Bubble Tea

And the snow day experiments continue... sometimes I really get a craving for bubble tea.  If you've never had bubble tea, it's basically a tea or smoothie that has chewy tapioca pearls in it.  I personally love them, but I have friends who definitely are not fans.  The only way to find out is to try it!  I bought the tapioca pearls from the local Asian food store.  The recipe for preparing the tapioca pearls in syrup is described below.  To make the drink, add the pearls and syrup to your favorite hot or cold tea/smoothie.

Ingredients

1 cup tapioca pearls

10 cups water

1/4 cup white sugar

1/4 cup brown sugar

1/4 cup water

Directions

1.  In a large pot, bring the 10 cups of water to a boil.  Add the tapioca pearls and cover.  Boil for 20-25 minutes (they should be soft.  Turn the heat off and leave the pearls in the water an additional 20 minutes.  Drain and rinse with warm water.  Add the sugar syrup to the tapioca pearls and store in the refrigerator until ready to use.

2.  While the tapioca pearls are boiling, heat the 1/4 cup water and both sugars in a small saucepan until dissolved and almost boiling.  Keep aside to use later.

To make the drink:  Make any hot or cold tea/smoothie (I wouldn't add any extra sugar initially since the syrup has some). 

Add ~1/8 cup of the tapioca pearls to 1 cup of your drink and enjoy!  For example, today I made hot vanilla hazelnut black tea with ~1 tbsp of non-dairy creamer per cup and added 1/8 cup of bubbles to it.  You can adjust the sweetness by adding more/less syrup.  Also, some places sell bubble tea straws that have really large holes, which are great!  But if you don't have them, you can just use a spoon.