Hong Kong Bubble Tea (Hong Kong Boba Milk Tea)

5 from 3 votes

A super caffeinated bubble tea made with black tea, sweetened condensed milk, and perfectly chewy boba.

Prep Time5

Cook Time10

Total Time15

Course: Drinks

Cuisine: Chinese

Servings: serving (16 ounces)

Author: Jee Choe

Steep tea bags in 1 cup of hot water for 5 minutes.
Set the temperature to 195°F if you're using an electric kettle with a temperature setting. Use filtered water if possible.
Discard tea bags and stir in sweetened condensed milk.
Stir the sweetened condensed milk until it dissolves into the tea. Set aside to cool.

Boil ¾ cup of water and brown sugar in a saucepan. Add tapioca balls.
Combine water and brown sugar in a saucepan and bring to a boil. Once you see big bubbles (2-4 minutes), add tapioca balls. Keep boiling for 8 more minutes on medium-high heat. Cool slightly, until tapioca balls aren't too hot to eat. They should still be pretty warm.

Put warm tapioca balls in brown sugar syrup into a cup.  Add ice, then the cooled down sweetened tea.
Serve immediately and stir before drinking. Use an extra wide straw to drink.

Tapioca balls have the perfect texture when they are still quite warm, almost hot. Just make sure they're not too hot, since they can burn your mouth.
The sweetened condensed milk will overpower any delicate teas so it's a waste to use high quality loose tea to make this drink. Go with tea bags which will be easier to use and clean up.
Hong Kong-style milk tea is made strong with more black tea than other milk teas so use 1 less tea bag if you don't want it to be so caffeinated.
This recipe cooks the boba in a brown sugar syrup which will make the drink extra delicious. The brown sugar sweetens the drink and the boba.
Since the tea needs to be cooled, you can make it ahead of time and store it in the refrigerator. It'll keep for up to 4 days. Don't add the sweetened condensed milk to the tea until you're ready to make the drink.
Cook the tapioca balls right before you're ready to assemble the drink since they'll start to harden after about 3-4 hours. Tapioca balls can't be stored or made ahead of time.
Bubble teas are served with a wide straw, that's so you can get tapioca balls with each sip of the tea.