In college, we had this place called “Bubble Tea Time” on campus. The first time I had bubble tea (aka boba), I was kind of weirded out. What the hell were these things at the bottom of my drink? One after the other… chew chew chew.
Boba balls are tapioca pearls, derived from the starch of the cassava root. Once they are cooked, they have a chewy consistency. Sounds so weird, right? Yeah… but Lord, are they addictive. Every once in a while, I would treat myself to a boba smoothie on campus until the place went out of business. GAH. So I took matters into my own hands and ordered some boba for myself (along with boba-esque straws). It is surprisingly suuuuper easy to make, and it’s an awesome treat every once in a while.
Oh, and hello – Boba Fett for my Star Wars Smoothie Series.
There is some controversy surrounding boba, about cancer-causing ingredients, but you can decide for yourself what you want to believe. I looked into the ingredients and I do not believe what’s been said. In fact, if you look at the update at the bottom of the article, you’ll see that much of these claims were disputed.
Anywho, I wanted to include this disclaimer, in case anyone started to look into it and freak out. In the meantime, I’ll be over here sucking on my boba smoothie because I don’t see the harm in tapioca (in moderation, as always).
Okay, onto the fun drink itself!!
The Recipe
You will need:
- 1/4 cup tapioca pearls (I ordered mine here)
- 2 cups water (to cook pearls)
- 1/2 cup water (for simple syrup)
- 1/2 cup raw turbinado sugar
- 1 cup frozen mango
- 1/2 cup frozen strawberries
To make:
- Bring 2 cups of water to a boil, add tapioca pearls, turn down to med heat and cook for 12 minutes
- After 12 minutes, turn off the heat, cover pearls, and allow to sit for another 12 minutes
- While pearls are cooking, bring 1/2 cup water to boil and add your raw sugar – allow to dissolve and remove from heat
- Once your syrup and pearls are done, add pearls to bowl and cover with simple syrup – let sit for 15 minutes.
- Make smoothie by adding frozen mango and strawberries to a high-powered blender – add liquid if you’d like (I used a little water)
- Scoop your pearls in the bottom of a glass and top with smoothie
That’s it! It’s sweet, bubbly, and really unique. I think you’ll love. Anyone else a fan of boba? Or Boba Fett? xx bianca
