Crystal Boba Bubble Tea & Sweeteners for Boba Pearls

Crystal Boba Tea

 

The crystal boba tea is a bubble tea made with the crystal boba, also known as white tapioca and agar boba. It is used by vegans to make boba drinks. The color of the pearls is white before they are cooked, and when they are cooked, they turn clear. There is an article for crystal boba here with additional information.

Crystal boba isnt as chewy as the original tapioca pearls; they are cooked the same way as the original; and they are tasteless. For information on cooking tapioca pearls, check the how to guide here. It will cover everything, including soaking the boba in the sweeteners listed below. The original pearls are also bland, but both are normally dipped into sweeteners to give them extra flavor. The flavor can be left out if the barista feels like it might tarnish the flavor of the rest of the boba drink. There are plenty of different sweeteners made for boba to pick from, besides the brown sugar that is normally used.

 

The crystal boba if found here if you need it:

The Original Longan Honey is one of the most commonly used sweetener for soaking your pearls into. The flavor is honey of course for making honey crystal boba.

Brown sugar is clear and kind of golden, very popular, and used for sweetening boba pearls brown sugar crystal boba. It is used as decoration in boba drinks as well, besides its great taste. This will create brown sugar crystal boba.

 

Fruit crystal boba can be made by using the fructose sweetener, also known as fruit sugar. It will sweeten the boba without changing the color or taste.

For more information on making flavored boba out of crystal, tiny, chewy, and original, refer to the 'making the perfect tapioca pearls' guide. After cooking your boba, the pearls must be soaked in the sweetener for 10 to 25 minutes.

These are the sweetners used regularly for sweetening boba, but there are more syrups available in the syrups section.

How to Make a Crystal Boba Tea

Make sure you check the link for cooking tapioca pearls if you need help with it, but this is where you want to start first. Cook your white pearls first, as this will take the longest. If you prefer the faster cooking ones that only take 5 minutes, they are located here:

 

It should be noted that the quicker cooking pearls will always have a lesser quality than the ones that take longer to cook, but these are great quality within their branch. If you are looking for the highest quality drinks, then go with the longer cooking ones listed at the very top for purchase. Your customers at your boba shop will appreciate it; even if it is just for you at home. However, being an excellent barista is more about skill.

Once your crystal pearls are cooked, the next thing is brewing the loose tea leaves for your bubble drink. There are many flavors to choose from, but the main three are: black tea, oolong, and green tea. All of them are in order from the richest fullest flavor to the lightest, with oolong falling in between. Check the tea leaves section for more information. Steeping times and temperatures will be covered there, along with all the selections.

 

If you want to opt out of using tea leaves, you can use the milk tea mix provided here in the making milk tea guide. It comes premade with the black tea. Using this mix means that purchasing milk may not be required, and no brewing of tea leaves, if you're OK with black tea (a very rich flavor preferred in Asia).

This is all the ingredients needed to make a crystal boba drink at home, or at a boba shop as a barista, but you can tweak it of course by adding in some additional flavors with powders and syrups. Check the powder section for powder flavors, and the syrup section for more. There is also a big list of boba flavors here for more ideas for your clear boba. A few teaspoons or tablespoons can flip your beverage into a whole new world.

If you want to maintain a healthy and less calorie dense approach, try the purées listed in the bubble tea smoothie section, instead of the powders or syrups.

Your cooked clear boba should be placed at the bottom of your cup first in avoid splash and spillage from over filling. Then, your fully mixed drink can be poured in. There are many ways to do this, but I like to pick the cleanest approach. Hopefully this helped, have fun!