Bubble Tea

 
I had my first bubble tea back in freshman year of college.  At the time, bubble tea was just starting to become popular in the U.S.  Throughout college, bubble tea became a staple in my life.  Starchy balls in sweet tea.  What could be better?  Then, my roommate (who now happens to be my maid of honor) made bubble tea at home one day.  This blew my mind.  It's like seeing a famous celebrity in your living room. 

So, i knew this could be done.  But I didn't try it myself until yesterday, when I saw these bubbles at the Asian grocery store.

I just had to try these.  And I also found bubble tea straws for like $2.  It was meant to be.

Ingredients (1 tea):
-1/4 cup dry bubbles
-2-3 cups of water
-iced tea (or milk tea)

1.  First, brew a glass of tea and ice it!  Or you can make milk tea by adding sweetening and milk into strong black tea.  I used country peach tea that I sweetened with Japanese sugar crystals. 

P.S.  How much do you love bubble straws?

2.  Bring water to boil.  Here's what the bubbles look like dry. 

Pretty neat.  I didn't try to eat one straight, but now I wish I had, just so I could talk about it.

When the water is boiling, add bubbles and stir gently.

3.  When bubbles plump up, reduce heat to medium low and cover.  Let simmer for 5 minutes.  Here's what it'll look like afterwards.

4.  Taste one of the bubbles.  It should be chewy all the way through.  Remove from heat. 

5.  I used a slotted spoon to strain the bubbles.  How cute are these?

Then I put them right into my tea.  Easy as that!

And that's that.  Just 5 minutes of simmering, and dropping them into tea.  You can do that, right?

The trick, then, is finding the bubbles and the straws at the store.  You can probably find these in most Chinese grocery stores, since bubble tea is more popularized in the U.S.  Just ask for it.  The little store I went to had both these ones, and the colored bubbles, which are really pretty too.  I just chose to get my standard favorites.

And seriously, the package of bubbles (which cost two bucks) had like 12 servings worth of bubbles in it.  An awesome deal, considering bubble teas are usually $3-4 at the store. 

Enjoy!

For a printable version of this recipe, please click here.