Homemade Bubble Tea

Just two weeks ago (when I was still enjoying summer-time bliss), the family took a 4-day trip down to Tigard Oregon. We did a little bit of relaxing and a whole lot of shopping. At the Woodburn Outlet we purchased a new blender for only $25... we'd been looking for a quality one that could blend ice chunks, and we finally found this one. It's a beauty and crushes ice into wonderful smoothies and shakes. Also in Tigard, we checked out this small Vietnamese Supermarket called Fubohn. In terms of the selection, it's comparable to T&T... and infact, it carried a lot of merchandise that T&T didn't have... like BUBBLE TEA POWDER! They were selling packages of bubble tea powder for $4.97 and carried flavors like Taro, Strawberry, Coconut, Honeydew and Red Bean. My sister and I are crazy about this Taiwanese drink (as are a lot of people I'm sure), so we couldn't pass up the opportunity to buy the powder and make us some home-made bubble tea.

We bought one bag of the Taro and one bag of the Honeydew... now looking back, I kinda wish I bought one of each flavor :( Oh well, maybe I'll find another place that sells the powder around here.

Here's the Taro Powder, ready to be thrown in the blender and become a great drink!

The finished product... complete with pearls! I wasn't expecting the powder to taste anything like the Bubble Tea we buy from Pearl Fever, but dang... it was pretty darn close.

Easy Bubble Tea Recipe

Ingredients:
- 2 tbsp bubble tea powder, any flavor
- 2 tbsp non-dairy creamer
- 10-12 ice cubes
- 1/2-3/4 cups cold water
- 2 ounces (1/4 cup) sugar syrup (recipe to follow)
- 2 heaping tbsp of tapioca pearls

Method:
1. Combine all ingredients, expect for the tapioca pearls, in a blender.
2. Pulse until the mixture is smoothie like and no ice chunks remain.
3. Spoon the pearls into individual glasses and pour in the Bubble Tea Slush.

For Sugar Syrup
In a small pot, combine 1 cup granulated sugar with 1 cup brown sugar and 1 cup water. Bring mixture to a boil and continue to heat until sugar dissolves. Let cool to room temperature and use in the bubble tea recipe, or let cool and store in an air-tight container in the fridge.

My mom's always excited when we can make something that we usually have to pay for at home. She's your typical frugal asian mom... and I love that about her (infact, I think I'm starting to emulate her :P) My sister, the one who loves bubble tea, was so impressed with the authentic flavor of the slush that she could hardly tell the difference between our home made version and the one at the bubble tea house. She was ready for seconds, but sadly I didn't make enough pearls... no worries, next time I'll make a double batch of pearls and we'll try out the Honeydew flavor. Oooo I can hardly wait!