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TeaCreamyFruit

Brown Sugar Bubble Tea

Chewy tapioca pearls, dark sugar syrup and cold milk tea. Worth the twenty minutes.

Prep
25 min
Serves
2
Glass
Highball
Difficulty
Medium

Ingredients

  • 0.5 cup dried tapioca pearls
  • 0.5 cup dark brown sugar
  • 0.25 cup water
  • 2 cups strong brewed black tea, cooled
  • 1 cup milk (dairy or oat)
  • Ice

Method

  1. 1Boil the tapioca pearls in plenty of water for 20 minutes, then leave them covered off the heat for 10 more.
  2. 2Drain and stir the warm pearls into a syrup made by dissolving the brown sugar in the quarter cup of water.
  3. 3Spoon the pearls and some syrup into the bottom of two tall glasses and swirl them up the sides.
  4. 4Add ice, pour in the tea, then the milk, and stir before drinking.

Notes

  • Do not cook the pearls ahead. They go hard within a few hours and there's no reviving them.
  • Brew the tea at double strength — milk and ice both flatten it.
  • A wide straw is genuinely required, not a gimmick.

Common questions

Does bubble tea contain alcohol?

No. Bubble tea is tea, milk and tapioca pearls — it's naturally alcohol-free, and its popularity is part of why alcohol-free nightlife has somewhere to go.

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