Pearl Tea Or Bubble Tea: The Best Rated Recipes

Straight from Taiwan, pearl tea has everything to appeal to fans of healthy and fruity drinks. Created in the early 1980s, this bubble tea, also called zenzou, boba or Bubble tea, has since seduced the whole world with its small tapioca pearls subtly mixed with syrup and milk. Its taste evolves and bends according to the wishes of each one. To prove it to you, the editorial staff have found the best-rated recipes for you to fully enjoy the exotic drink and all the variations it has to offer. So we put the milkshake aside and try the sweet Taiwanese drink.

The best homemade Asian pearl tea recipes to try

As a rule of thumb, to make homemade Asian pearl tea at home, you need three basic ingredients: tea, milk, and tapioca pearls. As for the choice of tea, black tea is among the most suitable options to give rich character to the drink. Milk, on the other hand, leaves more freedom. Whole milk or vegetable milk? Personalize your tea as you see fit. Oat, cashew, coconut or almond milk… soft and silky Asian pearls go with everything! However, the drink becomes richer and creamier with whole milk. Finally, you can find tapioca pearls in the Asian grocery store closest to you or in supermarkets, such as Carrefour and Auchan. Otherwise, you can still order them online.

A few tips before you start …

• For those of you who follow a slimming diet, know that tapioca balls are indeed very high in calories. A good light and lower calorie alternative would therefore be coconut jelly. Cut the latter into small cubes and replace the tapioca balls.
• To take full advantage of Asian pearls, find straws that are large enough. If you can't find any, a simple spoon will do just fine. You can also find ready-made pearl tea in Asian grocery stores.
• Those residing in Paris, you are probably aware that there are a good number of bars and tearooms specializing in Bubble tea.
• Last, but not least, watch out for pearls that little ones can choke on.

Boba Tea: the traditional recipe

Ingredients:

• 1 C. black tea
• 200 ml of water
• 30 ml of the syrup of your choice
• 50 g of tapioca pearls
• 3 tbsp. tablespoon of cow or vegetable milk

Preparation:

In a saucepan, heat the water without it boiling. Transfer it to another container and let the black tea steep there, then set aside in the refrigerator. In the same saucepan, boil water. When it boils, lower the heat and pour in the tapioca pearls. Leave to cook for about 30 minutes. At the end of this time, drain the pearls and put them in a bowl. Pour the syrup over it and set aside again in the refrigerator. Once cool, put the tea and pearls in a tall glass and pour in the milk. Add a few ice cubes, if desired!

Tip:

To give a touch of color to your drink, do not hesitate to color your pearls by opting for a food coloring during the second step of the preparation. And when you start to get bored of black tea, replace it with iced green tea.

Bubble tea with matcha tea

Ingredients for 2 glasses:

• 60 g of tapioca pearls
• 3 tbsp. tablespoons of rice syrup or honey
• 2 tbsp. matcha powder green tea
• 500 ml of cooled green tea
• 2 tbsp. soy milk or cow's milk
• ice cubes

Preparation:

Start by cooking the tapioca pearls by bringing 500 ml of water to a boil in a saucepan. Then add the tapioca pearls and cook for 15 minutes, stirring regularly. Let stand for another 10 minutes in the pan before draining. In the meantime, dilute the rice syrup with a little water and immerse the pearls in it. Let cool. In a shaker, put the matcha, green tea, milk, rice syrup, and ice cubes. Shake vigorously. Divide the pearls between 2 tall glasses, and pour in the iced tea. Here !

Tapioca pearl and mango iced tea

Ingredients:

• 1 cup of tapioca pearls
• 3 tbsp. tablespoon of sugar
• 2 cups of green or black tea
• 2 cups of mango nectar
• 2 cups of cow or vegetable milk

Preparation:

Cook the Asian pearls in a saucepan filled with 2.5 liters of water for 15 minutes. Remove from the heat and let the pearls sit for 5 minutes. Rinse under cold water. Prepare the tea and add the sugar, nectar and milk to it. Mix everything well. Divide the pearls among 4 glasses, put ice cubes and fill with the milk-tea-nectar preparation. As for the mango nectar, please do not replace it with mango juice, as the latter will only curdle the drink. For a vegan version, we obviously swap cow's milk for almond milk.

Boba tea without milk: pineapple, kiwi, mint and Asian pearls

Ingredients for 4 glasses:

• 6 teaspoons of Asian pearls
• Green food coloring
• Granulated sugar
• 400 ml mint tea
• 1 banana
• Ice cubes
• 1 ripe pineapple
• spinach leaves
• mint leaves
• 3-4 kiwis
• basil leaves

Preparation:

Put the pearls in 750 ml of boiling water, adding a little green food coloring and powdered sugar. Cook for 30 minutes, stirring regularly. Take from the heat and drain. Then prepare the mint tea and let it cool. In the blender, mix the banana, part of the mint tea and some ice cubes. Cut the pineapple into pieces and add them as you go in the food processor along with the kiwis, basil, mint and spinach leaves and the rest of the tea. Divide the pearls among the glasses and cover them with the vitamin preparation. Vegan and versatile, this recipe can be prepared with green tea as well as black tea. Ditto for food coloring. Green, blue, red or yellow, you are spoiled for choice.

Hot chocolate bubble tea

Ingredients:

• 1 handful of tipiak beads
• 2-3 tbsp. instant coffee
• 150 ml green / black tea / cinnamon
• 1 liter of whole / vegetable milk
• 1 bar of dark chocolate
• 2 tbsp. heavy cream
• sugar
• vanilla extract
• Ice Cream With Vanilla

Preparation:

As always, start by cooking the bubbles in a saucepan filled with 750 ml of boiling water for 30 minutes. Add the soluble coffee and stir. Take from the heat and drain. Prepare the cinnamon tea in 150 ml of water. Then heat the milk over low heat in a saucepan and add the chocolate cut into pieces. Stir gently for a few minutes or until the mixture is smooth. Pour in the cinnamon tea, heavy cream, sugar and vanilla extract. Put the tipiak pearls in the glasses, add a scoop of ice cream and chocolate milk. Instant coffee and ice cream, you can easily replace them with Whiskey Cream and homemade ice cream.

Blueberry pearl tea

Ingredients:

• 1 handful of bubbles
• red or purple food coloring
• Granulated sugar
• 200 ml of black tea
• 200 g blueberries
• 150 g strawberries / raspberries
• 400-450 ml semi-skimmed / almond milk
• ice cubes
• 1 half bag of vanilla sugar
• 1 C. agave syrup
• mint leaves
• 1 scoop of lime sorbet

Preparation:

After having concocted the bubbles, according to the manner indicated above, continue with the preparation of black tea. Let it cool down and mix the blueberries and raspberries in the food processor. Add the milk, sugar, agave syrup and a few ice cubes. Mix again and stir in the mint leaves and lime sorbet. Mix briefly one last time. Finally, put a few pearls at the bottom of each glass and pour in the preparation. Replace the agave syrup with honey, vary the food coloring and swap black tea for mint tea to add character to the drink. For guaranteed freshness, prefer frozen fruit.