Boba Milk Tea Popsicles

These boba milk tea popsicles are a refreshing way to enjoy your well-loved milk tea bubble tea with chewy tapioca pearls as a frozen treat.

Bubble tea, bubble milk tea, boba milk tea, pearl milk tea, bbt are all different names for the same drink. The squishy, chewy tapioca pearls are so addictive and I always love tea flavours, milk teas, and oh my gawd especially slushes. They are perfect in popsicle form, especially for the summer!

I may or may not be mildly obsessed with bubble tea (or boba if you’re American). I mean, I do live in Vancouver and bubble tea is a Vancouver staple. Having tried the boba milk tea in Taiwan where the drink originated, I’m still convinced that Vancouver has some of the best boba in the world.

What is boba?

Boba is translated phonetically from the Chinese name “boh-bah” for chewy, black pearls made from tapioca starch or cassava. Boba pearls are normally sold in dry form, in a vacuum-sealed package at Asian grocers.

How to cook boba pearls (tapioca pearls)

You can absolutely hand-roll your own boba pearls at home as a healthier option but for this recipe, we will only talk about pre-packaged pearls.

To prepare the boba, the tapioca pearls are cooked in boiling water then covered to let them steam for the same amount of cooking time. As they cook, the water used to cook them will become thick and syrupy. The steaming process is the part that really transforms them into the glossy black pearls that we’re familiar with.

Once cooked, they’re dropped into ice water to stop the cooking process. They are also normally placed in a brown sugar simple syrup but since we’re popping them straight into our popsicles and we’ve already added brown sugar to the tea mixture, this step isn’t necessary.

Cooked boba pearls are best enjoyed right away. They will start to harden if stored for more than 1 day. If you do need to store them, keep them soaked in a brown sugar simple syrup in an airtight container in the fridge. When you’re ready to use them the next day, quickly boil them for 10 minutes until they turn black and chewy again.

How to make creamy boba popsicles

The key to making any popsicle creamy rather than icy is the addition of heavy cream. The high fat content of heavy cream in this recipe prevents large ice crystals from forming when the popsicles are frozen. So no, these boba popsicles are definitely not healthy. Sorry, not sorry.

Why you’ll love this recipe

• These boba milk tea popsicles have a strong tea flavour and are super refreshing to eat
• If you don’t like pearls, you can just leave them out and make milk tea popsicles that taste just as good on their own
• They are super creamy thanks to the heavy cream
• You can have a boba milk tea popsicle every day of the week when you’re craving boba – no need to go out and buy a drink!

Other frozen dessert recipes

• Mango Guava Popsicles
• No-Churn Coffee Ice Cream with Chocolate Chunks

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