Tasty black pearls (but more importantly, their suspending nectar)

March 3, 2006 8:50 AM

SO over the last two weeks, I've become hooked on milk tea with boba from a place called Got Tea here in Tampa. After doing (some) research, I've tried to make my own bubble tea and failed. (more after the jump)

All I've been able to find online is places selling flavored powders and/or the boba for the tea. I've got a place in town I can get the boba, but that's not what I really care about. It's the tasty-tasty milk tea the boba comes is.
I've found a tea that has the same taste of flavorings as the milk tea, but when I brew the tea and add milk, the resulting concoction tastes thin and watered down compared to what I get at the store.
Has anyone here made this delightful drink at home and be willing to tell me what the heck I'm missing? Are they brewing the tea in the milk (similar to a chai)? If so, does anyone have a recepie for it?

posted by Ikazuchi to food & drink (17 comments total)

Have you tried using soy milk?
posted by mhuckaba at 8:54 AM on March 3, 2006

Or cream/ half-and-half?
posted by Gator at 8:55 AM on March 3, 2006

Or even just regular full-fat milk, rather than skim, if that's what you're using? Skim milk makes any beverage taste thin and watered down (and very often dishwater-y), in my opinion.
posted by occhiblu at 8:58 AM on March 3, 2006

Also, maybe you need to brew the tea stronger before you add milk?
posted by occhiblu at 9:01 AM on March 3, 2006

Could it be condensed/evaporated milk that they use? It's quite a bit thicker than normal milk.
posted by featherboa at 9:07 AM on March 3, 2006

what occhiblu said. traditional lai cha (milk tea) is made from the strong-ass tea that has been sitting around brewing all day and getting insanely stronger. bubble tea is based on this.

also, you should use the cheapest black tea you can find, it will make the taste the most authentic.

on preview: lai cha is commonly made with regular milk, but condensed is certainly not unusual either.
posted by dorian at 9:10 AM on March 3, 2006

second what featherboa says: many places use evaporated/condensed milk. Livejournal has a community where the "how do I make this" question is repeatedly asked and answered (often by people who work in boba tea shops).
posted by mikepop at 9:15 AM on March 3, 2006

Dunno if this helps, but here ya go. Our local Thai restaurant makes a Thai tea I love that tastes like it has ginger in it, but I haven't been able to locate a recipe for it yet.
posted by Pressed Rat at 9:25 AM on March 3, 2006

The super-delicious bubble tea you get at a bubble tea place is made of a very specific kind of tea. The kind they sell as a "special blend" with "secret flavor" at this site gave me the right flavor when I tried it.

That site also suggests sweetening with cane sugar syrup and making it "milky" with non-dairy creamer. All I can say is that when I tried this recipe at home, it tasted exactly like Lollicup's product. Which is very good indeed.

For Thai bubble tea, use Thai tea (containing aromatic spices) and sweeten/milkify with condensed milk.
posted by rxrfrx at 9:29 AM on March 3, 2006

/me seconds what rxrfrx suggested.

Another word: Ceylon. And you can't just put hot water on top of this stuff. You have to boil water, add leaves, and boil the crap out of it for an hour. The tea should be so thick that it stains the pot. It needs to develop a bit of a film when it cools - the natural oils from the leaf gets boiled out and starts forming along the top, and you can taste that richness.

mmmm. I want some.
posted by Sallysings at 9:41 AM on March 3, 2006

My friend used to do martial arts in a studio across from a popular Bubble Tea place in seattle's international district. He and his classmates noticed that they took delivery of A LOT of powdered non-dairy creamer, like pallet-loads.
posted by Good Brain at 10:04 AM on March 3, 2006

And the milk:water proportion should be 0.3-0.5:1 (1/3 - 1/2 cup milk + 1 cup water).
posted by Arthur Dent at 10:37 AM on March 3, 2006

You can get Boba (tapioca) from most Chinese grocery stores. In restaurants they use black tea, not the expensive kind, trust me. The tea does not need brewing for a long time. It will taste bitter if you do so. Add sugar and condensed milk, and that will be it. I usually get the ready to serve milk tea in bags from Asian grocery stores here in LA. (go to the Chinese section, the bags usually have Chinese characters printed on them). It tastes just equally as good. Try the green tea flavor, even better. A word of caution: if you are on a diet, you don't want to eat too much Boba. It's full of sugar and starch. Cheers.
posted by dy at 1:25 PM on March 3, 2006

Gad, I love the stuff. I don't try to make it at home so that the urge to drink it 4 times a day is tempered by the shame of going into the store that often.
This keeps my habit in the reasonable range (1-2 times a week).
posted by black8 at 4:06 PM on March 3, 2006

I worked in a tea shop where there was no unusual brewing time. I'd say a big part would be making sure you're using an amount of tea in proportion to the end volume of the drink. If you brew in two cups of water and add one cup of milk, brew enough tea for 3 cups of water in the two cups-the ending strength will be right.
posted by Juliet Banana at 7:08 PM on March 3, 2006

Teh shop is Good Brain is referring to is called Gossip. It's a fun spot and has good tea! My favorite is the taro. Thanks for the link rfrfrx! I always get the boba, but I never eat more than a couple. They're too much fun to shoot through the straw! They even stick or do the wacky wall walker slow roll down the wall. You haven't really enjoyed bubble tea until you've started a tapioca shooting war with a group of friends.
posted by roboto at 7:30 PM on March 3, 2006

I live in Japan and milk tea is an extremely popular drink here as well, and they sell a lot of powdered mixtures for it as well. It might not be 100% the same as a bubble tea bar, but there are several brand names like Kirin's Gogo no Koucha (午後の紅茶) and many other Royal Milk Tea-labeled brands. If there's a Japanese grocery near you you might have some luck, especially since many Japanese products have some English on the labels.
posted by muscatlove at 6:47 AM on March 4, 2006