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Glass of brown sugar boba milk tea with tiger stripe syrup and tapioca pearls

Brown Sugar Boba Milk Tea

Chewy tapioca pearls coated in a dark brown sugar syrup, layered under strong black tea and milk over ice.
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Prep Time 10 minutes
Cook Time 30 minutes
Total Time 45 minutes
Servings: 2
Course: Drinks
Cuisine: Taiwanese
Calories: 340
Ingredients Method Notes

Ingredients
  

  • 1 cup 190 g dried black tapioca pearls
  • 8 cups 2 L water, for boiling
  • 1/2 cup 110 g dark brown sugar, packed
  • 3 tablespoons 45 ml water, for the syrup
  • 2 black tea bags or 2 tablespoons 10 g loose leaf black tea
  • 1 cup 240 ml hot water
  • 1 cup 240 ml whole milk
  • 1 to 2 cups ice

Method
 

  1. Boil the tapioca pearls in 8 cups water, uncovered, for 15 minutes.
  2. Turn off the heat, cover, and rest for 15 minutes.
  3. Dissolve the brown sugar in 3 tablespoons water over medium heat, about 2 minutes.
  4. Drain the hot pearls and stir them into the warm syrup until glazed.
  5. Steep the tea bags in 1 cup hot water for 5 minutes, then cool.
  6. Layer syrup coated pearls, ice, tea, and milk in each glass. Stir and serve.

Notes

Buy plain, unflavored tapioca pearls, since flavored versions can list wheat starch as a coating.
Quick cook pearls need roughly half the boil and rest time given here.
Make the syrup and tea up to 2 days ahead to cut same day prep down to about 15 minutes.
Storage Notes:
Refrigerate cooked pearls in their syrup for up to 2 days, sealed.
Bring chilled pearls to room temperature or warm briefly before serving again.
Do not freeze cooked pearls, since the texture turns mealy on thawing.