Boba Tea Recipe (Bubble Tea)

This dairy-free boba tea (aka bubble tea) is made with homemade tapioca pearls and coconut milk. This delicious recipe is different than the average boba tea recipe out there. It’s made with all dairy-free, gluten-free, and paleo-friendly ingredients! 

Boba team, also known as bubble tea, is a sweet milk tea with soft tapioca pearls (bubbles). This drink is eye-catching, but it’s delicious too! 

Below, I will share how to make this recipe from scratch, but if you’d like to use store-bought tapioca pearls, you can! I wanted to offer a from-scratch recipe for the adventurous cook or those who need to avoid specific ingredients. 

Boba Tea Ingredients

There are a lot of moving parts here, but fortunately most of the ingredients are readily available (like water, ice, and tea). I’ve linked out to buying guides for some of the less common ingredients.

Simple syrup:

• 1 cup coconut sugar
• 1/2 cup water

Tea:

• 8 tea bags of black tea, oolong tea, or jasmine tea or various green teas (each offer different flavors)
• 4 cups water

Boba:

• 1/2 cup water
• 1/2 cup coconut sugar
• 1/2 cup tapioca flour + extra for rolling the boba

For serving:

• Coconut milk, cold (you can also make your own coconut milk at home)
• Ice cubes

How To Make Boba Tea (Bubble Tea)

The first step in making bubble tea is the simple syrup. I used coconut sugar to make the syrup, but other granulated sweeteners like organic white sugar, brown sugar, and maple sugar will work. To make the simple syrup, you will boil water and sugar together and remove them from the heat. 

Then you’ll prepare the black tea. Tea is optional for this recipe, but I really enjoy the mix of tea, tapioca pearls, and sweet coconut milk! Boil 4 cups of water and seep eight black tea bags in the water for 3-5 minutes. Remove the tea bags and refrigerate the tea to chill. 

The next step in making boba tea is to make the tapioca pearls. If you’re using store-bought tapioca pearls, follow the cooking instructions on the package and skip to the next step. To make the tapioca pearls, you’ll warm the water and coconut sugar, then slowly add the tapioca flour to form a sticky dough. 

Then you place the dough on a floured surface (I used tapioca starch), roll it out, and cut it into small pearl-sized pieces.   

Lastly, you’ll cook the tapioca pearls for 10 minutes in a saucepan. Then, remove the cooked tapioca pearls from the pot, and mix them into the simple syrup. 

To make your first cup of boba tea, you’ll mix two tablespoons of boba balls into a long glass, pour chilled black tea and cold coconut milk over them, add ice and enjoy cold.

You may also like these recipes:

• Paleo Thai Tea
• Whipped Coffee (Dalgona Coffee)
• Coconut Oil Coffee

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