If you are an oolong tea lover, this is your boba tea. Oolong milk tea also known as oolong boba is made with tapioca pearls, sweetener, milk, and oolong tea. Follow the recipe and make a lovely oolong bubble tea within 15 minutes. It has a faintly sweet, light, floral creamy taste with the chewy boba pearls.
What’s oolong tea
Tea options for bubble tea or milk tea are very personal choices. Bubble tea sometimes called boba or milk tea, comes from Taiwan in the 1980s. At first, black tea was used to make milk tea in both Taiwan and Hong Kong. The milk tea will have a lovely dark brown color. But later, jasmine tea, green tea, and oolong tea are used in milk tea too.
Oolong tea, a half-oxidized tea, is a traditional Chinese tea somewhere between green tea and black tea. It is more robust than green tea but less bold than black tea.
🥛Ingredients for a homemade oolong boba
To make this oolong milk tea at home, you will only need 4-5 ingredients.
Tapioca pearls– those round, chewy boba pearls are made from tapioca starch. It is super chewier and is the bubble inside the milk tea. I use my homemade golden boba pearls. You can use any type of store-bought tapioca pearls in different colors, and flavors.
Oolong tea- both tea bags and loose leaves can be used.
Sweetener– common sweetening options can be used in this one including simple syrup, honey, or other syrups. If you don’t have any type of syrup on hand, use white sugar as a substitute.
Dairy option– I use fresh whole milk with a fat content of 3.25%. For an even creamier texture, you can use half and half which has a higher fat content around 18%.
iced cubes and water – I highly recommend using filtered water for the best taste result. Ice cubes are only required on hot summer days. This milk tea can be served warmly.
Tools you will need
- Serving glass cup
- large bubble tea straw and small spoons
- tea strainer
- Teapot cups
Oolong Milk tea with boba
Ingredients
For golden boba pearls
- 90 ml water
- 2 tbsp. brown sugar
- 1 cup tapioca starch
- more starch for dusting.
- 1 tbsp. simple syrup or honey for coat the cooked boba pearls
Oolong milk tea for one serving
- 3 g oolong tea
- 200 ml boiling water
- 1/2 cup fresh whole milk
- ice cubes
- 2 tbsp. simple syrup
Instructions
To make the boba pearls
- Add brown sugar in hot boiling. Turn off the fire, and add half of the starch. Mix for 5-6 seconds. add the remaining starch.
- Knead until the dough is almost smooth. Then cut into four pieces, and shape each piece into a long log. Pinch a small portion and roll it into a round ball. Dust with more starch to avoid sticky. Then shift the extra flour off with a strainer.
Cook the boba pearls
- Add the boba pearls to a pot with hot boiling water (at least 5 times more water), and then cook for 15 minutes. Turn off the fire, and let it stand for another 15 minutes. Transfer out and soak in cold water. Strain and mix well with simple syrup or honey.
Brew the tea
- Add around 200ml of hot boiling water to 3 g oolong tea. Steep for 3-5 minutes. Strain the tea leaves and get the tea liquid.
Assemble
- Fill the serving glass with ice cubes and add simple syrup. Then pour in our oolong tea liquid.
- Pour in milk and top with boba pearls.
Video
Notes
Nutrition
🥤 COolong milk tea taste
Like all the other milk teas, oolong milk tea, in general, is sweet, and creamy with the chewy taste of boba pearls. However, the flavor bought by the oolong tea makes it unique.
Depending on the type of oolong tea you used in the recipe, the taste might be slightly different. Lightly oxidized oolong has a light, sweet and floral taste. While moderately oxidized oolong has a heavier taste, balancing floral and sweet taste. You may find a roasted flavor because of the longer roasted time. Heavily oxidized oolongs or dark oolongs have a strong woody and roasted flavor similar to black tea. No matter which type you choose, they can combine well with oolong milk tea.
Honey oolong milk tea
Oolong tea can taste good with honey. So you can use honey as the sweetener to make honey oolong milk tea.
Variations
You can match oolong milk tea with other flavored milk choices like strawberry milk, chocolate milk, or mango milk.
In addition to boba pealrs, there are some other great topping suggestions for oolong milk tea:
- Grass jelly is a sweet, dark jelly made from grass powder.
- Crystal boba is jelly-like boba pearls made with agar powder instead of tapioca pearls. And it is much softer.
- Coconut jelly is a creamy white jelly made with coconut and gelatine powder.
Storage
All milk tea will not last very long. So you’d better drink within 4 hours. If you make a larger batch, a smart choice is to turn the oolong milk tea into a milk tea jelly by adding agar powder or gelatine powder.
Other milk tea recipes to check
We are focusing on milk tea recipes and the following are our top recommendations.
FAQs
We are making a 350ml oolong milk tea with around 1 cup of oolong tea liquid. Generally, a cup (about 240 ml) of oolong tea contains approximately 30-50 mg of caffeine. So depending on the steeping time, this may contain around 40mg of caffeine.
Although most boba milk tea calls for only a larger straw, I recommend you pair it with a scoop, especially for children.
For vegan choices, almond milk is my best ideal option.