No-Fail Bubble Tea Recipe (Boba Milk Tea) - Oh, How Civilized (2024)

FAQs

What is messy boba? ›

Do you know what messy cup is? It was essentially "brown sugar milk tea with boba". The soul of the "messy cup" was the amber patterns that brown sugar coating on the inner wall of cups. The boba in the drink should be dipped into the brown sugar sauce made on-site, and then milk is poured directly into the cup.

So, to be clear, bubble tea and boba tea are completely synonymous terms that refer to the same type of drink. Some people may use one term more often than the other, depending on their regional preferences or personal choice, but there are no actual differences between bubble tea vs. boba.

Apart from caffeine, boba tea contains simple carbohydrate sugar that the body breaks down and converts to energy. This means boba tea can provide temporary energy to keep you boosted all day.

Black tapioca pearls make us bubble over with joy! Also known as boba, black tapioca pearls are the perfect “bubbles” in bubble tea. They are small, round balls made from tapioca starch for a sweet and somewhat gummy consistency. Ours are the same boba pearls as those used at gourmet pearl milk tea shops.

Unfortunately, boba itself provides very few health benefits, though its calories and carbohydrates can provide you with a boost in energy. In most cases, boba tea contains high levels of sugar, which is linked to long-term health conditions like diabetes and obesity.

Dirty Boba

606-704 cal A creamy treat filled with brown sugar boba, topped with cheese milk foam, and drenched with brown sugar around the cup. This tasty beverage is non-caffeinated but can have tea added to balance the sweetness.

A Quick Review. Boba tea is generally safe to drink, but you'll want to enjoy it in moderation. The beverage is usually high in sugar and calories and contains an additive that might lead to constipation. Drinking too much boba tea may increase your risk of diabetes and obesity.

Tapioca pearls are not to be mistaken for popping boba. Tapioca pearls have a chewy texture and always come in a deep black color. Meanwhile, popping boba are colored, non-chewy balls that burst when consumed, thus its name.

Bubble tea is safe for consumption if enjoyed in moderation, so an occasional cup is fine for kids and teens. To make it even healthier, parents can make bubble tea at home (and control what goes in it) with decaffeinated tea, homemade or store-bought tapioca pearls, their choice of milk, and their choice of sweetener.

While tapioca-based pearls may cause some gastrointestinal issues, like constipation, Starbucks' pearls are less likely to cause those side effects, Keatley told Health. However, “it's still wise to enjoy them in moderation due to the potential for sugar content and other digestive considerations,” he added.

Is too much boba bad? ›

Health risks from drinking too much bubble tea

“These tapioca pearls increase the calorie content of bubble tea and its glycaemic index (GI). Together, these will contribute to obesity and worsening diabetes plus blood pressure control, which are common causes of chronic kidney disease,” said Dr Leong.

Honey boba tea is a Taiwanese beverage that blends tea, milk, and honey with tapioca pearls for a sweet and refreshing drink. The chewy tapioca pearls are soaked in a honey syrup, adding a subtle flavor to the beverage. Honey boba tea can be customized with different tea bases and toppings such as fresh fruit.

Bubble tea as we know it today came into existence almost four decades ago. Two tea houses — Chun Shui Tang in the central city of Taichung and Hanlin Tea Room in the southern city of Tainan — both claim to have invented the drink in 1986.

Of course, the main difference is that crystal boba has a solid slightly chewy but popping pearls bursts open when bitten and fills your mouth with fruit juice flavors.

Note: The form bōbà is alleged to be Taiwanese colloquial or slang for "large breasts" or a "large-breasted woman." The character combination in this sense can easily be documented in World Wide Web documents, but it is uncertain if the source of the spoken word is Taiwanese Mandarin, Min Chinese, or something else ...

On the first taste, the tea had a pleasant milky, sweet flavour, with dark, rich notes from the brown sugar syrup. I chose to have some ice in mine, but as it was a brisk January day, so next time I would advise having it served hot like the original 1980s version.

Whatever you call it, in its most basic form, the drink consists of black tea, milk, ice, and chewy tapioca pearls, all shaken together like a martini and served with that famously fat straw to accommodate the marbles of tapioca that cluster at the bottom of the cup.