How to make bubble tea with tapioca pearls and popping boba

Oct 7, 2026

By Jihye Dschihä

Making bubble tea at home is not difficult: you need tea, milk or juice, syrup and pearls, either chewy tapioca pearls or popping boba, which burst when you bite into them. Here you will find out how both versions work, where bubble tea comes from and why it nearly disappeared from Germany in 2012.

What is the difference between tapioca pearls and popping boba?

Classic tapioca pearls are dark, chewy balls made from tapioca starch, which comes from the cassava root. They are boiled and then have a gummy texture.

Popping boba are balls with a thin alginate skin and a liquid filling, usually fruit juice. They burst when you bite into them. They are made by dropping juice into an alginate bath, which forms the thin gel skin. You can make them yourself, but for home use the supplier Modernist Pantry recommends buying them ready-made.

How do I make bubble tea with popping boba?

This is the quickest version, because there are no pearls to cook. Per glass:

Brew green or black tea, about one bag per 240 ml of water, and let it steep for 5 minutes, up to 10 minutes for a stronger tea. Then let it cool.
Put popping boba, as directed on the package, and ice in the glass.
Pour the tea over it and sweeten to taste. Add a splash of milk if you like.
Stir well and drink with a wide straw.

Everything you need is in our bubble tea box: popping boba and tea for four drinks, in flavors such as mango, lychee or passion fruit.

How do I cook tapioca pearls?

For store-bought dried pearls, the cooking time depends heavily on the kind, so follow the package. Quick-cook pearls often need only 3 to 5 minutes. For regular pearls, recipes give very different times:

The Woks of Life cooks 160 g of pearls in 1.4 liters of water, covered, for 15 minutes and then lets them sit in the hot water for 15 minutes.
HungryHuy simmers the pearls for 30 minutes and then lets them sit, covered, for 30 minutes, with considerably more water.

If the center is still white and hard afterwards, repeat the process. Then drain the pearls and rinse them in cold water.

For the syrup, The Woks of Life dissolves 3 tablespoons of sugar in 240 ml of warm water, or you can briefly boil brown sugar and water in equal parts for 3 to 4 minutes. Put the pearls in the syrup to keep them soft.

Can I make tapioca pearls myself?

Yes, with tapioca starch from an Asian grocery store. HungryHuy uses 40 g dark brown sugar, 60 ml water and 95 g tapioca starch:

Heat the sugar and water and gradually stir in the starch.
Knead the dough for about 2 minutes, roll it into thin ropes, cut them into small pieces and roll them into balls. Dust them with a little starch.
Put the pearls in plenty of boiling water. Once they float, let them boil for about 20 minutes and then sit, covered, for 20 minutes.
Rinse in cold water and put them in syrup.

How do I make classic milk tea with tapioca pearls?

For one glass, following the Alphafoodie recipe:

about 60 ml cooked tapioca pearls with syrup
240 ml black tea, one bag per 480 ml of water, steeped for 5 to 10 minutes and cooled
60 ml milk
ice as you like

Put the pearls and syrup in the glass, then ice, tea and milk. Stir well, and it is ready.

How long do tapioca pearls keep?

Cooked tapioca pearls taste best fresh. Most recipes advise using them within about four hours. In syrup at room temperature they stay soft longer; in the fridge they turn hard. According to the English Wikipedia, most bubble tea shops stop selling their pearls after 24 hours.

Is bubble tea dangerous for children?

For small children, yes. In 2012, Germany's Federal Institute for Risk Assessment (BfR) warned that children up to the age of four in particular can accidentally inhale the balls into their lungs when sucking on the straw. According to the BfR, children of this age should preferably not drink bubble tea at all, and if they do, then without a straw. If coughing or breathing difficulties persist after drinking, see a doctor.

Where does bubble tea come from?

Bubble tea comes from Taiwan, where it is called 珍珠奶茶 (Zhēnzhū nǎichá), "pearl milk tea." Who invented it is disputed. Two teahouses claim the honor:

Hanlin in Tainan: founder Tu Tsung-ho is said to have discovered white tapioca balls at a market in 1986 and added them to his tea.
Chun Shui Tang in Taichung: there, employee Lin Hsiu-hui is said to have added tapioca pearls to her milk tea in 1987. Some sources give 1988.

According to the English Wikipedia and CNN, a court ruled in 2019 that bubble tea is not patentable and anyone may make it.

Where the word "bubble" comes from is not entirely clear either. Several sources trace it to the foam that forms when the tea is shaken; others to the pearls. In the United States, the drink is often called "boba." According to the English Wikipedia, the word goes back to a nickname of the Hong Kong actress Amy Yip.

What happened to bubble tea in Germany?

Bubble tea came to Germany around 2009 and 2010, first in Berlin. By 2012, shops were opening across the country; according to The Local, the chain BoboQ already had 70 bars in April 2012.

In August 2012, the Rheinische Post reported that chemists at RWTH Aachen had found possibly carcinogenic substances in bubble tea balls. The consumer protection ministry of North Rhine-Westphalia then had 84 samples tested and found none of the substances mentioned. The drink's reputation was damaged nonetheless, and almost all shops had to close. According to the taz, the researcher involved himself called the media campaign "slanderous" a year later.

Since 2019, the number of bubble tea shops in Germany has been rising again, also thanks to TikTok, according to the taz.

You can find more drinks from Asia in our drinks category. And if you prefer something Korean: our article on dalgona coffee is about the whipped coffee trend from South Korea.