Hello, my lovely readers! I hope you are having a great day. After my blog post about the Taro smoothie recipe, I wanted to write another recipe you could make with taro—the taro bubble tea! Taro bubble tea might be the most popular recipe worldwide, and you can make it with taro. So I had to get into writing this blog post. 😄 If you have some fresh taro at home, I strongly encourage you to make this homemade taro latte with boba bubbles. But if you don’t, fear not! I’ve included two ways to make homemade taro bubble tea. You can make homemade taro latte either with fresh taro or taro powder.
Let’s start!
Introduction to Homemade Taro Bubble Tea Recipe
A Little About Bubble Tea
Bubble tea’s popularity has risen in recent years. Bubble tea shops are popping up everywhere. Bubble tea is a type of drink with tea and boba bubbles that originated in Taiwan in the 1980s. Then it was brought to the US in the 90s by Taiwanese immigrants and started to spread around the world. I remember bubble tea shops starting to show up in Seoul, South Korea, in the 2010s. Now in the 2020s, bubble tea shops have arrived in the North—I see many bubble tea shops in Norway!
Taro Bubble Tea at Stores
Among bubble tea, taro bubble tea is one of the most popular varieties. It is considered “the classic” menu in bubble tea stores, and one should start their bubble tea journey with taro bubble tea.
The taro bubble tea you find at bubble tea stores is made with taro bubble tea powder, which has a light purple color, sweetness, and taro flavor. It might be the taro bubble tea flavor that you are used to, but it has lots of sugar, and usually, the taro flavor is artificially enhanced.
If you want to make real taro bubble tea with real fresh taro, let’s get into it!
What Is Taro?
Health Benefits of Taro
I found some very interesting research on the health benefits of taro: Anticancer and Immunomodulatory Benefits of Taro. Here are a few key points from this paper on the benefits of eating taro.
- Antitumoral
- Antimutagenic
- Anti-inflammatory
- Anti-hyperglycemic
Taro is also a great food choice for those of you with a gluten-free, vegan, vegetarian, or low-GI diet preference. So although you could make taro bubble tea even with taro powder, I recommend making it with real taro so you could get some health benefits, too.
My Other Taro Recipes
Boba Bubble Variations*
The most common and popular variety of boba bubbles used in taro bubble tea is black boba bubbles. The contrast between black bubbles in light purple milk has been ingrained in people’s minds. But did you know that there are many types of bubbles? There are two types of bubble variations.
1. Boba Pearls: Made with tapioca starch, chewy texture.
- Black boba pearls
- White boba pearls
- Mini pearls
2. Fruit Jelly: Made with fruit juice or fruit chunks
- Peach jelly
- Aloe vera jelly
- Grape jelly
Tips for Cooking Boba Pearls
When I first cooked the boba bubbles at home, I found it quite hard. Here are some tips on cooking boba pearls at home.
- Add a lot of water. Dry boba pearls need a lot of water to soak in.
- Add the boba pearls once the water is boiling. If you add boba pearls before the water is boiling, the boba pearls can fall apart like powder.
- Cook for 30-40 minutes. It takes a long time to cook boba pearls! Read more details in the recipe below.
- Mix the boba pearls with sweetener. This allows the boba pearl to be sweet. If you skip this step, the boba pearls can taste like nothing.
My Choice of Tapioca Pearls
WuFuYuan Boba Tapioca Pearl, Black Sugar Flavor, Ready in 5 Minutes, 8.8 Oz.
Usually, tapioca pearls take about 30 to 40 minutes to get fully ready. But you can shorten the time to cook them if you choose the one that takes a shorter time, like this one! So if you want to spend less time having tapioca pearls ready like me, then this one works great.
Otherwise, you can follow my recipe to cook the pearls perfectly. 😁
Two Ways to Make Taro Bubble Tea
With only a handful of ingredients, you are ready to make taro bubble tea. You can make it with either fresh taro or with taro powder.
Let’s start the recipe with real, fresh taro.
If you want to learn the recipe with taro powder, please scroll down to see the second recipe! 📖
1. Taro Bubble Tea Recipe with Fresh Taro
Taro Bubble Tea with Real Taro
Ingredients
Equipment
Method
- Prepare two cups of water in a pot. Bring it to a hard boil. When the water starts to boil vigorously, add the tapioca pearls.
- Cook the tapioca pearls for 15 to 20 minutes in the boiling water. Turn off the heat and leave it for another 15 to 20 minutes in the hot water.
- Remove water from the pot, but leave about 1 tablespoon of water in the pot. Mix in the brown sugar with the tapioca pearls. You can store it in the fridge in a separate container for another 10 minutes, or until you are done with making bubble tea.
- Prepare one or two fresh taro. Wash thoroughly and peel the skin.
- Prepare two cups of water in a pot. Bring it to a boil. Add the peeled taro and cook for 15 minutes.
- Turn off the heat and take out the cooked taro from the pot.
- Add the cooked taro to the blender with syrup and purple food dye. Blend until smooth.
- Bring a long glass. Pour the prepared tapioca pearls into the cup. Add ice. Then pour the taro paste into the cup. Then pour the rest of the milk into the cup.
- Put the bubble tea straw in the glass. Mix the taro paste with milk before serving. Enjoy!
Can’t Find Fresh Taro? Make Easy Taro Latte!
It is quite often that fresh taro is not available at your supermarket nearby. I live in Norway, and I also have to go to the city center of Oslo to get some fresh taro. There is nowhere else that I can find fresh taro to make this taro bubble tea. But that doesn’t stop me from making taro bubble tea, and so should you! As a matter of fact, taro bubble tea made with taro powder is not only easier to make but also tastes like the original one at bubble tea stores.
My Choice of Taro Powder
Taro Blended Crème Mix by Angel Specialty Products [3 LB]
This is one of the most popular taro powders on the internet! It tastes amazing and blends so well with water. It also has plant-based creamer that makes the drink nutty and soft. This also has a beautiful light purple color to it already.
2. Taro Bubble Tea Recipe with Taro Powder
Taro Bubble Tea with Taro Powder
Ingredients
Equipment
Method
- Prepare two cups of water in a pot and bring it to a hard boil. Add the tapioca pearls when the water starts to boil vigorously.
- Cook the tapioca pearls for 15 to 20 minutes in the boiling water. Turn off the heat and leave it in the hot water for another 15 to 20 minutes.
- Remove water from the pot, but leave about 1 tablespoon of water in the pot. Mix in the brown sugar with the tapioca pearls. You can store it in the fridge in a separate container for another 10 minutes, or until you are done with making bubble tea.
- Heat the 1/4 cup of water with a microwave or on a stove. Add the taro powder to the hot water and mix well.
- Bring a long glass. Pour the prepared tapioca pearls into the cup. Add ice. Then pour the taro paste into the cup. Then pour the rest of the milk into the cup.
- Put the bubble tea straw in the glass. Mix the taro paste with milk before serving. Enjoy!
Summary of Taro Bubble Tea Recipe
I hope you enjoyed this taro bubble tea recipe that you can make in two different ways! Whether this is made with real taro or with taro powder, taro bubble tea has a unique flavor that is sweet, nutty, and creamy. The tapioca pearls in the drink make it even more fun. The chewy little pearls inside the drink make it even more fun to drink this bubble tea.
Make it at home and enjoy your little cozy time! I will see you again with another delicious post.
Other Latte Recipes You Might Like
Easy Ube Latte Recipe | How to Make Purple Yam Latte at Home!
Try this easy and delicious ube latte recipe! Here are all the tips to upgrade your ube latte or make it simple, both iced and hot ube latte. Learn more.
Blueberry Latte Recipe | With Blueberry Cheong and Syrup
You can make blueberry latté with blueberry cheong and syrup. Or you can make some blueberry paste to make some delicious blueberry latté! Learn more.
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