Thai milk tea (bubble tea)
intro
Creamy, aromatic Thai street-style milk tea with chewy tapioca pearls, balanced malty, sweet, spiced notes, served ice-cold for a refreshing summer treat.
Ingredients
Steps
Cook Tapioca Pearls
Pour 3 cups (720ml) of water into the stainless steel saucepan on the hot plate, turn the hot plate to high heat, and bring water to a rolling boil (212°F/100°C). Slowly add the 1 cup dried black tapioca pearls, stirring immediately with the slotted stainless steel spoon to prevent sticking. Once the pearls float to the surface, reduce heat to medium-low to maintain a gentle simmer, set the digital timer for 20 minutes, and stir every 5 minutes to prevent pearls from sticking to the pan bottom. The pearls are ready when they are fully translucent with no tiny white hard core at the center.
Drain and Sweeten Boba
Once pearls are fully cooked, turn off the hot plate. Place the fine-mesh stainless steel strainer over one of the small clear glass ramekins to catch water, pour the pearls and hot water through the strainer, then pour cold tap water over the pearls for 30 seconds to rinse off excess starch and stop the cooking process, so they stay chewy and don’t stick together. Transfer the rinsed pearls to the shallow matte white ceramic bowl, toss with 1 tablespoon of granulated sugar and the 1/8 tsp fine salt, stirring with the silicone spatula until sugar fully dissolves and coats every pearl. Set aside at room temperature until ready to assemble.
Steep Thai Tea Mix
Pour the remaining 1 cup (240ml) of water into the now-rinsed stainless steel saucepan, bring to a gentle boil on the hot plate. Once boiling, turn off the heat, add the 1/2 cup loose-leaf Thai tea mix, stir once with the silicone spatula, then cover the pan with its lid and let steep for exactly 5 minutes. Do not over-steep, as this will make the tea bitter and astringent. The finished steeped tea will be a deep, rich amber-orange color.
Strain Sweet Tea Base
After 5 minutes of steeping, place the fine-mesh strainer over the glass measuring cup, slowly pour the steeped tea through the strainer to catch all tea leaves, pressing gently on the leaves with the silicone spatula to extract all flavorful liquid. Discard the used tea leaves. While the tea is still warm, stir in the remaining 1 tablespoon granulated sugar and 1/2 cup sweetened condensed milk, stirring until fully smooth and combined, with no lumps of condensed milk remaining. Let the sweetened tea base cool to room temperature for 10 minutes before assembling.
Layer Boba in Cups
Unstack the four clear glass bubble tea cups, divide the sweetened cooked tapioca pearls evenly between the cups (about 1/4 cup of pearls per cup), spooning them into the bottom of each cup with the slotted spoon. Add 1 cup of cubed ice to each cup, filling the cups about halfway full. The ice will chill the tea quickly and keep the boba chewy, not mushy.
Shake Tea with Ice
Pour half of the cooled sweet tea base into the plastic bubble tea shaker, add 1/2 cup of extra ice, seal the lid tightly, and shake vigorously for 15 seconds until the shaker feels frosty cold on the outside. Pour the shaken tea over the ice and boba in two of the cups, leaving 1cm of space at the top of each cup. Repeat with the remaining tea base and ice for the last two cups.
Top with Evaporated Milk
Slowly pour 2 tablespoons of evaporated milk over the top of each filled cup, letting it swirl down through the amber tea to create a subtle layered effect before mixing. Do not stir immediately, so the creamy top layer is visible. Insert a stainless steel boba straw into each cup before serving.
Tips
2.Let the sweetened tea base cool to room temperature before pouring over ice: adding boiling hot tea directly to ice will melt ice too quickly, resulting in a watery, diluted drink instead of the rich, creamy texture of restaurant-style Thai milk tea.
3.Use traditional loose-leaf Thai tea mix (a blend of Assam black tea, cardamom, star anise, and vanilla) instead of plain black tea for authentic flavor; plain black tea will lack the signature spiced, aromatic depth of street-style Thai milk tea. To reduce sweetness, cut condensed milk by 2 tablespoons and replace with extra evaporated milk to keep the rich, creamy mouthfeel without extra sugar.
OMG this Thai milk tea is SO good!!! I’ve been wasting so much money buying boba from the shop down the street for $7 a cup, and this tastes exactly the same if not better. My kids begged for seconds after dinner last night, I’m already making a double batch for our neighborhood potluck this weekend. Total game changer. Only note: I steeped the tea a couple minutes longer than the recipe said for a deeper flavor, chef’s kiss.
Super easy recipe, came together way faster than I expected. I used a little extra tapioca pearls because I’m obsessed with chewy boba, and it turned out perfect. I meal prepped the tea base on Sunday so I can grab a glass on my way out to work all week, saves me so much time and cash. 10/10 will make again.
Wait, has anyone tried making this with lactose-free half and half? I’m lactose intolerant but I’ve been craving boba so bad, I don’t want to mess up the texture on my first try. The recipe looks so straightforward otherwise, especially since it’s marked easy—can’t wait to give it a go!
Made this for my teen daughter’s birthday sleepover last weekend and the girls went crazy for it. I set out little toppings like mango jelly, lychee popping boba, and extra wide straws so they could customize their cups, it was such a hit. Only thing I messed up on the first round was cooking the tapioca on too high heat, they were hard in the middle—second batch I simmered them low and slow like the recipe said and they were perfectly chewy.