We gathered ten of the most important pieces of milk tea equipment you need to make your very own milk tea. From pearls to kettles, we’ve researched exactly what you need.
Milk tea, or bubble tea as it’s sometimes called, is a delicious cold drink traditionally made with milky black tea and chewy sweet tapioca pearls. Its popularity has only been skyrocketing in recent years.
But what if you wanted to make it yourself? Well, you’re going to need a few things, and we’re here to tell you what they are.
1. Tea
Probably obvious, but the very first thing you’ll need to make milk tea is the tea itself. If you’re going traditional, then plain black tea is fine. You could try an iced fruit tea, such as mango or strawberry if you want a fruitier version.
Most supermarkets sell a wide variety of teas. If you’re looking for a specialty tea, such as good quality matcha, then you may need to drop by a tea store.
2. Pearls
What makes this drink unique is the pearls. Traditional milk tea is made with chewy tapioca pearls. If you are planning to make a fruity version, you can also get boba pearls that pop in your mouth like little balls of juice.
Tapioca pearls might be a bit harder to find at your basic supermarket. Luckily, you can easily get these at a local Asian grocery or order them from Amazon.
- Ready in 5 minutes
- Net Wt. 8.8 oz (250g)
- Make your own Bubble tea!
- Number of items: 1
3. Additives
There may be a few more ingredients to make your milk tea depending on your tastes, the main one being the milk. You can use any milk you prefer for this, including whole milk or almond milk. You’ll also need some ice and honey. Honey is usually used to sweeten the tapioca pearls when you cook them.
Other things you could add are taro, fruit, or red bean paste.
4. Wide Straws
Your basic straw isn’t going to cut it with this drink. To accommodate the size of the tapioca pearls, you’ll need a wide straw.
These are pretty easy to find online, but they might be possible to find in an Asian grocery store, as well.
5. Drinkware
When you make your bubble tea, you’ll need something to drink it out of. Now, this step is completely up to you. You could drink boba out of anything from a red solo cup to a wine glass.
That being said, milk tea has a certain aesthetic that you’ll miss out on with the wrong type of glass. To enjoy the full effect of the layered boba, tea, and milk, we recommend using a tall, clear glass.
6. Cooking Vessel
The first step to making milk tea is to make the boba. It is by far the most time-consuming process, unless you get “instant” boba. Cooking times can range anywhere from five to ten minutes.
Luckily, you can make tapioca pearls at home with a simple saucepan. You’ll want to opt for a larger saucepan to give the boba plenty of room to float around on the water as it cooks. Make sure not to overcrowd the pearls as they need plenty of water to hydrate.
7. Strainer or Colander
Once you have fully cooked the tapioca, you will need to remove the excess water. The easiest way to do this is with a strainer or colander.
While both options are fine, make sure that the holes are small enough in whichever one you use so that you don’t lose your pearls.
8. Bowl
After you have drained the tapioca pearls, move them into a small bowl. They’re not quite ready at this point to be added to your tea.
While they are in the bowl, add honey to the pearls and stir them until evenly coated. The honey will help them from sticking together and make the tapioca taste sweet when you finally get to enjoy your milk tea.
9. Kettle
To make milk tea (or any iced tea), you usually need to start with making a strong, hot tea. Use a kettle (or a small pot of water) to make the tea for your milk tea. Remember that you usually want to make ice teas about double as strong as you normally would because when you add the ice, the water from the ice will dilute the iced tea.
10. Automatic Boba Making Machine
Let’s say you REALLY start to like milk tea, but you don’t like having to either order the pearls online or buy them at the local Asian grocery. After all, tapioca pearls have a pretty short shelf life.
If that’s the case, you may be interested in this boba-making machine. All you need to do is make a dough from tapioca starch and water and feed it into the machine. It will automatically make fresh pearls that are ready to be cooked.
This option is more aimed at milk tea businesses, but who knows, maybe you can have a side hustle while enjoying fresh milk tea whenever you like.
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Time saving that pearls are boiled by 900W power. It only costs you 50 minutes to get a pot of boiled pearls. You can boil 1kg pearl at one time.
