How to Make Bubble Tea at Home
Learning how to make bubble tea at home is a great way to save money. Learn how to cook and freeze boba, and make homemade bubble tea.
Equipment
- Large Stock Pot
- Wire Mesh Strainer or colander
- Large Spoon
- Silicone Muffin Liners (if freezing tapioca)
- 2 Muffin Pans (if freezing tapioca)
Ingredients
Tapioca (Boba)
- water tap water is fine
- dry tapioca pearls
- brown sugar or granulated sugar
Bubble Tea
- cooked tapioca (boba)
- tea (optional) choose your favorite black, green, or white tea
- flavored or plain simple syrup (optional)
- dairy or dairy-free milk or powdered bubble tea mix (optional)
- ice
Instructions
To Cook the Tapioca
- Fill a large stockpot mostly full with water. Note that most tapioca cooking instructions recommend using a ratio of 10:1 water to tapioca. Determine how much water you need (and how big your pot should be) based on how large your package of tapioca is. (Example, if you were planning to cook 1 cup of dry tapioca, you would need 10 cups of water. Assume that the volume of tapioca will double after cookng).
- Bring the water to a boil, then add the tapioca to the pot and stir. Note that it is very important that the water is boiling before adding the tapioca, as the tapioca will dissolve in cold water. Reduce the heat to medium-high, and continue to cook the tapioca, stirring every 5 minutes for about 30 minutes. Keep an eye on the water level, and add more water if the water level decreases significantly.
- Turn off the heat, and allow the tapioca to sit in the hot water for another 30 minutes. Strain the tapioca, and rinse with cool water.
- Transfer the tapioca back to the pot, or into a large bowl. Add sugar to taste (Note: the directions on my tapioca recommended adding sugar in a 4:1 tapioca to sugar ratio, but I used much less than this). I suggest adding 1/2 to 1 cup of sugar for a large (1Kg) bag of tapioca. Start with a smaller amount, then stir it in to dissolve. If you want it sweeter, add more.
- Use the tapioca to make bubble tea as soon as possible, or freeze in individual portions (see below).
Making Bubble Tea
- Add about 1/4 to 1/2 cup of the cooked tapioca to a large glass. Fill the glass mostly full with ice for a chilled bubble tea. Pour the tea of your choice (note that strong brewed tea provides the best flavor as it will be diluted with the ice) and milk or non-dairy milk or cream substitute (if desired) over the ice.
- For extra sweetness, add some simple syrup (a 1:1 ratio of sugar to water), or homemade flavored simple syrup, or store-bought flavored syrup. Alternatively, you can use a store-bought powdered bubble tea mix.
To Freeze the Tapioca
- If you cook a large portion of tapioca, you may want to freeze it in individual portions to use later. Line each cup in 2 muffin pans with a silicone muffin liner (you will need 24 silicone muffin liners for a 1Kg bag of tapioca).
- Using a ladle, fill each silicone muffin liner with tapioca. Carefully put the muffin pans into a freezer and freeze completely overnight.
- Once the tapioca is completely frozen, transfer the silicone cups into large freezer bags and put the bags back into the freezer.
To Thaw Frozen Tapioca
- Remove a portion of the tapioca from the freezer bag and peel off the silicone liner. Place the frozen tapioca puck into a small, microwave-safe bowl. Alternatively, you can thaw the tapioca right in the silicone muffin cup, but you you might want to put in on the plate to avoid overflow. Heat on high for about 45 seconds until the tapioca is completely warmed through.
- Transfer the re-heated tapioca to a large glass, and follow the instructions on Making Bubble Tea, above.
