Hello everyone, I hope you are doing well!
If you’ve read my blog for a while or follow me on my Instagram, you might know my slight obsession with bubble tea. Some people hate it, some people love it!
In Switzerland there isn’t a lot of places that make bubble tea, luckily in the city where I study there are a couple of good ones. But, since we’re in lockdown, me and my sister have been making some at home and it’s really fun and easy.
We did have to make some a couple times to master the recipe, but now we’re all good! We don’t make the tapioca pearls from scratch, we buy some that are ready in 5 minutes.
My sister did some research on the best tapioca pearls to buy and the WuFuYuan Black Sugar Tapioca Pearls were highly recommended. They are black sugar flavored and super easy to cook. You can find them on amazon (here for Europe, here for US) or on ebay too (here for Europe, here for US). To cook them we simply follow the instructions on the back of the packaging.
To sweeten the tapioca pearls we usually make a simple syrup using just sugar (granulated sugar or cane sugar) and water, to soak the pearls in it. You can also use honey or even maple syrup to sweeten your tapioca pearls.
As for what type of tea to use, in my opinion you can pretty much use any tea you like. You can use green tea, black tea, fruit tea,… Our personal fave is a jasmine green tea!
For the flavor of the tea, you can use any type of fruit syrup. We like to use mango syrup, I also really love litchi syrup. You can also choose not to add any flavor, which is fine too!
Disclaimer: this post contains affiliate links. Learn more about them in my disclaimer page here.
Ingredients: Mango Bubble Tea with Tapioca Pearls
Ingredients for the tea:
- 1 TBSP (1/2 TBSP per drink) of jasmine green tea (or any tea you like)
- 4 Cups of water (2 Cups per drink)
- 2 TBSP (1 TBSP per drink) of Mango syrup (or any flavor you like)
Ingredients for the Tapioca Pearls (for two drinks):
- 1/2 Cup of tapioca pearls
- 5 Cups of Water
Ingredients for the syrup (to sweeten the tapioca pearls):
- 1/4 Cup of granulated sugar (or cane sugar)
- 1/4 Cup of Water
You will also need:
- 2 large glasses
- 2 large straws (we have metal ones, specifically for bubble tea)
Recipe: Mango Bubble Tea with Tapioca Pearls
Step 1: Make the Tea
Pour 4 Cups of cold water into a carafe. Put 1 TBSP of jasmine green tea (or any tea you like) into a tea infuser and put the infuser in the carafe. Let the tea infuse for about an hour (time may vary if you use a different type of tea, make sure to taste it regularly). Once the tea is ready, put it in the fridge so it’s nice and fresh when you’re ready to drink it.
We find that it is quicker to infuse the tea in cold water rather than using hot water. Hot water takes longer to cool down (we had to wait like 4 hours the first time), but either way works fine.
Step 2: Make the Syrup
In a small pot, pour the 1/4 cup of water and the 1/4 cup of granulated sugar. Leave it on medium heat and stir to dissolve the sugar into the water. It should take about 5 minutes to form a syrup, it should be clear and a little thicker than water. Be careful not to turn it into caramel!
Once the syrup is ready, turn off the heat and set aside.
Step 3: Cook the tapioca pearls
For this step, we follow exactly the instructions on the back of the packaging. Depending on the brand of pearls you get, the instructions may vary.
Boil 5 cups of water into a large pot. Once the water is boiling, pour the 1/2 Cup of tapioca pearls slowly into the boiling water and stir lightly.
Wait until the tapioca pearls are all floating at the surface of the water. Cover the pot, cook in medium heat for 2-3 minutes.
Turn off the heat and let it cook for another 2-3 minutes.
Scoop out the tapioca pearls and let them rest in cold water for about 20 seconds (adjust the time according to your personal taste).
Pour the tapioca pearls into a bowl and add the syrup we made earlier. Stir with a spoon and let the pearls soak for about 5 minutes to sweeten them.
Step 5: Make your bubble tea
Pour 1/2 cup (1/4 per drink)of cooked tapioca pearls into two large glasses.
Add 2 TBSP (1 TBSP per drink) of mango syrup (or any fruit flavored syrup you like) into the two large glasses.
Pour 4 Cups (2 Cups per drink) of the tea we made earlier into the two glasses and stir with a spoon.
Add a large metal straw into each glass and voila!
I really hope you will enjoy this bubble tea recipe as much as we do, please let me know in the comments if you try it!
Thank you so much for reading and I will talk to you guys in my next blog post!
All the love,
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