How exactly is bubble tea made?

Question

How exactly is bubble tea made?

Answer 1

Hey Jen ~

My niece brought a can back from Walt Disney World last fall.

Here's what wiki had to say about it--->



Bubble tea is a tea beverage that originated in Taiwan in the 1980s and migrated to Canada before spreading to trendy spots throughout the West Coast[1]. The literal translation from Chinese would be pearl milk tea (traditional Chinese: 珍珠奶茶; Hanyu Pinyin: zhēnzhū nǎichá; Tongyong Pinyin: jhenjhu nǎichá). The word bubble refers to "bubbling", the process by which certain types of bubble tea are made, and not the actual tapioca balls). The balls are often called "pearls." Drinks with large pearls are consumed along with the beverage through wide straws; while drinks with small pearls are consumed through normal straws. Bubble tea is especially popular in many East Asian and Southeast Asian regions such as China (including Hong Kong and Macau), Brunei, Malaysia, Japan, the Philippines, Singapore, South Korea, Thailand, Indonesia, Vietnam, and more recently popularized in the United States, Canada, Australia and New Zealand.

Bubble Tea Recipe - Asian drinks

Feel free to adjust this basic bubble tea recipe according to your own tea and flavoring preferences.

Ingredients:

3 ounces tapioca pearls

sugar syrup

1 cup brewed tea (Chinese black tea or lychee tea is good)

1 cup milk (or to taste)

Ice cubes

Tapioca Pearls

1 part tapioca pearls

4 parts (or more) water

Sugar Syrup

2 parts white sugar

1 part brown sugar

3 parts water

Preparation:

Prepare the sugar syrup for the tapioca pearls (see below).

Prepare the tapioca pearls (see below)

Place the tapioca pearls in the large glass jar

Allow the tea to cool to room temperature.  Add the milk.

Remember the wild bar scenes in the Tom Cruise film Cocktail? Add the sugar syrup, milk and tea mix, and the ice cubes to a cocktail shaker and shake well. (Alternately you can process them in a blender, but that's not nearly as much fun!)

Pour the shaken mixture into the glass with the tapioca pearls.Serve with a thick straw.

To make the tapioca pearls: When making the tapioca pearls, which are the chief ingredient in Asian bubble teas, please note that the pearls expand considerably when cooked. Please ensure that you use a large pot. (As a rule, the more pearls cooked, the more water should be used: that is, the water to pearl ratio must be higher. For 3kgs of pearls, we recommend using as much as 6 times as much water).

Boil the water. Add the pearls to the boiling water and boil for 30 minutes. Stir occasionally to make sure the pearls are not sticking to each other or to the pot. Turn off heat and let the pearls steep in the water for another 30 minutes with the lid of the cooking pot on.

Drain the tapioca pearls and rinse with cold water to cool them down. Place them in sugar syrup (sugar and water solution - see below). Make sure that the pearls are covered. Stir the pearls well. The pearls are now ready to enjoy.

To make the sugar syrup: in a saucepan, bring the water to boil. Add the sugars. Reduce heat and heat until the sugar crystals are dissolved. Remove from heat. Note: Please feel free to experiment with the ratio of white sugar to brown sugar, and the ratio of the sugar to water.

Answer 2

the bubbles are made from the starch of tapioca. yes, the same little balls that come in your tapioca pudding. that's all it is.