Boba Milk Tea Slushie

Boba Milk Tea, also known as Bubble Tea or Pearl Milk Tea. I was first introduced to this unusual drink when I was vacationing in California during the turn of the century! It was actually my cousin, Renel from San Jose, who let me taste his Boba Milk (shaken black tea with milk and tapioca pearls) Tea and from then on, I was hooked to this wicked drink! Sadly, at that time, it was only available in the West Coast. Slowly, but surely, the Boba Milk Tea phenomenon finally made it to the East Coast and I had a taste of it again while walking the streets of Chinatown, NYC in 2002 and discovered a small restaurant that carries it! From then on, Boba Milk Tea Cafe's were popping up in every metropolitan cities, especially in a heavily populated Asian communities.

According to history, Boba Milk Tea orginated in Taiwan and it slowly spread through its neighboring Asian countries until it finally reached North America! Aside from the original Boba Milk Tea, it also comes in a variety of teas, coffees, and fruity flavors from the usual strawberry, honeydew, banana smoothie flavors to tropical and exotic fruits such as a Lychee, Mango, Soursop, Avocado, Taro and many more...

I remember one hot summer day when Barry and I were first dating, I attempted to make this drink from scratch. I got a bag of uncooked black tapioca balls and I just used a regular iced tea mix as the base for this drink. Well, I know raw tapioca takes time to cook, but given its bigger size, those black tapiocas took forever! It took me more than two hours to cook those suckers, and I swore to myself, I would never do them again especially in a hot and humid day...standing in front of the stove and stirring them constantly to avoid it from sticking to each other was horrible!!! Whoa! I remember that day like it was yesterday...sweating my buns off just to have a Bubble Tea! Ha!

Well, I guess times have change. On my recent trip to Philadelphia, I went to an Asian market and found these instant Black Pearls in a vacuum-sealed package, and with a big writing on the front of the bag that says: READY in 5 mins!!! I couldn't believe my eyes! Aside from the original black tapioca, it also comes in rainbow colors that I'm sure the kids would love. I knew then and there I had to get it and give it a try. At the same time, I also picked up a couple of bags of the ready mix Boba Tea powder and different colors of large straws for us, and to also share with my Stylist, Anna (whose daughters are into the Asian culture and have been dying to make Boba Teas at home as well!).

Tonight, I finally got the chance to make this Boba Milk Tea at home and this time around, it was a such huge success!!! I mean, literally, a HUGE SUCCESS! Those big black pearls were REALLY ready in 5 minutes, and the texture was just perfect! The Boba Milk tea mix itself was also superb! On the instructions, it says to mix it with hot or cold water, but I added cold skim milk instead and placed in an electric blender with ice to turn it into a slushie/smoothie. The result was awesome and it tasted like a light mocha...Mmmm...Mmmm good! It's the best homemade Boba Milk Tea I've ever made at home yet! And if you don't have any of the ready-made powder tea mix, you can always substitute it with your favorite tea (black, oolong, green or chai) or hot cocoa mix as well. Good luck!

Ingredients:
Boba Milk Tea Mix
1/2 cup Milk
1 cup Ice
Boba Pearls (Tapioca Pearls)
Whipped Cream (optional)
Large Straw*

Directions:
Cook tapioca pearls by following the directions on the package.

In an electric blender, mix all of the ingredients (mix, ice and milk). Add a few tablespoons of the cooked tapioca in a big cup or mug. Then, fill with the slushie mixture. Top with whipped cream and serve it with a big straw! Enjoy!