Bubble Tea

(Bubble teas are the latest fad to hit the Asian tea industry.
Feel free to adjust this recipe according to your own tea
and flavoring preferences)

Ingredients:

3 ounces tapioca pearls
sugar syrup
1 cup brewed tea (Chinese black tea or lychee tea is good)
1 cup milk (or to taste)
Ice cubes


Directions:

Prepare the sugar syrup for the tapioca pearls (see below).

Prepare the tapioca pearls (see below)

Place the tapioca pearls in the large glass jar

Allow the tea to cool to room temperature. Add the milk.

Remember the wild bar scenes in the Tom Cruise film Cocktail?
Add the sugar syrup, milk and tea mix, and the ice cubes to
a cocktail shaker and shake well. (Alternately you can process
them in a blender, but that's not nearly as much fun!)

Pour the shaken mixture into the glass with the tapioca pearls.
Serve with a thick straw.

(This recipe is loosely based on one that originally appeared
in The New York Times)

Tapioca Pearls - these are the chief ingredient in Asian bubble teas.

Please note that the pearls expand considerably when cooked.
Please ensure that you use a large pot.

1 part tapioca pearls
4 parts (or more) water
(as a rule, the more pearls cooked, the more water should be used:
that is, the water to pearl ratio must be higher. For 3kgs of pearls,
we recommend using as much as 6 times as much water)


Directions:

Boil the water. Add the pearls to the boiling water and boil
for 30 minutes. Stir occasionally to make sure the pearls are
not sticking to each other or to the pot. Turn off heat and
let the pearls steep in the water for another 30 minutes with
the lid of the cooking pot on.

Drain the tapioca pearls and rinse with cold water to
cool them down. Place them in sugar syrup (sugar and water
solution - see below). Make sure that the pearls are covered.
Stir the pearls well.

The pearls are now ready to enjoy.

Note: To prevent the pearls from sticking to each other and
to the pot, there must be enough water and the pearls must
be stirred.