I loooove boba pearl drinks! The only problem is, I don’t drink certain types of teas, so it’s hard for me to go out and buy it. Some places have the milk based, but, I recently moved and the places around me are all tea based. Boo. But I still crave it.
The actual flavor of the drink isn’t what’s important to me… It’s the pearls. Mmmm, chewy and sweet and delicious. When I was looking around online, I saw a lot of instructions saying to just boil the pearls and throw it in the drink. The ones I buy have a sweet bite to them, so I knew there had to be some kind of syrup they soak it in. Cue in The Kitchn. Their recipe has you keep the pearls in a simple sugar syrup. I tried it out and it. was. perfect.
I made my drink with things I had around the kitchen. My last trip to the Asian market, I came home with lemongrass because it was on sale. Ok. Lets use lemongrass.
I also had a melon that I thought might be about ripe. It was a “kandy” honeydew. Yellow on the outside and… well, it’s kind of a cream colored inside. I dunno, it was on sale so I decided to try it out. Actually, it was a little light on flavor. I don’t think it was ripe yet but it was sitting on my counter for a WEEK and I was dying to try it! Guess I jumped the gun… My drink would have been even yummier if I had used a riper melon. Ah well.
I used the lemongrass by infusing the milk with it. It gives a subtle flavor that you can just notice. I’ve never heard of melon and lemongrass together, but it worked!
You can make yours with any fruit combination you want. Try infusing the milk with other herbs and flavors! The possibilities are endless. And it’ll be delicious. Can I say what the best part of making this at home is? You can put as many pearls as you want in your drink. I definitely put in more than I should… Mmm.
Homemade Boba Drink
Ingredients
- 1/2 cup boba
- 4 cups water
- half melon cut in pieces and frozen
- 2 cup milk
- 1-2 stalks lemongrass
- 1/2 cup water
- 1/2 cup sugar
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Instructions
- Make the infused milk: cut lemongrass stalks into pieces and toss the tough portion at the very top. Bring milk to a simmer, add stalks and take off heat. Let cool, strain and toss the lemongrass. Transfer infused milk to the fridge.
- Make the boba pearls: Use instructions on pearls. Basic instructions: bring 4 cups of water to a boil and add pearls. Stir and cover pan with lid. Lower heat to medium and simmer for 12 minutes. Remove from heat and let sit for 12 minutes. While pearls are cooking, make simple syrup by boiling 1/2 cup of water in the microwave and stirring in 1/2 cup of sugar. When pearls are done, drain and place in bowl. Cover with simple syrup and allow to cool.
- Make drink: place 4 cups or about half a melon and one cup of infused milk into blender. Add simple syrup that pearls are soaking in, to taste. Blend it up. Place boba pearls in drink containers and pour your drink over the top. Drink with boba straws.
What a creative approach by adding lemongrass! I agree, it’s a lot cheaper to make boba at home than going out. But you got to have the right ingredients to make it good =) . If you like boba tea, definitely come check out my boba illustrations #bobamade on instagram.