Bubble milk tea
珍珠奶茶
Taiwanese pearl milk tea: strong black tea shaken with milk and ice over chewy brown-sugar tapioca pearls.
Recipe by I Want Some Food · Reviewed by the editorial kitchen. Native name preserved: 珍珠奶茶.
- Prep
- 10 min
- Cook
- 40 min
- Rest
- None
- Total
- 50 min
- Difficulty
- Easy
- Spice
- No chilli
- Cost
- Cheap nightUnder $8 USD · indicative, not a store price
About
Bubble tea, or pearl milk tea, is strong black tea, milk and sugar shaken hard with ice and poured over warm tapioca pearls that have been soaked in brown sugar syrup. The pearls should be chewy and springy all the way through, with no hard core; the tea should be brewed strong enough to taste through the milk and the ice. The shake matters: it chills the tea fast and makes the foam on top that gave the drink its name, before the pearls did. Serve in a tall glass with a fat straw. The pearls are at their best in the first two hours and turn hard once cold.
What you'll need
7 ingredients. Tap each one once it's out on the bench.
Ingredients
- Tapioca pearls, large black pearls, dried100 g
- Brown sugar, dark80 g
- Water, 1 l for boiling pearls, 100 ml for the syrup, 100 ml for a cup of tea per glass1.2 l
- Tea, loose black tea, Assam or Ceylon; or 4 teabags20 ml
- Milk, whole200 ml
- Sugar, or to taste30 ml
- Ice, cubes300 g
Scaling multiplies the written quantities. Baking still prefers a scale.
Steps
Step 1
Bring 1 litre of water to a rolling boil. Add the pearls, stir once so they do not stick, and boil uncovered until they float and turn translucent at the edges, 20 to 25 minutes for standard dried pearls or as the packet says for quick-cook ones.
25 min
Watch: Pearls added to water that is not boiling dissolve into glue.
Step 2
Turn off the heat, cover, and leave the pearls in the water 15 minutes to cook through to the centre. Bite one: it should be chewy with no white core.
15 min
Step 3
Meanwhile, brew the tea: 4 teaspoons of leaves in 300 ml of just-boiled water for 5 minutes, stronger than you would drink it plain. Strain and stir in the sugar. Cool.
8 min
Step 4
Make the syrup by dissolving the brown sugar in 100 ml of water and simmering 3 minutes. Drain the pearls, rinse briefly, and drop them into the warm syrup. Leave 10 minutes.
12 min
Tip: Swirl the syrupy pearls around the inside of the glass before pouring for the streaked brown-sugar look.
Step 5
Spoon the pearls and a little syrup into two tall glasses. Shake the tea, milk and ice hard in a jar or cocktail shaker for 20 seconds until frothy, and pour over the pearls. Serve with wide straws.
3 min
Nutrition
Per serving · estimate
- Calories
- 613 kcal
- Protein
- 10.9 g
- Carbs
- 121.3 g
- Fat
- 9.1 g
- Saturated fat
- 3.2 g
- Fibre
- 2.7 g
- Sugar
- 62.9 g
- Sodium
- 1306 mg
Calculated from canonical ingredient data (USDA FoodData Central averages and equivalent published tables). Estimates only.
Allergens
Informational only. Not a medical guarantee. Cross-contamination happens in real kitchens.
- Milk
- Vegetarian
- Gluten-free
Adapt this recipe
The original recipe stays as it is. Personal versions are labelled. Serving changes are simple maths.
Adaptations · 0 / 15 used. Resets 12 November.
Substitutions
Black tea → Jasmine green tea or oolong
Both are standard shop options. Brew green tea cooler, at 80°C, to avoid bitterness.
Tips
- Pearls do not keep. Cook what you will drink within a few hours and never refrigerate them.
- Swap the milk for oat milk and the brown sugar for the same; the pearls themselves are vegan.
- Try it with a splash of sweetened condensed milk in place of the sugar. Many shops do.
History & culture
Taiwan has a tea shop on every block, and ordering is a ritual: tea type, sugar level, ice level, toppings. Students drink it after school, office workers at three, and it is as much a social habit as a drink. Taiwan's government has considered putting it on the passport cover. It is also the island's most successful food export, with chains in every major city on earth.
Shaken iced milk tea was served in Taichung and Tainan tea houses in the early 1980s, and someone added fen yuan tapioca pearls, a traditional dessert ingredient, around 1986 or 1987. Chun Shui Tang in Taichung and Hanlin Tea Room in Tainan both claim the invention and settled a court case over it in 2019 without a winner.
Traditional — Shops use non-dairy creamer or fresh milk depending on the order; whole milk is used here. Quick-cook pearls from a packet are what most Taiwanese kitchens use.
Provenance: Editorial adaptation.
Questions about this recipe
Answers taken from this dish's times, amounts, swaps and tips.
How long does Bubble milk tea take?
50 min all in — 10 min prep, 40 min cook. Cook and rest follow the method. Leftover storage and optional extra waits are not included.
How many does it serve?
The recipe is written for 2 glasses. Scale the ingredient list on the page if you are cooking for a different number.
How hard is it?
Easy.
How spicy is it?
No chilli.
What allergens should I watch?
This recipe is labelled for Milk. Labels are informational — check the packets in your kitchen. This is not medical advice.
Does it fit a diet?
The published recipe is labelled Vegetarian, Gluten-free.
9 more questionsFewer questions
What does it cost to cook?
Cheap night — about Under $8 USD, as a grocery budget for this recipe, not a restaurant price.
What equipment do I need?
Saucepan, Timer.
How much salt do I put in?
This recipe does not list a salt amount. We will not invent one.
How much brown sugar?
80 g (dark) of Brown sugar.
How much sugar?
2 tbsp (or to taste) of Sugar.
What can I use instead?
Black tea → Jasmine green tea or oolong. Both are standard shop options. Brew green tea cooler, at 80°C, to avoid bitterness.
What should I watch for?
Pearls added to water that is not boiling dissolve into glue.
Any tips from this recipe?
Pearls do not keep. Cook what you will drink within a few hours and never refrigerate them. Swap the milk for oat milk and the brown sugar for the same; the pearls themselves are vegan. Try it with a splash of sweetened condensed milk in place of the sugar. Many shops do.
Can I use an air fryer?
This method is not written for an air fryer. The core technique on the page still applies.
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