Taro Milk Tea / Boba Tea is a popular drink in many parts of the world, particularly in Asia and the Pacific Islands. It is known for its sweet and creamy flavour with a hint of earthy taro. I am using taro powder in this recipe, which is made out of the starchy root of the taro plant. Taro root is a starchy vegetable that is commonly used in cooking throughout Asia, Africa, and the Pacific Islands. The flavour of taro is mildly sweet and nutty, with a slightly earthy taste.

If you’ve ever had Taro Milk Tea at a bubble tea shop and wondered if you could make it at home, the answer is yes! With just a few simple ingredients, you can whip up a delicious and refreshing Taro Milk Tea in no time. In this post, I’ll be sharing a recipe for Taro Milk Tea that includes black tapioca pearls, which are also known as boba. My kids can’t get enough of these, they love them so much! 

Ingredients

• for the boba: 100 g ( 1 1/4 cups) uncooked black tapioca pearls + 1.3 l (5.5 cups) of water 
• for the simple syrup: 100 g (8 Tbsp) sugar + 170 ml (3/4 cup) water
• for the tea: 2 Tbsp loose-leaf Jasmine green tea + 475 ml ( 2 cups) water 
• 135 g (9 Tbsp) taro powder
• 2 Tbsp honey
• 480 ml (2 cups) whole milk
• ice cubes
• bubble tea straws 

These ingredients are enough for 3 taro milk teas.

Directions

Cook the tapioca pearls as per your package instructions. The ones I bought had to be cooked as follows:

1. Bring the water to a boil.
2. Add tapioca pearls slowly into the boiling water and stir lightly. 
3. Wait until tapioca floats to water surface. Cover pot. Cook in medium heat for 2-3 minutes. 
4. Turn off heat and simmer for another 2-3 minutes. 
5. Scoop out tapioca and let it rest in cold water for 20 seconds. 

Meanwhile, make the simple syrup by boiling the water with the sugar until the sugar dissolves. Let it cool off. 

Soak the tapioca pearls in the simple syrup for 30 minutes to 1 hour. If you want to keep things simple, you can just coat the tapioca pears in some honey instead of soaking them in simple syrup. Note that you must eat the tapioca pearls within 4 hours after cooking them. 

To make the tea, boil the water to a temperature of 80°C (176°F). Brew the tea for 3 minutes, then remove the leaves, add the taro powder over the tea and mix until fully dissolved. 

Add the honey and mix thoroughly. 

Let the taro tea cool off. 

Remove the tapioca pearls from the simple syrup. 

Add the cooked tapioca into your three glasses. 

Then, add the ice cubes and pour over the taro tea and milk. Stir the taro milk tea to mix everything together.  

Video – Taro Milk Tea / Boba Tea