The first time I had boba was in college. I had a Taiwanese friend who lived with her mom near campus, and one day she invited me over for bubble tea.
Her mom had made tapioca pearls completely from scratch, and when I arrived at their house, she was practically glowing with excitement to prepare the drinks for us. She had been looking forward to it all day, eager to share something special. With the cheerful anticipation of someone introducing boba to a first-timer, my friend handed me a tall glass of bubble milk tea along with a wide bubble tea straw.
I honestly had no idea what to expect.
The drink looked so pretty, and the glossy tapioca pearls peeked up from the bottom of the glass as if they were waiting for my reaction. Curious (and a little nervous), I took my first sip. I plunged the straw in, and instantly, the ice-cold, creamy tea combined with the sweet, chewy boba created a texture and flavor unlike anything I had ever tried before.
It was truly love at first sip.
That first experience left such an impression on me that milk tea boba will always have a special place in my heart. Even now, whenever I think of bubble tea, I’m reminded of that moment — the excitement, the sweetness, and the simple joy of trying something new for the first time.
Since then, I’ve discovered that bubble tea comes in so many delicious varieties, and I’ve grown to love experimenting with different flavors. There’s the refreshing frozen, slushy-like pineapple bubble tea, which is sweet, tart, and perfect for warm days. Matcha latte bubble tea is another favorite, with its earthy green tea richness balanced by creamy milk.
And one of my personal top picks has to be taro milk bubble tea.
Taro is a starchy root vegetable with a subtly sweet flavor and gentle notes of creamy vanilla and toasted nuts. It creates a wonderfully smooth and comforting drink. Many taro bubble teas also have that signature purple hue, often enhanced with the addition of purple sweet potato or ube, which deepens the color and adds even more flavor.
It’s such a beautiful and unique drink, and I’m definitely planning to recreate it at home soon.
Today, though, I’m sharing the classic iced milk tea bubble tea made with black tea — the perfect starting point if you’re new to boba. And even if you’re already a longtime bubble tea lover, this version remains a timeless favorite for a reason.
It’s simple, refreshing, and absolutely delicious.
Why You’ll Love This Recipe
- If you use the dried variety, it’s easy to make boba pearls at home and it doesn’t sacrifice flavor. It’s just a matter of boiling water, adding black tapioca pearls and letting them cook, and then draining the boba and letting it soak in a little brown sugar water. This is the type of boba I have used for years, and it’s available on Amazon.
- If you buy boba at cafés frequently, you’ll save money making your own. And it tastes exactly the same, if not better because you can customize it exactly how you like it.
- It’s versatile. You can make the pearls into a classic bubble milk tea, or make any flavor you like. Mango, green apple, jasmine, honeydew, chocolate, whatever strikes your fancy!
Ingredients
Breaking It Down
Ingredients Explained
In this section I explain the ingredients and give substitution ideas where applicable. For the full recipe (including the ingredient amounts), see the recipe card below.
Boba Ingredients
- Filtered water – To rehydrate the dried boba pearls.
- Dried black tapioca pearls – Tapioca balls are made from tapioca starch and water, and you can buy them dried or instant. Dried black tapioca balls are coated in tapioca starch (which dissolves when you boil them), and the instant variety comes pre-soaked in syrup. If you use dried you’ll have to boil them so they’re soft and chewy, and the instant kind usually needs to be briefly microwaved. When making this at home, I like use dried black tapioca balls, which rehydrate well and have great chewy texture and flavor. You can also make tapioca pearls from scratch, but I get great results with dried pearls (I get them on Amazon or at local Asian markets) and they’re very easy to prepare. I don’t recommend instant boba pearls because I find the their taste and texture isn’t as good.
- Dark brown sugar – Light brown sugar will also work, but the extra molasses in dark brown sugar beautifully enhances boba’s flavor.
Bubble Milk Tea Drink Ingredients
- Boiling water – For steeping the tea.
- Black tea bags – We’re making classic milk tea boba, which traditionally uses black tea. It’s absolutely delicious! If black tea isn’t your thing, feel free to swap it out for any kind of tea you like because the method is the same.
- Ice – To serve this drink cold.
- Simple syrup – This is a 1:1 mix of sugar:water; you can buy simple syrup (it’s available on Amazon), or easily make it from scratch. To make simple syrup, add equal parts sugar and water to a saucepan over medium heat, bring to a boil, stir to dissolve the sugar, remove it from the heat, and let it cool to room temperature. We use simple syrup instead of regular sugar because it dissolves much better in cold drinks like this.
- Half and half – Or your favorite type of milk or cream.
- Prepared black tapioca pearls – The star of the show!
Step-by-Step Instructions: How to Make Bubble Tea
Step 1: How to Cook Black Tapioca Pearls to Make Boba
- Add the water to a 5-quart pot, and bring to a boil. Once the water is boiling, add the tapioca pearls and boil for 20 minutes.
- They will float to the top fairly early in the cooking process; when this happens give them a stir.
- After boiling for 20 minutes, reserve 1 1/2 cups of the cooking liquid.
- Rinse and drain the boba.
- Put the boba back into the pot. Add the reserved 1 1/2 cups of cooking liquid and the brown sugar. Give it a stir.
- Cover the pot and let the boba steep for 20 minutes. This is how the pearls will look when they’re ready – taste one! Drain the boba except for 2 tablespoons of the liquid (this small amount of liquid will help prevent the pearls from sticking together). Use it to make your favorite boba drink!
Step 2: How to Make a Black Tea Boba Drink
Divide ice between 4 glasses, and then add cooled black tea (or any kind of tea you like).
Add simple syrup to sweeten.
And half and half (or any kind of milk you like) to each glass.
Top each with 1/2 cup of boba and serve immediately.
Storage
For the best flavor and texture, I recommend using boba immediately after making it.
However, if you prepare extra tapioca pearls, you can store them in simple syrup in the fridge for up to 2 days.
After that, they start to become more gummy than chewy.
Tips For Success
- Use the right type of boba pearls. For years I have been using this type of boba available on Amazon with great results.
- Make sure the water is at a rolling boil when you add the tapioca pearls.
- You’ll get about 4 drinks worth of boba pearls (with 1/2 cup of prepared boba per drink) from this recipe.
- Use a liquid sweetener, such as simple syrup, so it dissolves easily.
- Whatever tea you use, brew it on the strong side.
Bubble Tea (Boba) FAQs
Boba pearls are made from tapioca, a starch derived from the cassava root, as well as sweetener (commonly brown sugar) and water.
Boba has a subtly sweet brown sugar flavor with notes of black licorice. It has a chewy, almost bouncy texture that’s quite memorable. It’s almost like a softer version of gummy bears.
Different areas of the world have different forms of milk tea. In its most basic form, milk tea is just tea with milk. It’s frequently black tea, but it can be any type of tea with any kind of milk. And it can be served hot or iced.
Bubble milk tea is iced tea (frequently black tea) served sweetened with milk or cream and boba pearls.
Boba can refer to tapioca pearls, or it can refer to the drink known as bubble tea.
Traditionally, bubble tea is made of tea served sweetened with milk and boba (tapioca pearls). Bubble tea is also called boba tea, tapioca tea, pearl milk tea, and “QQ” in Taiwan.
There is almost an endless variety of different bubble tea flavors!
For starters, you can go with one of the following types of tea:
Black tea
Green tea
Oolong tea
White tea
Pu-erh tea
Herbal tea, such as hibiscus, rose, chamomile, etc. (which of course are technically “tisanes” and not tea at all)
Or you can use a non-traditional base other than tea, such as:
Coffee
Juice
Steeped waters, such as barley-steeped water or taro-steeped water
Then you can add milk, cream, or non-dairy milk, for example:
Milk, cream, or half and half
Almond milk
Soy milk
Coconut milk
Now you can choose a sweetener, which is usually simple syrup (made of equal parts sugar and water). However, for even more variations, you can use a flavored simple syrup (like vanilla, caramel, etc.). It’s quite common to find a variety of fruity flavored simple syrups at a boba café, including flavors like mango, pineapple, peach, coconut, and green apple.
I’ve seen versions of bubble tea that are served frozen like slushies (like pineapple bubble tea) and blended like smoothies (such as banana bubble tea or mango bubble tea). Alternatively, you can serve bubble tea hot.
The sky is the limit when it comes to different flavors of bubble tea!
If you want to make boba pearls from scratch, it’s a long process, but the method is fairly easy. The general steps are to combine boiling water, brown sugar, and tapioca starch to make a dough. You knead the dough, shape it into little balls, roll them in more tapioca flour, and let them dry out.
Once you make bubble milk tea or another drink with boba pearls, it’s best to serve it immediately.
This is because cooked tapioca pearls continue to absorb liquid. This causes them to expand more and take on a gummy texture. Additionally, you may have trouble getting them through a straw (even a large bubble tea straw) if this drink sits for quite a while!
For the best flavor and texture, I recommend using boba immediately after making it. However, if you prepare extra tapioca pearls, you can store them in simple syrup in the fridge for up to 2 days.
How to Make Bubble Tea (Easy Boba Milk Tea Recipe)
Equipment
- 5-quart pot with a heavy bottom
- Wooden stirring spoon
- Fine mesh strainer
- 3-quart pot
- 16-ounce glasses
- Boba straws
Ingredients
Boba (Black Tapioca Pearls):
- 10 cups filtered water
- 1 2/3 cups dried black tapioca pearls
- 4 tablespoons dark brown sugar lightly packed
Bubble Milk Tea:
- 4 cups boiling water
- 8 black tea bags
- 4 cups ice
- 1/2 cup simple syrup see Notes
- 1/2 cup half and half or your milk of choice
- 2 cups prepared tapioca pearls boba
Instructions
- Boil 20 minutes. Add the water to a 5-quart pot, and bring to a boil. Once the water is boiling, add the tapioca pearls and boil for 20 minutes. They will float to the top fairly early in the cooking process; when this happens give them a stir. After boiling for 20 minutes, reserve 1 1/2 cups of the cooking liquid, and then rinse and drain the boba.
- Soak 20 minutes. Put the boba back into the pot. Stir in the reserved 1 1/2 cups of cooking liquid and the brown sugar. Cover the pot and let the boba steep/soak for 20 minutes. Drain the boba except for 2 tablespoons of the liquid (this small amount of liquid will help prevent the pearls from sticking together).
For the Black Tea:
- While the boba is cooking, make the tea. Add the water to a saucepan and bring to a boil. Remove the water from the heat and add the tea bags. Let the tea steep until it cools to room temperature, and then remove the tea bags.
To Assemble the Bubble Milk Tea:
- Divide the ice between 4 glasses, and then add 1/4 of the cooled tea, simple syrup, and half and half to each glass. Top each with 1/2 cup of boba. Serve immediately.
Notes
- How Much Boba This Makes: 1 2/3 cups of dry black tapioca pearls cooks up to be about 2 cups of prepared boba. About 1/2 cup of prepared boba is a good amount for each drink, so you will get 4 drinks from 1 2/3 cups of dry tapioca pearls.
- Simple Syrup: To make about 1/2 cup of simple syrup, combine 1/2 cup granulated sugar and 1/2 cup filtered water in a small saucepan over medium heat. Bring to a boil, and then boil for 30 seconds. Remove from the heat and cool to room temperature before using. Feel free to add more or less to taste.
- Tea Strength: We want the tea brewed strong here, otherwise it will get too watered down because of the ice and the flavor will be diluted. I let the tea bags steep in the water until the water is cooled to room temperature. This takes about 20 minutes.
- Best Served Immediately: Cooked tapioca pearls continue to absorb liquid. This causes them to expand more and take on a gummy texture. Additionally, you may have trouble getting them through a straw (even a large bubble tea straw) if this drink sits for quite a while.
- Can I Prepare Boba in Advance? For the best flavor and texture, I recommend eating boba immediately after making it. However, if you prepare extra tapioca pearls, you can store them in simple syrup in the fridge for up to 2 days.