I welcome you to a new article on recipes with coffee. In this case, I will make a very special one, not very well known in some countries yet, but in others, yes. In Asia, it is a craze everywhere, and all the store’s lines and lines are waiting for this drink.
In another article, I showed you one of the most popular recipes in Vietnam, Egg coffee, another delicacy. The one I brought you today I tried in Thailand, and it is called Boba Latte; it is a cold drink with milk and tapioca pearls or cassava that you can see at the bottom, which is like soft and sweet gummies. Add coffee, tea, chocolate, or whatever you want to this drink.
Of course, I am going to show it to you with coffee; however, I do not want to stop showing you the versions with tea, so I am going to show you one with white tea and one with Matcha, all from scratch including the pearls, you can find them in some local Asian markets, but as I always say, everything that is homemade is much richer.
Preparation of Boba Latte coffee
For summer days, this recipe is ideal, so here I leave you the step by step to encourage you to make it:
How to prepare the boba or tapioca bubbles
First, we will prepare the boba; this takes a little time so try to do it with a bit of anticipation. We will need only two ingredients, cassava or tapioca starch and brown sugar. Now follow these steps for its preparation:
- In a small saucepan or pot, add about 3 ounces of water and 65 grams, or one-third, of a cup of brown sugar, and heat over high heat until it boils.
- Once it comes to a boil, lower it to the minimum and add about half of the tapioca starch, stirring rapidly for about five seconds, no more.
- Turn off the heat and add the rest of the starch, mixing hard until it forms a kind of dough that will not come together; it will be measured in pieces.
- We transfer this to a board and knead well for a few minutes until everything is integrated and forms a smooth and uniform dough. We will divide this dough into four equal parts and wrap each with a little plastic so it doesn’t harden.
- We will stretch each part on the board with our hands in thin sticks of about an inch, then cut it into small pieces of about half an inch.
- And here comes the moment of patience; we are going to put a little starch on our hands, and we are going to turn each little piece with our hands to make it into a ball; try to do it as fast as possible because with time the dough hardens and becomes less malleable. And if you do not want to make the balls one by one, you can do it with your hands directly on the board, making several balls simultaneously.
- With all the balls made with a light layer of starch, we are ready to cook them. For this, we have to heat a large amount of water in a large pot, and once it boils, we add the pearls and cook them over high heat for about 30 minutes. Once this time has passed, we turn off the fire, cover the pan and let the pearls rest in the water for about 20 to 25 minutes.
- When we see that this time is ending, we will make the syrup for these pearls. For this, we will put in a small saucepan of about 3 ounces of water and 250 grams of a cup and a quarter of brown sugar, stir to dissolve, and heat over medium-high heat until it bubbles. Stirring, we will let it reduce until it takes a syrup consistency; once we see that it is thickening, we turn off the heat.
- When the pearls have rested for 20-25 minutes, we will drain them in a strainer and add them to this syrup, and with this, we will have the bubbles ready. Ideally, we should let the temperature go down a little and let them cool down; with this, they will take more consistency.
Step by step to prepare the Boba Latte
Now comes the fun part, let’s put together our delicious drinks. Let’s start with the coffee one, which was the first one I tried:
- First, we will prepare our coffee, which can be with whatever you have at home, Moka pot, French press, capsules, or any intense coffee. I prepared an espresso with the Flair because I love it; always well-calibrated. Although this drink has a lot of sugar that will cover the flavors a little, the richer the coffee, the richer the final result will be.
- Now, in a nice glass, we will take a good spoonful of boba and place it on the wall rotating it to spread this syrup all over the glass. More than anything else, the amount of this syrup will depend on how sweet you want your drink.
- Then we put some good ice cubes, a cup of milk of your choice, a double espresso on top, and that’s it.
It looks amazing, and it’s as rich as it looks. It’s quite sweet, it’s not something I would drink every day, but when you want to treat yourself or are craving something sweet, it’s delicious. We need a thick straw or straw where the pearls can pass through with the drink; they are delicious, and I love them.
Next, we will prepare two other Boba Milk without coffee, which is most often found.
Step by step to prepare the Boba Milk Tea
For the Boba Milk tea, in my case, I used white tea, but it can be any tea you prefer, black tea, red tea, green tea, or a blend.
- We will prepare the tea well by placing about five grams of the strands with about 1.7 ounces more or less hot water at the temperature and time that your tea needs; in my case, I used water at 185 degrees Fahrenheit and let it infuse for 2 minutes.
- Then, we had to assemble this drink again, with boba in the glass, the tea we prepared, and the milk.
This preparation with any tea is a great, delicious classic that makes us think we are in Southeast Asia. You have to try it.
Step by step to prepare the Boba Milk Tea with Matcha
Finally, let’s go with Matcha, which I love because it looks cold, and with boba, it’s a bomb, plus it’s super simple to make. Matcha, if you don’t know, is a green tea grown and harvested especially.
Unlike other teas we see in strands, this one is ground into a very fine powder, so the numerous health benefits of its consumption are more effective. To take it, we have to mix it with hot water, emulsifying it.
- For this recipe, we will place 4 grams of Matcha tea in a bowl with a little water at 176 degrees, and with a small whisk that can be the typical bamboo or even electric, we mix it well until it has a consistency like cream and there are no clumps.
- Then, again we assemble this drink with boba in the glass, ice, milk, and Matcha concentrate on top.
That pastel green color that Matcha has, combined with the milk, is beautiful, and with the brown sugar syrup, it is simply exquisite. I love this combination; it is one of my favorites.
Preparation result
These three amazing Boba Milk drinks, with coffee, white tea, and Matcha, are yummy and different. It’s weird to try these little pearls for the first time; they are like chewy gummies while drinking the liquid. The truth is, at least for me, I love this recipe for when I want something really sweet.
Something to keep in mind also when preparing these cassava balls is that before cooking them, once we assemble them, we can keep them in an airtight container in the freezer for a long time, in case we see that too many come out and we are not going to consume them all. Once cooked, we can keep them in the refrigerator for up to three days, although they harden quite.
