Get the health benefits of loose-leaf tea in this milk oolong tea, full of creamy flavor that you’ll love. Oolong bubble tea has a sweet flavor thanks to the unique flavor of oolong tea and oat milk. With chewy store-bought tapioca balls, it’s easier than ever to make this Taiwanese oolong in boba form!
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Table of Contents
Why You’ll Love This Recipe
- Nutrition: Chinese Oolong tea is highly prized for its health benefits. Sourced from a high elevation, this tea is full of vitamins, minerals, and antioxidants that do good things for your body.
- Great taste: The light floral notes of oolong tea shine through, making it a wonderful choice for your bubble tea base.
- Enjoy hot or cold: Have it as a cold or hot milk tea – I’ve got recipes for both of them so you can enjoy oolong milk tea the way you prefer.
- Quick: In less time than it takes for you to drive to one of the bubble tea shops near you, you’ll be sipping your oolong milk tea.
About Oolong Milk Tea
All milk tea varieties originated from Taiwan. It’s largely considered the birthplace of bubble tea. Over there and across Asia, boba tea shops are on every corner. In America, the trend has taken off, but depending on where you live, you may not have many near you.
With this easy recipe you can make the best oolong milk tea right in your own kitchen.
What does oolong milk rea raste like?
Oolong milk tea is fascinating in flavor because it has a buttery and creamy taste. The Chinese oolong tea is sweet and flowery, so combined together, it is truly an uplifting experience. If you’re a relative newcomer to the world of boba tea, you will find oolong milk tea to have an appealing taste. You can enjoy it hot or cold, depending on your personal preference, to get the maximum enjoyment from this flavor of bubble tea.
Is oolong tea healthy?
Oolong is filled with antioxidants and some vitamins and minerals. One cup of oolong tea has small amounts of potassium, calcium, and magnesium. It also contains around 38 mg of caffeine. A study found that regularly consuming any type of tea, reduced the likelihood of having depressive symptoms.
Ingredients + Notes
Oolong bubble tea with tapioca pearls is much easier to make than it looks. You’ll only need a few simple ingredients to make this simple oolong milk tea!
- Tapioca Pearls: The round shape and chewy texture of tapioca pearls really make oolong milk tea complete. They also impart an added sweetness that enhances the experience.
- Oolong Tea: Loose tea is better than using oolong tea bags. When you use tea bags, the chemicals from the satchels leech into your tea, but when you use loose-leaf tea, you’re only getting the purest form.
A full list of ingredients with exact amounts can be found in the recipe card below.
Variations + Substitutions
While making oolong milk tea is easy, you may find you’re missing an ingredient or want to make a swap. These recipe variations will ensure you make the right switch to maintain great flavor.
- Sweeteners: Cane sugar isn’t the only thing you can use to sweeten this oolong boba tea. You can choose brown sugar syrup or simple syrup to get that sweet flavor in your cup of tea.
- Milk: Oat milk is a great plant-based milk for bubble teas, but you can also use soy milk or a non-dairy creamer. For non-vegans, whole milk works just fine, too.
- Tea: You can absolutely make this recipe using a different type of tea, though it will change the flavor profile. Black tea, green tea, or herbal tea can all be used to help you create a beautiful milk tea recipe.
How To Make Oolong Milk Tea
The buttery notes of this oolong milk tea are ready for you. Choose quality loose-leaf tea from the Fujian province of China, and it will make all the difference in providing you with the best taste!
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- Make the Tapioca Pearls: Pour two cups of water into a small saucepan and bring to a boil. Add tapioca pearls to the saucepan and boil for five minutes (until the pearls start floating to the top). (If you don’t have quick-cooking tapioca pearls, follow your package directions.) Scoop floating pearls into a metal mesh strainer and rinse with cool water.
- Tea Instructions: Heat water in a teapot or electric tea kettle to 190°F or 88°C. Add loose-leaf tea to a tea infuser and place it in a thing glass. Pour hot water over the tea and let steep for 9 minutes. Remove the tea. Scoop in the cane sugar and stir thoroughly.
- Assemble Milk Tea: Scoop tapioca balls into a serving glass. Next, add ice on top of the boba. Then, pour oat milk over the boba, followed by the oolong tea sugar mixture. Stir and enjoy with a reusable boba tea straw.
Storage Tips
Milk oolong tea is such a relaxing and delightful drink to sip. It goes down easily to the point where you won’t want to stop drinking it. At the same time, because of the tapioca pearls and how filling tea with milk is, you may not be able to finish it. Here’s how you can store it for later!
- Fridge: The first thing you should do is remove the tapioca balls from your bubble tea. These do not keep well in the milk tea and become hard rather than retain that lovely chewiness. Scoop them out and gobble them up before stowing the bubble tea. You can keep the liquid for a maximum of 2 days.
Feel free to check out How Long Does Milk Tea Last In The Fridge for a more in-depth guide. - Freeze: I do not recommend freezing any kind of bubble tea. With non-dairy milk (or even with regular dairy milk), it will change texture and just not be as spectacular as it once was. It’s easy enough to make it fresh, though!
- Meal Prep: If you want to prepare oolong milk tea in advance, you can steep the tea ahead of time. This way, it shortens your prep time when making bubble tea. I don’t recommend doing so too far ahead, though. About 12 hours to no more than 24 hours is a good time frame for the optimum flavors in your milk tea drink.
Instructions For Hot Oolong Boba Tea
I’m a big fan of iced drinks, but if hot milk tea is more your jam, follow this recipe. (Use the same ingredients but instead, skip the ice!
Hot Oolong Bubble Tea Instructions
- Make The Tapioca Pearls: Pour two cups of water into a small saucepan and bring to a boil. Add tapioca pearls to the saucepan and boil for five minutes (until the pearls start floating to the top). (If you don’t have quick-cooking tapioca pearls, follow the package directions.) Scoop floating pearls into a metal mesh strainer to remove excess water.
- Tea Instructions: Heat water in a kettle to 190°F/88°C. Add loose-leaf tea to a tea infuser and place it in a glass that is safe for hot liquids. Pour hot water over the tea and let steep for 9 minutes. (This will make it more concentrated.) Remove the tea. Scoop in the cane sugar and stir thoroughly.
- Prepare Milk: Pour oat milk into a microwave-safe mug or glass and heat for one minute.
- Assemble The Milk Tea: Scoop tapioca balls into your serving glass. Next, pour oat milk over the boba, followed by the oolong tea mixture. Stir and enjoy with a reusable bubble tea straw.
FAQ
Taiwanese milk tea with oolong tastes amazing. It has a buttery flavor when combined with milk and a creamy texture that enhances the whole experience.
Oolong tea is excellent for bubble tea. It is rich and floral, an elegant flavor that seems even more delicate with the addition of oat milk and sweeteners.
Oolong boba is made with an oolong base of tea that has been steeped to perfection. It is then paired with milk and chewy balls of tapioca, along with some sweetener for balance, to create an exceptionally refreshing drink you can enjoy, hot or cold.
The tastiest bubble tea is really a matter of opinion. You may love oolong milk tea, while your best friend loves the matcha version. Honestly, trying them all is the best part to find your favorite flavor of oolong milk tea or another tea base.
This semi-oxidized Chinese tea is somewhere between the strength of black tea and green tea. Some versions of the tea may be lightly oxidized, which will have a lower level of caffeine, like green tea, while some will be stronger. As for the flavor, it is lightly floral and incredibly pleasing, making it a favorite all around the world.
The caffeine content in oolong tea generally falls somewhere between black tea and green tea. A lightly oxidized oolong may have lower caffeine levels (similar to green tea), and a highly oxidized oolong may have higher caffeine levels (similar to black tea).
If you tried this Oolong Milk Tea Recipe or any other recipe on my blog, please leave a 🌟 star rating and let me know how it went in the 📝 comments below. Thanks for visiting!
Recipe
Oolong Milk Tea
Ingredients
Boba Ingredients
- 2 cups water
- ⅓ cup tapioca balls
Oolong Milk Tea Ingredients
- 1/2 cup water, hot
- 2 tablespoons loose-leaf oolong tea
- 1 teaspoon raw sugar
- 1/2 cup oat milk
- 1 ½ cup ice
Instructions
- Make The Tapioca Pearls: Pour two cups of water into a small saucepan and bring to a boil. Add tapioca pearls to the saucepan and boil for five minutes (until the pearls start floating to the top). (If you don’t have quick-cooking tapioca pearls, follow your package directions.) Scoop floating pearls into a metal mesh strainer and rinse with cool water.
- Tea Instructions: Heat water in a teapot or electric tea kettle to 190°F or 88°C. Add loose-leaf tea to a tea infuser and place it in a thing glass. Pour hot water over the tea and let steep for 9 minutes. Remove the tea. Scoop in the cane sugar and stir thoroughly.
- Assemble The Milk Tea: Scoop tapioca balls into a serving glass. Next, add ice on top of the boba. Then, pour oat milk over the boba, followed by the oolong tea sugar mixture. Stir and enjoy with a reusable boba tea straw.
Video
Notes
- Fridge: The first thing you should do is remove the tapioca balls from your bubble tea. These do not keep well in the milk tea and become hard rather than retain that lovely chewiness. Scoop them out and gobble them up before stowing the bubble tea. You can keep the liquid for a maximum of 2 days.
- Freeze: I do not recommend freezing any kind of bubble tea. With non-dairy milk (or even with regular dairy milk), it will change texture and just not be as spectacular as it once was. It’s easy enough to make it fresh, though!
- Meal Prep: If you want to prepare oolong milk tea in advance, you can steep the tea ahead of time. This way, it shortens your prep time when making bubble tea. I don’t recommend doing so too far ahead, though. About 12 hours to no more than 24 hours is a good time frame for the optimum flavors in your milk tea drink.
Nutrition
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Reference
Yao, Y., Chen, H., Chen, L., Ju, S. Y., Yang, H., Zeng, Y., Gu, D., & Ng, T. P. (2021). Type of tea consumption and depressive symptoms in Chinese older adults. BMC geriatrics, 21(1), 331. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12877-021-02203-z
This drink was incredible!
Thanks Alex!
Loved this drink!
Wonderful!
This is one of my favorite drinks!
So glad you like it!