Bubble Tea Ingredients

Bubble tea, has a lot of names attached to it, like pearl shake, tapioca ball drink, zhen zhu nai cha, boba nai cha, and other just as amusing names. People usually associate bubble tea to something frothy, that looks very much like ordinary milk tea. But no, from all the tea recipes that have been followed, this one is by far the most intriguing. The highlight of this tea is the 'tapioca pearls', which are chewy black balls that come in medium or large sizes. It originated in Taiwan where it first took root, creating a fan following, and is now slowly emerging in different restaurants and breakfast outlets across the globe.

Tapioca, which is the tea's key ingredient, is made from the bitter cassava plant to attain tapioca starch, used in making the pearls. The pearls in the bubble tea need to be consumed when they're fresh, or they lose out on their chewy texture. The tea is inked with colors like green, pink, yellow and so on, to give it a more inviting look, and of course to add some diversity to the flavor of the tea.

Bubble Tea Recipe

Let's now get down to making this scrumptious tea drink that you can make whenever your taste buds need a douse of freshness.

What You'll Need

• 1 cup of chilled black tea/green tea
• ½ cup of chilled tapioca pearls
• One and a ½ tablespoons of honey / sugar (opt for stevia if possible)
• 1 cup of crushed ice
• 1 cup of milk

Method of Preparation

The tapioca pearls need to first be plopped into a large dish, on the boil. Keep stirring these constantly, so that they don't cling on to each other. After a minute, turn the heat down to medium, and let it boil for about 15 minutes with the lid placed above it. Turn the flame off, and let it sit for another 15 minutes, as the water simmers away. After the time passes, drop these into cold water, and rinse them briefly, and drain. Combine all your ingredients in a cocktail shaker including the tapioca pearls, and shake it in a manner that is very bartender-esque. Once you do that, you'll notice how nice and frothy the mixture becomes. Pour all of this into a tall glass, and add in a straw for the finishing touch. The longer you keep the tapioca balls on the fire, the more elastic in texture they will become.

Ingredients of Bubble Tea Variations

Avocado bubble tea, as the name suggests, contains the fruit avocado, where the bubble tea takes on an interesting blend of flavors, since avocado has a subtle taste which for avocado eaters, can be a nice recipe inclusion. The ingredients in this version of bubble tea are.

• 1 cup green tea
• 1 cup of mashed avocado
• ¼ cup of tapioca pearls
• 6 blitzed ice cubes
• ½ cup of condensed milk

If you don't find the tapioca pearls anywhere, just go online and check out bubbleteasupply, where tapioca is readily available and can be sent right to your doorstep. A just as delicious variant of bubble tea includes the ingredient 'taro'. Here's how you can make this at home.

• 2 tablespoons of bubble tea powder
• Two tablespoons of cup condensed milk
• ¼ cup tapioca pearls
• 1 piece of taro (root)
• Crushed ice

Bubble Tea Nutrition Chart

The calories of bubble tea tip over, since it contains condensed milk, and tapioca pearls, which are high on the calorie front. Some people use fruit syrup in their bubble tea to add a fruity punch to it. However one uses an ingredient, the calories will accordingly fluctuate.

Nutritional Value of Bubble Tea
Nutrient Content	Bubble Tea with Tapioca Pearls (1 cup, Calories = 306)
Iron	13%
Saturated Fat	7g
Fat	7g
Calcium	30%
Sodium	2mg
Sugars	11g
Carbs	31g

Bubble tea, as you can see, is an enticing amalgamation of ingredients that you will come to love if you've never had this before. Coffee drinkers will find this a vey tempting option to try out, not to mention a healthy option from caffeine.