Thai tea boba is an cold, creamy drink that tastes refreshing on a hot day. You can always order it from a Boba or bubble tea restaurant, but sometimes you want to have that drink right within reach. The only way is to get that is to do it yourself! We know it’s getting pretty warm outside, so we searched the web for the best recipes for you to brew this satisfying beverage. If you’re ready, let’s get started!
Thai tea boba in its simplest form is cold black thai tea with evaporated milk that includes chewy tapioca flour balls known as boba.
Some recipes add exotic spices such as star anise and cloves for a bolder flavour to the drink. Some people also prefer to use sweetened condensed milk. In many restaurants, the trend has been to add bright orange food colouring to make the beverage look attractive for customers.
In Thailand, the locals call this drink Cha Yen. Traditionally, the base is just made of black tea and milk. The Thais likely invented this drink around the 15th to 19th century. This invention was probably when British and Chinese immigrants settled around Thai trading ports and brought their caffeine habits. But the addition of ice and dairy milk is an idea from Thai military commanders who enjoyed the Western way of drinking tea.
They popularised adding these ingredients to Thai tea boba, giving rise to the way it is drunk in many Western countries now. Locals usually brew this drink from a homegrown version of the Assam plant, Bai Miang. The stall vendors will blend the plant with a mix of ingredients, including orange blossom water, star anise, and crushed tamarind seed. The beverage is then infused with red and yellow food colouring. As Thailand is warm all year round, you will see that the drink is always served with crushed ice.
WHY IS IT ORANGE?
The bright orange colour of Thai tea boba has an equally intriguing story. Foreigners who came to Thailand in the 19th century also brought their tea leaves with them. Domestic workers employed in these houses would brew the drink again rather than discard the leaves.
As the colour faded, they would add tamarind and spices to make the drink more appealing. Another theory is that many restaurants added the orange colour to differentiate it from Thai coffee, which has the same orangey colouring. Many Thai restaurants serve the drink in a tall glass. You will get it in a plastic cup if you buy it from street and market stalls in Thailand. As it became more popular worldwide, we also saw that people started to add other ingredients such as honey and cinnamon to the beverage. Some versions also have jelly pudding and ice cream, apart from pearls.
Thai tea boba tastes slightly like thickened vanilla, but it is intensely sweeter and milkier. You can adjust the recipe to suit your taste buds. Generally, the drink is velvety smooth with nutty undertones and a tinge of spice. Usually, people who like this drink also prefer it to taste bitter to counter the sweetness of the added milk.
VARIATIONS
Thai tea boba is such a well-loved beverage that innovative cooks worldwide have included it in desserts.
You can find Cha Yen in biscuits, in ice-cream form, or even as a mochi flavour. The drink’s bitterness is an excellent contrast to the usual sweetness of these desserts.
CALORIES
A 300 ml cup of Thai tea boba contains 160 calories with 23g total carbs, 23g of fats, and 1 g of protein. Of course, the calories count increases when you add more sweetened milk to it.
INGREDIENTS
This article will teach you to make delicious Thai tea boba using Thai tea mix with tapioca pearls. To do that, you will need to buy black tea in powder form. These ready-made powders have infused spices, so you do not need to purchase additional ingredients. That will save you a lot of time! You will also need to buy milk and tapioca pearls. The boba comes in convenient packets of dried tapioca balls that you can quickly boil for consumption.
To buy tapioca pearls or boba please click on the Link.
This section is a quick guide to making a refreshing cup of Thai tea boba.
First, you put your thai powder in a dish and boil it with water. Boil vigorously for a few minutes to blend powder together with the hot water. Then filter the liquid by removing the remains of the powder and hen throw in your cooked tapioca pearls into a glass. Pour in milk (normal milk or non dairy milk), ice, and voila – you are ready to slurp up the drink!
To buy thai tea powder please click on the Link.
KETO-FRIENDLY The traditional version of Thai tea boba has condensed milk, which adds a lot of carbs to your diet. Since ketogenic diets require high fat and low carb ingredients, you will need to find a substitute for the milk to make it keto-friendly.
One way is to use a keto-friendly, low-carb, high-fat whipping cream. Another method is coconut milk, which adds a rich milk taste without the carbs overload. The whipping cream can provide a light sweetness to the drink without overpowering it. You also will have a sugar-free beverage! Full fat unsweetened coconut milk is an equally convincing substitute. It is also perfect for those who need to make vegan versions of this drink.
We recommend serving refreshing Thai tea boba in a huge glass with a large, wide 12mm straw. This beverage is a soothing addition to spicy Thai green curry. Or you can enjoy the cold drink alone as a dessert, which honestly is the best way to have it since the drink’s taste is so decadent!
In case you want to buy straws please click on the Link.
You might want to prepare the ingredients of your Thai tea boba beforehand, so here’s a trick to store boba overnight. You can prepare the tapioca balls beforehand, then immerse them in a sugar syrup to keep them soft and bouncy.
Tea, whether in powder or leaves, can be stored for a long time as long as you keep them dry and in an airtight container. Be sure to store the box away from sunlight, as heat will cause the contents to oxidize. If you want to keep Thai tea boba that has already been made, you can leave the drink in the refrigerator, but it will not taste as good as when it was first made fresh. Therefore, we advise only boiling the boba when you make the drink.
In case of any questions, please contact us at [email protected].
You can buy Boba/ tapioca pearls that can be ready in minutes from us here.
You can shop our Bubble Teas/ Boba Teas (in Bengaluru) from here.
You can also buy Boba Time products from Swiggy, Zomato, Amazon Food and MagicPin
