The boba isn’t the only ingredient that differentiates Boba Tea from other popular teas, the entire preparation of both the tea itself and the tapioca are unique. The tapioca balls are typically cooked, drained and kept in sugary syrup until served. Original Boba Tea was prepared with hot Chinese black tea, the tapioca balls, condensed milk, and honey. As its popularity grew so did the variations. These variations started with hints of fruit, and eventually made their own category replacing the tea for actual fruit. Flavors can also be added, keeping green or black tea as a base, using powder, syrup, and/or pulp, adding milk, and cooked boba!

The boba balls are made from cassava root, and are boiled and cooled before served. While the balls themselves do not contain a taste, soaking them in honey or sugar solutions allows the boba to enhance the flavor of the tea. Cocunut jelly, lychee jelly, coffee jelly, and rainbow jelly are also common substitutes for boba.

While the specific tea house to introduce the treasured Boba Tea is unknown, the origins have been narrowed down to either Liu Han Chie or the Hanlin Teahouse. Chie worked for the Chun Shui Tang teahouse in the early 1980s, and experimented with cold milk tea by adding fruit, syrup, candied yams, and tapioca balls. The Hanlin Teahouse, owned by Tu Tsong He, makes their tea with white fenyuan, which look like pearls and thus would’ve yielded the term “Pearl Tea.” Shortly after, He substituted the white fenyuan with black, which are more similar to the balls used today. Although the drink was not popular at first, the now very trendy tea slowly became well-known in most parts of East and Southeast Asia during the 1990s.
On the tail end of the 90’s Boba Tea hit the U.S. and exploded in the major cities with high concentrations of Asian ethnicity. In the late 1990s, Boba Tea began to gain popularity in the major North American cities with large Asian populations, more specifically on both the West and East Coast. The trend first started in the city of San Gabriel, California, and then quickly spread like wildfire through Southern California. Boba Tea can also be found in major European cities such as London and Paris, and even in Canada (specifically in Vancouver, British Columbia, and Toronto, Ontario, where there are high concentrations of Asian immigrants and descendants).
While creating your own Boba Tea may not be the least time consuming recipe you’ll attempt, it certainly isn’t the most complicated. Once you nail the steps, you’ll be coming up with your own original brews and whipping up Boba Tea for anyone who’ll take it! Currently, All – In – One powders are available along with several other variations of recipes, but we’ve selected a recipe for the original pearl milk tea, Green Jasmine Milk Tea. Outside of serving as a great reason for a social gathering, the added joy of being able to make your soon to be favorite drink just the way YOU like it makes recipe well worth the initial investment of time! There are four major steps: Brewing the Tea, Cooking the Boba, Preparing the Sugar Syrup Solution, and Bringing together all the components in one extraordinarily awesome glass of Boba Tea!

Cooking the Boba!

For this step you will need:
A stockpot or large pot
1 Cup of Tapioca Pearls
7 Cups of Water

1. Bring water to a boil in the pot you’ve selected.
2. Once water is at a steady boil, add the tapioca pearls.
3. Boil pearls for approximately 30 to 45 minutes, or until they are soft and can be easily chewed. Make sure to stir occasionally to prevent sticking.
4. Remove pot from heat.
5. Let the pearls sit for 30 minutes, in covered pot.
6. Drain the pearls and rinse with cold water until the water runs clear.
7. Place pearls into a container with sugar syrup solution.
Wait for a few minutes, to allow the pearls to absorb some of the taste from the sugar syrup, before serving!

Preparing the Sugar Syrup Solution!

You may want to perform this step while the tapioca pearls are cooking. For this step you will need:

A Sauce Pan
4 Cups White Sugar
4 Cups Water

1. Bring water to a boil in saucepan.
2. Add the sugars.
3. Reduce heat and stir until the sugar is completely dissolved.
4. Remove from heat, and pour over Boba pearls until they are full and evenly covered.

Brew the Tea!

This step is probably the most simple of all four. Purchase Jasmine Green Tea and follow the brewing instructions for the tea you select.

Bring it All Together!

This step is the last step in the sequence, and can not be done while completing any of the previous 3 steps. In other words, you have to wait until the first 3 steps are complete in order to begin step four. For this step you will need:

Stainless Steel Cocktail Shaker Cup
Between 1 and 2 Cups Cubed Ice
The Aforementioned Ingredients

1. Fill the Cocktail Shaker 80% - 90% full with ice.
2. Add 4 tbsp. of Refined Creamer Powder (this can also be substituted with two shots of milk).
3. Pour 1 cup of brewed tea into the shaker.
4. Add two ounces of sugar syrup solution.
5. Close the shaker cup, securing all three parts, and shake vigorously for at least 12 seconds.
6. Pour into a cup and add your preferred amount of boba!

Top off with a big fat straw, and enjoy!