Asian Bubble Tea

• 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.