Chinese Bubble tea is one of those things that was a distinct part of my childhood. I remember the very first time I had a strawberry smoothie with chewy “bubbles,” or tapioca pearls and that awesome fat straw (my tiny little kid brain could barely handle the awesomeness of having a straw triple the size of what I got on my Capri Sun pouch. I would actually steal extra ones and horde them in our kitchen…Don’t judge me.).
Eventually it got to a point where I was constantly on the prowl for bubble tea.
Going to have lunch with the grandparents in Flushing? I was scanning for bubble tea.
Having lunch in Chinatown with cousins? Who wants bubble tea?!!
Spending an afternoon in the city with my mom? How far is Chinatown anyways? Because…you know…we could grab some bubble tea.
Of course, bubble tea has had a bit of an explosion in popularity, so it’s not as hard to find as it was when I was 10 years old, but it is harder to find the high quality stuff that’s not entirely made of some mystery powder sluice juice and cloyingly sweetened with artificial sugars. Plus, my discovery a few years back that you could actually BUY the black tapioca pearls at Asian grocery store makes this recipe a must for any ardent bubble tea lover.
Over the years I’ve cycled through preferences for different flavors–strawberry smoothies, taro, and citrusy green tea, and while I do enjoy those, nothing quite compares with the original black milk tea–strong black tea and a hit of creamy milk, slightly sweetened to perfection.
Bubble Tea: Recipe Instructions
First, boil your water. After it reaches a rolling boil, turn off the heat and let sit for 10 minutes or so. Apparently, Chinese tea gurus say that intensely hot boiled water zaps all the nutrients out of the tea leaves, ergo the short cooling process prior to brewing the tea. (As with most things related to Chinese cooking that my mother says that other people say, I can’t really confirm whether or not this is actually true, but better safe than sorry…)
Put the tea in your favorite kettle (or a large mixing bowl), making sure that it’s either in a tea bag (you can actually buy these disposable tea filter bags and fill them with your own selection of teas!) or a few metal tea infusers. (If you haven’t got any of this equipment, you can also just strain the tea prior to adding the half and half.) Add the hot water and let steep for 15 minutes.
Now you’re ready to add the sugar. Mix the tea and sugar thoroughly until the sugar is completely dissolved.
Then add the half and half. For anyone who’s squeamish about higher fat dairy, it’s really not a lot per serving, as this serves four. If you want to sub in regular milk, go right ahead, but the flavor of the finished product is truly authentic with the half and half!
Put the tea in the fridge to chill for at least 1 hour. This is preferred over adding ice, so that the tea doesn’t get diluted. Also, more authentic! When your tea is close to the optimal temperature, break out your black tapioca pearls aka Bubbles aka “Boba”s.
Preparing the bubbles entails boiling them in water; you can follow the package instructions, or you can check out our post on how to cook tapioca pearls. Spoon out 1/4 cup of bubbles per glass and pour the finished tea for a delightfully sweet and refreshing drink!
Bubble Tea Recipe, A Chinese Favorite
Ingredients
- 4 1/2 cups boiled water
- 1/4 cup good black tea leaves (black tea is technically translated as "red tea" in Chinese; this'll help if you're fumbling with Chinese tea packages, as we were!)
- 4 1/2 tablespoons sugar
- Black tapioca pearls aka Bubbles aka "Boba" (1/4 cup per glass)
- 3/4 cup half and half
Instructions
- First, boil your water. After it reaches a rolling boil, turn off the heat and let sit for 10 minutes or so. Apparently, Chinese tea gurus say that intensely hot boiled water zaps all the nutrients out of the tea leaves, ergo the short cooling process prior to brewing the tea. (As with most things related to Chinese cooking that my mother says that other people say, I can't really confirm whether or not this is actually true, but better safe than sorry...)
- Put the tea in your favorite kettle (or a large mixing bowl), making sure that it's either in a tea bag (you can actually buy these and fill them with your own selection of teas!) or a few metal tea infusers. (If you haven't got any of this equipment, you can also just strain the tea prior to adding the half and half.) Add the hot water and let steep for 15 minutes.
- Now you're ready to add the sugar. Mix the tea and sugar thoroughly until the sugar is completely dissolved. Then add the half and half. For anyone who's squeamish about higher fat dairy, it's really not a lot per serving, as this serves four. If you want to sub in regular milk, go right ahead, but the flavor of the finished product is truly authentic with the half and half!
- Put the tea in the fridge to chill for at least 1 hour. This is preferred over adding ice, so that the tea doesn't get diluted. Also, more authentic! When your tea is close to the optimal temperature, break out your bubbles. Preparing the bubbles entails boiling them in water; you can follow the package instructions. Spoon out 1/4 cup of bubbles per glass and pour the finished tea for a delightfully sweet and refreshing drink!
nutrition facts
Hi! I’m always making milk tea at home but have found it to be so difficult to find a good tasting “red” or black tea. I probably have accumulated over 15 brands of tea bags/ loose tea leaves over the years. Are there any specific brands you can recommend?
Hi Amy, sorry I missed your comment back in March. That’s a really tough question! I have to say even I’ve had trouble finding teas that hit the sweet spot on strength and taste. Something I’ve been doing lately—not specific to bubble tea—hat I’ve been really enjoying is using two teabags per cuppa: one with more flavor like an earl gray and one really strong black tea. My current favorite is Yorkshire gold; PG Tips is solid too. Those provide less of a specific flavor profile but add the depth and strength that I yearn for.
Another brand that I really enjoy is Harney & Sons tea. I think it’s a good value. I personally can’t pay too much more than their average cost per tin. Fortnum and Mason is solid, but I think Harney & Sons gets a little more creative. As for Chinese brands there are so many it is hard to find a favorite!!!
I find that Yorkshire Gold has a really lovely flavor that almost tastes like there is some kind of fruit juice in the tea. I’ve tried the regular Yorkshire vs. Yorkshire Gold and the Yorkshire Gold is definitely better to my taste. It is worth paying a little more for it (it is less than a dollar more for the 250 gram package of the Yorkshire Gold vs. the regular Yorkshire tea). But that said, most loose leaf black teas give a really good result and end up being very inexpensive vs. going to a tea shop (at least that is the case here in the USA).
Good intel on the Yorkshire variants, Martin! Thanks for sounding off :)
Do you have a recipe for taro bubble tea? I would like to try a real taro tea rather than the powdered purple stuff.
Hi Michelle, we will work on it :-)
Do you have some sample name brands of good black tea leaves?
Fun fact:
bubble tea was invented in Taiwan, not China. Chinese loves it though (not trying to disagree the point in this article :) ).
Hence, there are lots of chained bubble tea shops from Taiwan offering the best and the most authentic bubble tea :D
For example,
TP tea, Yifang fruit tea, the Alley, Share Tea, Tiger Sugar, Gong Cha, Chatime, …etc.
which can also be found in US big cities such as LA, bay area, or New York.
And of course, if want to taste the best bubble tea, please come to Taiwan :D
Hi Hung-Ju, that’s right! Gong cha is my favorite! :)
Have you ever soaked the hot tapioca in a dark brown sugar syrup to soak up the flavor before adding to the tea?
Hi Marilyn, we haven’t tried that, but that sounds like a great idea! We prefer concentrating the sweetness in the tea itself, and then adding the pearls—plus, makes for a simpler recipe! :)
Hello!
I want to try this recipe! If I were to scale it down by half for 2 servings, should I still steep the tea for 15minutes?
Thank you!
Yes, keep the steeping time at 15 minutes.
I made this and scaled it up for about 150gallons of tea! People loved it. I used 2 tea bags (Mix of Tetley and Stassen Ceylon) and 1.5 tablespoons sugar per cup of tea and used water at 205F. Half and half really was a perfect balance against the sweet, strong tea
Sounds awesome, Lydia! :)
Hi :) ! I’m trying to work out what “half and half is.” Is it an American ingredient?? I’m in Australia, so have no idea what that term means.
Half and half is a milk/cream that we put in our coffee/tea/other drinks. When I look up substitutes of half and half it says “single cream”. I also read on Reddit that you can make half and half by equal parts of milk and cream.
Hope that helps some though I am not the author of this post. :)
I became addicted to the campus bubble tea shops while teaching in China. And, I’m just as crazy, I mean, adamant about finding a bubble tea (ok, what’s with “boba” anyway…sounds like boba fet from Star Wars) place when in a larger city (I live in a smaller mountain town and there are places that make bubble tea, but beware of the powdery junk like you mentioned) – I’m on the prowl for the Real McCoy. And while I occasionally go for a Taro tea or Thai tea, the original is still my favorite – the best. I’ve made my own bubble and Thai tea before, but this helps to have another recipe on hand! Thank you! Oh, and BTW, have you ever used sweetened condensed milk instead of sugar + half-n-half?
We hear you, Amy, many recipes are the result of making do with what one has. :-) Also, condensed milk is a good alternative to sugar and half-n-half.
Hello! I drank a lot of «milk tea» when I was in China. (in the Shaanxi and Sichuan provinces in my case) and I have been craving for it ever since. I tried hong kong style milk tea, but that wasn’t it at all. The closest I had in Canada was a nature bubble tea. Do you think if a do you recipe of bubble tea but without the tapioca pearls it will be similar to chinese milk tea?
Hi Elisabeth, I searched for Shaanxi, Sichuan, or Xi’an milk tea on baidu, but nothing came of it. Maybe you can try this milk tea recipe and leave the bubbles out. Hope it’s close to what you had :-)
Try using canned evaporated milk, that may give you the HKMT flavour you are searching for. I grew up in HK and we always used Carnations evaporated milk in our tea.