With a vegetable peeler, remove the outer skin of the taro root. Cut the taro into rough slices and transfer to an adequately sized pot with enough water to just cover the taro. Make sure that there's at least a few inches of room at the top of the pot as the water will bubble up when the starch from the taro is released.

Bring the water to a boil. Lower the heat to a simmer, cover the pot, and let it cook for 15 minutes or until the taro is soft when poked with a fork. Strain away the water.

While the taro is still hot, add the sugar and salt and use a fork or potato masher to mash the taro into a paste. You can make it as smooth or chunky as you want, depending on if you like having chunks of taro in your drink. Set this taro paste aside to cool while you make the boba pearls.

In a small pot, boil about 2 inches of water. When the water is boiling, add the tapioca pearls and give it a stir immediately. Boil for 15 minutes. Remove from heat, cover with a lid, and let it sit for another 15 minutes.

Strain out the water from the tapioca pearls and add the brown sugar and an equal amount of fresh water. Let the brown sugar syrup boil on medium-high heat for 10 minutes until it thickens and coats the pearls. Let cool before using. 

In a mixing glass or blender, stir together or blend the taro paste with the milk until smooth. If you’re preparing one cup at a time, mix together 150g taro paste and 300g milk for each cup. 

In each serving cup, add a large scoop of pearls to the bottom of the cup. Pour in the blended taro milk.