both, then you’ll probably enjoy this since you can adjust the sweetness to your liking! You can also buy pre-made tapioca pearls(bubbles) if you’re not up to making them yourself.
Step-by-Step Tapioca Pearls
After adding boiling water* to your tapioca flour, you’re going to grate fresh beet onto a paper towel. (If you want your tapioca pearls colored, totally optional. I was just feeling festive!) Using your paper towel like a cheese cloth, squeeze the beet over your dough.
*Note: If your dough will not form, it is likely that your water was not hot enough. I place my bowl of tapioca right beside the stove so I can add the boiling water immediately. Scooping the water out and walking across the kitchen cooled my water off so quickly that I had to start over.
Knead the beet juice in your dough.
When your dough is ready it will stick together well, but not to your hands! If it is crumbling apart, add more boiling water (tsp at a time). If it is sticky, add more tapioca flour(tsp at a time).
I used a “smidgen” measuring spoon to cut/scoop out the perfect size pearls! If you do not have these measuring spoons, you can roll dough out on a flat surface until it is about the size of a normal-sized straw. From here, you can cut it into small squares.
Here are my tapioca pearls after smoothing/rounding them. I didn’t stress the perfectly round shape and they were perfectly fine! Add pearls to your medium pot of boiling water and boil for 5-10 minutes. Drain, soak in honey, make tea, enjoy! The rest of the instructions are found below! 🙂
Honey Matcha Bubble Tea
Ingredients
Tapioca Pearls
- 6 tbsp Tapioca Flour
- 2-4 tbsp Boiling Water start with 2, adding more if needed
- 2 tbsp Grated Beet optional
- 6 cups Water for cooking tapioca pearls
- 2 tbsp Honey for soaking pearls in
Honey Matcha Green Milk Tea
- 12 oz Hot Water
- 4 oz Milk of Choice I used half&half
- 3 tbsp Honey
- 1 tsp Matcha Green Tea Powder
- 1/2 tsp Vanilla Extract
Instructions
Tapioca Pearls
- Bring a small pot of water to boil.
- Add tapioca flour to small bowl and set beside/near stove.
- Add 2 tbsp boiling water to tapioca and mix immediately with a fork.
- As soon as you can without burning yourself, used hand to mix and begin to knead into a dough.
- Using a paper towel like a cheese cloth, squeeze grated beet over bowl to add beet juice for color! Continue to knead dough.
- If it is too powdery, add more boiling water (a tsp at a time) and knead until a nice putty-like dough forms.
- If it is too sticky, add more tapioca (a tsp at a time) and knead until a nice putty-like dough forms.
- Roll dough on flat surface into shape of normal-sized straws.
- Cut dough in small squares or use smidgen measuring spoon to cut out perfect size.
- Use hands to smooth/round tapioca pearls.
- Fill medium-sized pot with water and bring to boil.
- Once boiling, add tapioca pearls and boil for 5-10 minutes. You can take them out anytime after 5 minutes, just depends on how soft you want them.
- Drain tapioca pearls and add to a small bowl of honey to soak until your milk tea is ready.
Honey Matcha Green Milk Tea
- Heat water in kettle and add 12 oz to measuring cup.
- Add matcha green tea powder and stir until mixed well.
- Stir in vanilla and honey until mixed well, then add milk.
Drink Assembly
- Add 1/3-1/2 (depending on if you use for 2 or 3 servings) of your tapioca pearls to large cup. Fill cup 3/4 of the way with ice. Pour in milk tea to desired level. Grab your over-sized straw and enjoy!
Have you tried this!?
Let me know in the comments if you made this at home! What is your favorite bubble tea flavor? Mine is taro!
For more recipes, click here!
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