Before Starbucks was the in, tea-houses or "cha-guan" where beverages such as "Pearl Milk Tea" or "zhen zhu nai cha", was the place to be seen. After more than a decade, it is obvious that the bubble tea is here to stay. Now bubble tea drinks stations like "Happy Cup", "Quickly" and "Cool Station" are common sights. The invasion of the "Chinese Cola" has indeed been re-ignited. Dubbed the "McChildren's drink of the decade" in Jacqueline Newman's 1999 article about bubble tea in Flavours & Fortune, it is not surprising to catch every other person in a busy mall, drinking from a thicker than usual straw, chewing merrily on those jelly balls. What is the secret of this seemingly irresistible new age drink? The joy it seems lies in the act of chewing on the "zhen zhu" or pearls. Of course, there's the bitter sweet (although most are more sweet than bitter), flavour of tea. According to one bubble tea resource, this beverage consists of 4 parts:
1. Liquid - the base of bubble tea, which is tea and water
2. Flavour - either in powdered or liquid form. Sometimes, fresh fruits are also used as flavour components.
3. Sweetener - either honey or sugar syrup
4. Texture - these are what drinkers chew on, tapioca or cassava pearls.
Interested in your own concoction? Here's one simple "Classic Bubble Tea" recipe for a start:
Ingredients:
1/2 cup chilled, cooked large tapioca pearls (Refer to tapioca pearls recipe below.)
1 cup crushed ice
1 cup very strong chilled black tea (or orange pekoe tea) (Refer to tea recipe below.)
1 cup milk
Honey or sugar syrup to taste
Method:
Place the pearls in a large glass. Combine all remaining ingredients in a cocktail shaker and shake vigorously until mixture is frothy. Accordingly, the more froth, the stronger the flavour. Pour into the glass and serve with thick straws.
For variation, you could add sugar or other flavourings like coffee, almond, sweetened condensed milk or green tea. You could even experiment with fruit juice flavourings like mango and green apple. Just mix in the following proportions: 2 parts juice to 3 parts tea.
Preparing the tapioca pearls:
Usually, the more water, the better the tapioca pearls will cook. For best results, use about 7 parts water for one 3 kg of pearls or 3 litres for cooking 1 kg of tapioca pearls.
1. Add in the tapioca pearls into a pot of boiling water gradually. Remember to spread out the pearls and prevent them from sticking to each other.
2. Allow them to boil for about 30 minutes or until they are soft, stirring often.
3. Turn off the fire and let the tapioca pearls steep for another 30 minutes with the lid on.
4. Next drain and rinse the pearls with cold water using a strainer until the water is clear.
5. Place the tapioca pearls in a solution of hot water and sugar syrup. The solution prevents the pearls from sticking to each other.
6. For the sugar solution, a combination of brown and white sugar is recommended and usually 1 part water to 1 part sugar is preferred.
7. Soak the pearls for a few minutes before serving.
Preparing the sugar syrup
2 parts white sugar
1 part brown sugar
3 parts water
Bring the water to boil and add the sugar. Reduce the heat and allow the sugar to dissolve.
Additional tips
Jason writes in:
For the pearls, use 20 mins of boiling (first 5 mins high heat, next 15 mins low heat). During the first 3-5 mins, stir the pearls to prevent them from sticking to the base of the pot. Next steep the pearls in the hot water with the lid on.
The washing of the pearls under cold water makes it chewy or rather the taiwanese call it "Q".
The sugar mixture could be add after the washing. The sugar need not be melted.
Serves 2
© copyright 2002-2004 by Linda Stradley - All rights reserved.
Classic Bubble Tea
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Yields: one 16 ounce drink
Ingredients:
1/2 cup chilled, cooked large Chinese tapioca pearls (if substituting regular small tapioca, use 1/3 cup)
1 cup crushed ice
1 cup very strong chilled black tea (or orange pekoe tea or Lichee tea)
1 cup milk, or to taste
Honey or sugar to taste
Place the pearls in a large parfait glass. Combine all remaining ingredients in a cocktail shaker, and shake vigorously until the mixture is frothy. Pour into the glass, and serve with extra-thick straws.
Classic Bubble Tea
The tea should be very strong. A Hong Kong-style tea or Ceylon Black tea is recommended. If using coffee, espresso is a good choice.
1/2 cup chilled, cooked bubble tea pearls
1 cup crushed ice
1 cup very strong chilled black tea
1 cup homogenized milk, or to taste
Honey or granulated sugar, to taste
Honeydew Green Bubble Tea Recipe
1/2 to 1 cup (depending on how many you like) tapioca pearls, cooked according to package directions and soaked in honey or sugar syrup for a few minutes
4 tsp Sencha green tea
1 1/2 cups water
2 TBSP sugar
a few small slices of fresh ginger
2 cups fresh honeydew chunks
Bring water to a boil. Remove from heat and let sit for 2 minutes.
Pour water over green tea. Steep for 3 minutes.
Strain tea. Add ginger slices to tea. Dissolve sugar in tea. Chill.
Remove ginger slices from tea.
Place as many tapioca pearls as you like in the bottom of each glass.
Put tea and honeydew into blender with some cracked ice (about six cubes) Blend until smooth.
Pour into glasses.
Insert fat straws and enjoy!
Makes 2 bubble teas.
Coconut Bubble Tea Recipe
Hot brewed black tea 150ml
Coconut Milk 1/3 can (small can)
coffee mate creamer 1 Tbs
Honey 2 tbs
Ice cubes 1/2 cup
Place ice cubes in a cocktail shaker, add hot black tea, coconut milk, honey, and coffee mate creamer, then shake until the mixture is frothy
Iced Coffee Bubble Tea Recipe
2 tbsp refined creamer
2 tbsp bubble tea sugar syrup
2 tbsp instant coffee
1 cup water
1.5 cups ice
1 scoop cooked tapioca pearls
Add all ingredients except crushed ice and tapioca pearls into a cocktail shaker and shake until all ingredients are well mixed.
Add ice into the cocktail shaker and shake until liquid is slightly chilled and bubbly.
Pour the shaken ingredients over the tapioca Pparls into the drinking cup.
Lychee Coconut Bubble Tea Recipe
Some bubble tea shops use milk powder rather than fresh milk or a combination of the two to achieve the desired creaminess.
A 230 gram package of dried/raw bubble tea pearls will make about 10 portions. Other fresh fruits such as papaya and mango make tasty substitutions.
1/2 cup chilled, cooked bubble tea pearls
1 cup crushed ice
1 cup canned lychees with syrup or fresh pitted fresh lychees OR other fresh fruits such as mango and papaya
3/4 cup coconut milk
1/4 cup homogenized milk or cereal cream
1 to 2 teaspoons fresh lime juice
Honey or sugar, to taste
Place pearls in a large parfait glass. Combine all remaining ingredients in a blender and blend for 1 minute or until mixture is frothy and creamy. Pour into glass and serve with extra thick straws.
Makes 1 (16 ounce) drink.
Bubble Tea Sugar Syrup Recipe
1 cup white sugar
1 cup brown sugar
2 cups water
Use all white sugar for delicate fruit flavors and green tea drinks. Use 1-2 tablespoons syrup for each 16 ounce serving
Mix sugar and water in a large pot.
Cook at medium to high heat.
Once the sugar dissolves and the mixture boils remove from stove immediately.
Let cool and serve.
*Refrigerate between uses.
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