How To Make Chinese/Japanese Bubble Tea - Tea + Tapioca = Party Recipe

Going out to get some bubble tea with your crew is a perfect way to share some "that's what she said" together. See with so many balls about it's difficult not to. But even though many enjoy their local Bubble Tea cafe's with their arcades, TV with the audio muted, scrabble, Jenga, and Chinese poker the $3.50 price tag per cup really digs into the instructable interns jumpsuit funds.

Tetranitrate, trebuchet03, T3h_Muffinator and me, lamedust, are the frugalest of frogs, so we decided to make our own Bubble tea complete with "that's what she said" and all. You'll be pleased to know that the final product costs less than a dollar a cup and is delicious. Are you ready? Doesn't matter, you're about to experience the Bubble Bonanza!

That's what she said.

Video of the making and drinking in action:

Oh, I'd also like to thank my Chinese friend Rosanna for helping me along the way.

Step 1 Ingredients

You'll first need to find your local Asian store to pick up some ingredients. You may be able to find this stuff at Whole Foods, or a large super market, but I suggest you go for authentic.

Here's what you'll be needing:

• 1) Large Tapioca Pearls. Try to find some that aren't ALL white, they should have a spot of light brown on them, these work better.
• 2) Sugar
• 3) Coffee Syrups (if you don't want to make your own, or want to try different flavors)
• 4) Green and/or Black tea.

_{If you'd like to make your own syrup, you'll also need a fruit of your choice.}

Comments

[madmans firework emporium]

i watched 4 episodes of the simpsons and it still looked like wallpaper paste, whats up with that?

[chas_mac]

Cucumber on the coffee maker?!?!

[purefusion]

They've got a pretty good selection of tapioca pearls here: http://bit.ly/tpearls

[bellaessa]

Where do you find the Large Black Pearls? Does any body know? :)

[porcupinemamma]

I would also reallylike to know (Ontario Canada)

[purefusion]

That link I posted has a variety of black pearls, as well as white and others:

http://bit.ly/tpearls

[porcupinemamma]

Does anyone know where I can purchase the tapioca pearls in Ontario Canada?  I bought some on Ebay and they went moldy in a week.  Thanks for posting this Instructable

[Don,t try this at home]

How long do the balls last.

[ceschiutti]

That last picture looks like frogs' eggs in pondwater! Don't forget your long, thick tube to suck down those balls.

[minerug]

That's what she said...

[simfire687]

no its not

[minerug]

or did she?

[albylovesscience]

being so lucky to live at least 300 ft away from china town i can get this stuff for $1.35 for a big cup like the one you have lucky me :]

[geeklord]

In Seattle, They make an iced shake sort of thing, throw in powdered flavor mix, and add the big chunks of tapioca. Then you drink it all with a big straw. They call it bubble tea, although im pretty sure there isn't any actual tea in it.

[woofboy111]

Is it Bubble Tea or Boba Tea? It seems depending on where you get the stuff from, both names are used. For example, this place called tKettle in NYC calls their drinks Bubble Tea, while the Lollicups in Orlando refer to the drinks as Boba Tea. Anyone know the difference or what is proper?

[Gonazar]

boba is the chinese (taiwanese?) name for bubble tea. My family uses that word in cantonese, but i'm sure it has taiwanese origins. Note: In canto, we just refer to it as boba, not boba tea, just fyi

[gaelicspawn]

It can be called bubble tea, boba tea, pearl tea, or milk pearl tea. You have to have the tapioca pearls for it to be bubble/boba tea.

[darkinertia]

dont quote me on this, but i believe boba is the bubble tea sans tapiocas.

[archemical]

When I was in Bejing, I had boba and it had tapioca in it.

[AnarchistAsian]

either is fine i suppose... i've heard both, but bubble is more common. ps-i've been to Lollicups, there's one in utah.

[J_Mi]

They sell this stuff at the tea bar for like 3 bucks. Its yum as.

[sayako]

Ouuch! It's look like a fish eggs!

[advancetech]

interesting stuff

[StoryAddict]

Word of advice to anyone: DO not try and substitute the small pearls for the large ones. I sought out the large ones in vain at the local stores in my smaller college town and just went with the small, but they are a PAIN to clean out of the colander/sieve - I was making a larger batch (about 20oz. worth tiny balls) and between the cooking process and rinsing and trying to salvage as many as possible from the colander (where some were pushed through becoming a tapioca goo reminiscent of Super Mario Bros. the Movie), it took me like FIVE FREAKING HOURS for cooking and cleanup. So not fun... On the bright side, I think they turned out okay, although not as pretty looking as the large pearls would have been.

[StoryAddict]

I don't think we have an "Asian/Oriental foods" store in our small town, and it took me several stores to even find Tapioca that wasn't already the precooked mush. Although it's not as picturesque, will small pears work too?

[viviluk]

bbt is the best! do you think vacuum pots work? instead of wasting gas/electricity?

[pirateg3cko]

any idea how tricky it is to make this for a large group of people? how much might one need / want to make? (large as in 20-30 people)

[puffyfluff]

I had had bubble tea at Sushi Yama in Estes Park, but I never knew how to make it. Nice!

[Dfole]

Estes Park is so Beutiful

[gaara0sama1]

Asian people rule!! (I rule, I'm Asian!))

[dmonguy]

me 2!!!!!!!!!!!! i is Asian bubble tea rules and so do backwards comics

[popomaster]

im asian too! fdshfkhdfksd

[AnarchistAsian]

"Asian people rule!! (I rule, I'm Asian!))" well said, gaara0sama1 i'm asian too

[zorro3355]

yeah me too . btw.... your balls look different from the ones i always drink....asia ones is fully black.

[AnarchistAsian]

yeah, me three, asian ones can also come white, i think

[gaara0sama1]

The ones I buy come in all different colors.

[AnarchistAsian]

you buy balls? we don't, we just go to tea shops and order the whole thing, and the shops don't have many choices for balls. (by we, i mean me and my family)

[gaara0sama1]

The store I go to has the ones you can buy and a tea shop, it's pretty cool.

[AnarchistAsian]

i haven't had one in a while... =(
there aren't many places in houston close by that we can go to (i think)
i used to live in utah, and there was a lollicups, just like the one woofboy11 was talking about above.

[gaara0sama1]

I haven't had one in a while either. There's a few places near me that I can get some...