Boba Milk Tea Recipe or Bubble Tea Recipe with Boba | White On Rice (2024)

FAQs

What's the difference between boba milk tea and bubble tea? ›

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.

Both terms refer to the traditional Taiwanese beverage — zhēnzhū nǎichá (珍珠奶茶) — that is made up of tea, milk, crushed ice and caramelised tapioca pearls. Regardless of whether you refer to it as bubble or boba tea, both get their name from the tapioca pearls in the drink — named after their round shape.

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.

“Opt for an unsweetened or lower-sugar boba tea option that limits the amount of added flavor syrups,” Syn said. “For the milk portion, choose low-fat or non-fat dairy milk, or unsweetened plant[-based] milk.” Lu also added that many bubble tea shops offer specific adjustments to the teas' sugar levels.

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.

Americans Want Their Boba, But Maybe Not From Starbucks

They only lasted on the menu through the winter of 2021/2022 and, as of 2024, they haven't been added to Starbucks' permanent menu and no additional boba drink tests have been conducted.

Bubble Tea (also known as pearl milk tea, boba milk tea, or simply boba) is a Taiwanese drink that was invented in Taichung in the 1980s.

It depends—although traditional bubble tea is made with cow's milk, and is therefore not dairy-free, bubble tea can be customised to be made with non-dairy milk and other vegan alternatives. You can also get flavoured fruit bubble tea, which doesn't contain milk at all.

In fact, it's important to remember that you should always chew the pearls in bubble tea before swallowing them. This largely comes down to the fact that whole pearls are more difficult and can take longer for your stomach to digest.

Made from cassava starch mixed with boiling water, the resulting dough is rolled and cut into balls and cooked again in either a brown sugar syrup to achieve the characteristic black color or a plain sugar syrup for white or other flavored pearls. This also gives the boba just a hint of sweetness.

What flavor are black boba? ›

As Food Network reports, these little dark delights also come from the cassava root but have been soaked in brown sugar or caramel coloring, giving them a distinctive taste. The outlet notes black boba pearls' "almost licorice flavor" and their signature color.

By adding different ingredients, like water, sugar, or some other type of sweetener like honey, tapioca pearls can be made to vary in color and in texture. Various forms of tapioca pearls include black, flavored, popping, mini, and clear. Tapioca pearls are commonly soaked in sugar syrup to make them sweet and chewy.

If they don't float you may have a bad batch or you may not have allowed the water to boil all the way before adding the boba. 3. Allow the boba to cook for 10-12 minutes, stirring every so often.

Yes, they're the same. Bubble tea (Traditional Chinese: 珍珠奶茶) is actually boba tea (Traditional Chinese:波霸奶茶) in another name. They're totally the same thing.

The term boba means large or big breasts, so the sweet drink with its chewy pearls became known as boba tea. This makes sense because the tapioca pearls are large and round like breasts, although they are not made of flesh but of starchy cassava root. Boba means breast in Taiwanese slang.

The tea became known as "boba" because the term is Taiwanese slang for breasts (a reference to the spherical shape of the tapioca balls), and is believed to have originated from Chinese characters.

After the tea and flavor were shaken well, it topped tapioca pearls that were sitting on the bottom of a clear cup. The tapioca pearls also looked like bubbles, thus also became to known as "Bubble Tea." Bubbles floated on the top your drink and bottom of your drink.