Classic Milk Tea

A glass of bubble tea with tapioca pearls and ice, served with a clear straw, surrounded by tea ingredients, sugar, a jar of milk, and a red flower in the background—nothing beats this classic milk tea recipe.

5 from 3 votes

Enjoy classic milk tea at home with those chewy tapioca pearls in just 15 minutes. Classic boba milk tea is a refreshing drink when iced and splendidly enjoyable when hot, too.

Prep Time5

Cook Time10

Total Time15

Course: Drink

Cuisine: Asian

Diet: Vegan

Servings: Serving

Calories: 190kcal

Author: Rae Aflatooni

Equipment

Ingredients

Boba Ingredients

2 cups water
⅓ cup tapioca balls

Classic Milk Tea Ingredients

1/2 cup water hot
2 tablespoons loose-leaf black tea
1 teaspoon cane sugar
1/2 cup oat milk
1 ½ cup ice

US Customary - Metric

Instructions

Make The Tapioca Pearls: Add two cups of filtered water to a small saucepan and bring it to a boil. Once boiling, add the tapioca pearls to the saucepan and boil for five minutes (until the boba starts floating to the top). (If you don’t have quick-cooking boba, then follow your package instructions.) Pour the tapioca into a metal mesh strainer and rinse with cold water.
Make The Tea: Heat water in a teapot or electric tea kettle to 212°F or 100°C. Add the loose-leaf black tea to a and place it in a thin glass. Pour heated water over the tea and steep for 7-10 minutes. Remove the tea. Pour in the cane sugar and stir thoroughly.
Assemble The Milk Tea: Scoop cooked boba into a serving glass. Then, add ice on top of the boba. Next, pour oat milk on top, followed by freshly brewed black tea. Finally, stir and enjoy with a reusable bubble tea straw.

Video

Notes

Substitutions

Sweeteners: If you don’t have cane sugar, brown sugar syrup or black sugar can work. It will slightly change the taste, making it more caramel-like, but that’s not necessarily a bad thing!
Milk: I love oat milk but perhaps you don’t or have a different kind of milk on hand instead. You can try a non-dairy creamer, coconut milk, soy milk, almond milk, or any plant-based milk to make traditional milk tea.
Tea: If you don’t have black tea, you can use a different type of tea. It will give you different flavors from the original taste.

Storage Tips

Classic milk tea is a drink you’re going to love. It goes down easily and is utterly delicious. But it can be filling too.

Fridge: If you want to store it, you should remove all boba pearls first, as these get hard and unpleasant when you refrigerate them. Then you can save the liquid for up to 2 days.
Freeze: Sorry, but boba tea is not a good thing to freeze. The texture will change significantly, and not for the better. I recommend only refrigerating the liquid portion of the drink.

Please read the blog post above for more helpful tips, tricks, and topping suggestions!

Nutrition