We love boba tea! Have you tried it? The boba, or bubbles, are made of large tapioca pearls, usually a dark color due to caramel coloring. You can add them to any drink for a bit of chewy texture, but we’re purists and always have ours with tea.

Getting a cup of boba has always a special treat when we’re downtown near the tea shop, but recently Luc spotted a jar of boba in our favorite zero-waste grocery store, so now we’ve been making it at home!

Make the Boba

This is the one step that will take some adult help.

Our boba didn’t come with cooking instructions (one of the by-products of package-free shopping!), so I decided to go with the 30 & 30 method as described here. 30 & 30 stands for 30 minutes of cooking followed by 30 minutes of rest. Although, after some testing, I think we settled on something more like 30 & 15.

• Fill a large pot with water and put it over high heat to boil. Huy says about 10 cups, but we never measured, you just need plenty so that your boba can float freely without getting clumped together.
• Once the water is boiling add 1/2 cup of dry pearls. This will make about 1 cup of cooked boba.
• After about 30 seconds, the boba will float to the top. At this point, turn the temperature down to medium and keep simmering for 30 minutes.
• Once the 30 minute time is up, remove the pot from the heat, cover, and let rest for the second 30 minutes. I tested mine after about 15 minutes, and they were perfectly chewy and cooked through at that point.
• Gently rinse your boba to remove any additional starch.
• Place in a bowl and add a couple Tbsps of brown sugar to sweeten.

Brew the Tea

This is the moment when you get to personalize your drink! Everyone gets to brew a pot of their favorite tea or drink. We lightly sweeten these drinks, keeping in mind that the boba are sweetened too.

For kids we have a few caffeine-free favorites:

• mint
• Celestial Seasoning’s Sleepytime (it’s great any time of day)
• rooibos (that one’s pricy but so good)
• or hot chocolate for a cold-weather treat!

For adults, anything goes:

• teas
• matcha + mint is my favorite
• coffee (iced or hot)

Put it Together

This is the part that kids really enjoy.

• Pour some of your favorite drink into a cup with ice.
• Add milk, if desired.
• Add a scoop of boba!
• Give yourself a fat straw (those are reusable AND wide enough to suck up the bubbles!) and enjoy!