When you know how to make taro milk tea, you do not have to wait until you can get by the specialty tea shop for this delicious beverage. Let’s start brewing!
Ingredients Needed To Make Taro Milk Tea
This recipe is for making one cup of taro milk tea. To make taro milk tea, you will need:
- 2 tablespoons of taro powder. Taro is a starchy root vegetable with a sweet and nutty flavor. You can find this powder at Asian specialty markets or even on Amazon.
- 1 green tea bag. You can also use black tea for a stronger flavored beverage.
- 1 cup water.
- 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract.
- 2 tablespoons half-and-half or heavy cream. You can choose almond milk or sweetened condensed milk to create variations of this recipe. Flavored coffee creamer can also give a unique twist.
- 1/3 cup prepared boba pearls.
- 1 1/2 cups ice cubes
Recipe For How To Make Taro Milk Tea
Follow our step-by-step guide to create taro milk tea just like what you can enjoy at your favorite tea shop.
Step 1. Prepare The Boba Pearls According To The Directions Below
Measure out 1/3 of a cup of the boba pearls along with the brown sugar syrup, having it handy for later when you assemble the drink. The remainder can be stored in the refrigerator, covered with brown sugar syrup for up to 24 hours.
Step 2. Create The Green Tea
Bring the water to a boil in a small saucepan, add the green tea bag, and allow it to steep, covered, for about 2 minutes. Take the teabag out of the water and let the tea sit at room temperature to cool for about ten minutes.
Step 3. Add The Taro Powder
Use a wire whisk to add the taro powder to the tea. It will become a lovely purple shade.
Step 4. Assemble The Tea
Add the cooked boba pearls with some brown sugar syrup to your glass and top the pearls with ice. Then, pour your blended liquids over these. Add an extra-wide straw and enjoy!
Directions For Preparing The Boba Pearls For Your Taro Bubble Tea
Before you can make your taro milk tea recipe, you have to have some boba pearls prepared ahead of time. To prepare the boba pearls, fill a large pot about halfway with water and bring it to a boil. Pour 2 cups of boba pearls into the boiling water, allowing them to cook for about 10 to 12 minutes, stirring them occasionally.
Take the pot off of the stove, put the lid on it, and let it sit for 2 or 3 minutes before using a colander to strain the pearls from the water. The total cook time for this step is less than 15 minutes!
Put the pearls in a bowl, just covering them with cold water. Add 1/4 cup of brown sugar, stirring this mixture gently to dissolve the sugar. You should use the boba pearls within 12 hours.
Where Taro Milk Tea Comes From
Taro is one of the most popular versions of boba tea. Taro is a plant that is similar to the sweet potato, and it adds a nutty, subtly vanilla flavor to classic boba tea. The roots of this plant are what make the taro powder that you can buy to make your own taro milk tea. Taro root is cooked, dried, and ground to make the powder that is commercially available.
Taro powder has a lovely purple color that makes taro milk tea a beautiful and popular beverage everywhere that boba tea is sold.
Origins Of Taro Milk Tea
Taro milk tea is a version of the popular bubble tea, also called boba tea. The story of taro milk tea started when boba tea was invented.
Teas with milk have been around for centuries, but sometime in the late 1980s, Tu Tsong He, a Taiwanese businessman, was looking for a way to set his start-up tea shop apart from the others. He thought that adding some tapioca pearls to his green tea would create an interesting and marketable tea drink.
The tapioca balls looked like pearls in the tea drink, causing him to name his new drink “Pearl Green Tea.”
Later, Tu added black tapioca to a classic milk tea. This beverage was thick and rich with a chewy texture. Tu’s first few Asian customers had to spoon the tapioca balls from their tea drinks, but it wasn’t very long before he worked with manufacturers to create extra-wide straws that made the drink sippable.
Tu opened his first bubble tea shop in 1986.
Soon, others began experimenting with making variations on the classic drink. Franchises were formed, and small shops sprang up all across the nation. The drink became very popular in Taiwan, and over the decades it has spread all across Asia, North America, and Europe. And this is where the taro comes in.
Taro is a starchy root vegetable that can be added to a bubble tea for a new and exciting flavor of bubble milk tea.
You might also be wondering what does iced milk tea taste like.
Final Word On How To Make Taro Milk Tea
You do not have to wait to get to the specialty tea shop to make your very own taro milk tea. When you have the correct ingredients on hand, you can create taro milk tea for yourself at any time of day.
Additionally, making a batch of boba pearls and brown sugar syrup and storing it in the fridge will allow you to prepare taro milk tea for your next party or game night.
In just a few minutes, by following our step-by-step directions, you can enjoy this special, appealing treat any time of day.
FAQ About How To Make Taro Milk Tea
Is it hard to make taro milk tea?
No! It does take a bit of prep time since you will need to prepare the boba pearls ahead of time, but even with that, your total time is less than 20 minutes for the whole bubble tea recipe.
Can I use real taro root?
To create taro milk tea from a fresh taro root, you will have to peel, cook, and mash the fresh taro. It’s not impossible, but it will add significant time to your cook time. It’s much easier to use taro powder.
Is the taro root what makes the pretty purple color in my taro boba tea?
Actually, pure taro root might not make your tea a very bright purple. Manufacturers typically add purple sweet potato powder to increase the intensity of the purple hue.
