Caramel Milk Tea

Caramel milk tea is a luscious, delicious, caramel-flavored sweet milk tea that could or could not be served with tapioca pearls. If it is served with tapioca pearls, it can also be called caramel boba or caramel bubble tea. It is the simplest boba recipe that you can make at home. It tastes so divine that you are bound to get addicted.

I have used premade caramel sauce for making this tea, but you can also make quick caramel milk for your tea, using castor sugar.

I am a bubble tea freak. If you are also into these chewy delights, what is your favorite bubble tea flavor? We have blueberry boba, watermelon bubble tea, mango bubble tea, strawberry bubble tea, Peach milk tea, honeydew bubble tea, and rose bubble tea recipes for you to try out this summer.

Why should you try caramel milk tea?

• Easy to make than it looks. The level of skills that you need to make peach boba tea is a beginner level. It is so easy to make.

• Quick recipe. Use premade caramel sauce and you will have the quickest and easiest bubble tea.

• Freshly made rich and delicious. You can whip up this delightful drink for yourself at your home that you are bound to love.
  
• Just four ingredients. The recipe is approachable. All the ingredients are easy to procure and most of them we already have in your pantries. The only thing that you need to buy is tapioca pearls.

• Make it to fit your health, diet, or taste. You can substitute the ingredients to match your dietary needs. If you are following special diets like vegan, then you can replace the dairy milk with plant-based milk of your choice. If you want to cut down on tea flavor, reduce the quantity of tea that you add to the boba. You can customize it to match your taste.

• No preservatives or stabilizers. The packed bubble tea has some sort of stabilizers in them to stabilize the liquids in the boba. Some also use preservatives to enhance their shelf life. The best way to avoid them is to make your caramel bubble tea at home.
  
• You can make it iced or warm. It tastes good in both forms.

🧋 What do you need to make caramel milk tea?

1 . Tea

You need 1 black teabag for making this recipe. This recipe will yield 2 medium-sized drinks. And one tea bag works perfectly for the recipe of this quantity. If you like strong tea flavor in your milk teas, then add one more tea bag.

If you are using tea leaves, 1 teaspoon of green tea leaves or black tea leaves will be sufficient.

I am using black tea for this recipe; hence you can call it black caramel boba tea. But you can use any tea that you like.

2. Caramel or Sugar

The quickest caramel bubble tea recipes use caramel syrup or caramel sauce with a dense flavor. I like Ghirardelli's caramel-flavored sauce.

Alternately you can start making the caramel syrup right from sugar. You do not need butter and cream. Just cook the sugar till the caramel stage and add milk. (find details in the instructions section)

3. Whole milk

I am using whole milk, you can whatever suit your diet and taste. You can substitute it with plant-based milk like oat milk or soy milk for making vegan caramel milk tea.

4. Tapioca pearls/ Boba

If you are making tapioca pearls from scratch, this is going to be a tiring recipe. Trust me it is! It is nothing like those Gram or Tik-Tok videos. It is not easy to handle tapioca dough. Initially, it is too hot and sticky to handle, and once it becomes easy to handle, it hardens very quickly. It does need some practice. But doable. A post on that coming soon.

So, I am sticking to the store-bought black boba pearls.

I am obsessed with black boa or black tapioca pearls. I think they make bubble tea bubble tea. The popping boba, jelly boba, jelly cubes, etc. are all good from time to time but you cannot beat the classics. And this recipe is a very classical caramel boba recipe. You can use tapioca pearls or the ones that come in pastel shades if you like.

🔪How to make caramel milk tea?

This caramel boba tea recipe does not require much prep time. You just need to brew tea, cook boba, and make caramel-flavored milk using the premade caramel sauce or syrup. But trust me it is worth it. Let us discuss all steps in detail.

Step 1 Brew the tea

First, boil water in a kettle or a pan to 212⁰F or 100 ⁰C. Immediately turn off the heat and pour 1 cup of boiling water into a cup.

Put the teabag of black tea in the cup and cover. Let the tea steep for 3 minutes and then uncover. Remove the teabag and chill the brewed tea until you are ready to assemble the caramel bubble tea.

If you are not using tea bags, but using tea leaves, add one teaspoon of leaves to the tea infuser and pour in the boiling water. Let the tea leaves steep for 3 minutes. Then strain the tea and keep it cool.

Brew tea ahead of time so that you have enough time to cool the tea.

Step 2 Cooking Tapioca pearls/ boba

Bring about 3 cups of water to a boil. Then add the brown sugar boba to the boiling water. Let them cook at high to medium heat until they all start to float at the top.

I have used quick-cooking boba.  Cook them at medium heat for 4-5 minutes and then reduce the heat to simmer. Let them simmer for 5 more minutes or until they become soft and chewy. You can cook for a few minutes more or less depending on the kind of texture you like on your boba.  

Turn off the heat and keep them in the boiling water for 5 more minutes. Then drain the water and gather the cooked tapioca pearls.

Different types of boba will take different times to cook. Follow the package instructions for boiling the boba. But do not take the directions as a strict guide. So, before turning off the flame, check yourself by tasting one boba pearl to ensure that it is fully cooked to suit your liking.

Keep the cooked boba in caramel syrup or brown sugar syrup until ready to assemble the caramel boba tea.

Step 3 Making caramel-flavored milk

There are two ways you can make caramel milk for this tea recipe.

Method 1: Caramel milk using premade caramel sauce

If you are using the premade caramel sauce or caramel syrup. Just combine hot milk and caramel sauce to make sweet caramel milk/ adjust the sweetness according to your taste.

Method 2: Caramel milk using sugar

Now, if you do not have caramel sauce or caramel syrup, this is the method for you.

 Into a saucepan, add white cane sugar. Put the heat at medium and let the sugar melt. Now the sugar will get bubbly and darker in color. Keep close eyes, as the sugar syrup gets darker add milk to it. Please make sure to use room temperature milk, else the sugar will harden on coming in contact with chilled milk. Though you can mix it in on heating and stirring, that is an unnecessary trouble.

Now, cool this caramel milk and refrigerate.

Step 4 Assemble caramel milk tea

Start by adding the tapioca pearls into the glasses. Then add in the ice cubes, followed by the brewed tea. Add half a cup of brewed tea per glass. Now pour in the caramel milk. Drop in a boba straw and enjoy.

You can add caramel froth topped with caramel sauce for making it more decadent.

Variations of Caramel Milk Tea

• Caramel milk boba with vanilla whipped cream. As the name suggests, just top the caramel milk tea with some vanilla-flavored whipped cream.
  
• Caramel milk tea with jelly cubes. In this variation, you can skip the tapioca pearls and add the jelly cubes of your choice to top them.  Coffee, tea, or caramel-flavored jelly will work wonders with this tea recipe.

• Caramel bubble tea with coffee whipped cream. Now, this type of caramel boba will be topped with coffee-flavored whipped cream.
  
• Caramel boba tea with pumpkin spice whipped cream. This one is my favorite variation of caramel milk tea. Pumpkin spices and whipped cream goes great on the caramel sweet tea.
  
• Caramel milk tea with salted caramel froth. In this just use salted caramel froth to top the luscious delicious caramel bubble tea.

You can further garnish it with coconut shaving, chocolate syrup, caramel syrup, etc.

🫙 Storage Note

Well, there is no point in storing it for long, the boba gets starchy and hardens. You can prepare the tea and caramel milk in advance. Cook the boba and assemble it right when you want to serve it.

The store-bought bubble teas have some sort of stabilizing powders added to them to stabilize the liquids.  That is why they appear fresh for longer. Though they are not fresh.

❓Frequently Asked Questions

🧋More milk tea recipes:

Bubble tea makes great refreshing drinks. A few more bubble tea recipes that you might want to try are:

• Lychee bubble tea: An easy lychee boba tea recipe
  
• Blueberry Boba with Homemade Blueberry Milk
  
• Tiger Milk Tea: Classic Brown Sugar Boba Recipe
  
• Chocolate Boba: Homemade Chocolate Milk Tea
  
• Rose Milk Tea | Homemade Rose Bubble Tea
  
• Mango Bubble Tea: Homemade Mango Milk Tea
  
• Strawberry Milk Tea: Boba Tea with fresh Strawberries!
  
• Watermelon Bubble Tea
  
• Honeydew Milk Tea
  
• Peach Milk Tea: Peach Flavor Bubble Tea
  
  
  

I hope you liked this caramel milk tea recipe. Share your results and opinions in the comment section below. Also, subscribe to never miss a recipe.

Till then,

Make it bubbly and delicious!

📝  Recipe

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Caramel milk tea

Caramel milk tea is a luscious, delicious, caramel-flavored sweet milk tea that may or not is served with tapioca pearls. If it is served with tapioca pearls, it can also be called caramel boba or caramel milk tea. It is the simplest boba recipe that you make at home. It taste so divine that you are bound to get addicted.

Course Drinks

Cuisine Asian

Keyword caramel boba tea, caramel bubble tea, caramel milk tea, caramel milk tea boba

Prep Time 25 minutes minutes

Assembling 2 minutes minutes

Total Time 27 minutes minutes

Servings 2

Calories 317kcal

Author Meenakshi

Ingredients

• 1 cup brewed tea 1 teabag
• ⅓ cup tapioca pearls uncooked black boba
• ¼ cup caramel sauce or ¼ cup caster sugar
• 1 cup whole milk

Instructions

Step 1 Brewing the tea

• Boil water in a kettle or a pan to 212⁰F (or 100 ⁰C). Immediately turn off the heat and pour 1 cup of boiling water into a cup.
• Put the teabag of black tea in the cup and cover. Let the tea steep for 3 minutes and then uncover. Remove the teabag and chill the brewed tea until you are ready to assemble the caramel milk tea.

Step 2 Cooking Tapioca pearls/ boba

• Bring about 3 cups of water to a boil. Then add the brown sugar boba to the boiling water. Let them cook at high to medium heat until they all start to float at the top.
• Cook them at medium heat for 4-5 minutes and then reduce the heat to simmer. Let them simmer for 5 more minutes or until they become soft and chewy.
• Turn off the heat and keep them in the boiling water for 5 more minutes. Then drain the water and gather the cooked tapioca pearls.
• Keep the cooked boba in caramel syrup or brown sugar syrup until ready to assemble the boba milk tea.

Step 3 Making caramel milk

• There are two ways to make caramel milk for this tea recipe.

  Method 1: Caramel milk using premade caramel sauce

  If you are using the premade caramel sauce or caramel syrup. Just combine hot milk and caramel sauce to make sweet caramel milk.

  Adjust the sweetness according to your taste and then refrigerate the milk, until ready to assemble.

  Method 2 :Caramel milk starts from sugar

  Into a saucepan, add white cane sugar. Put the heat at medium and let the sugar melt. Let the sugar get bubbly and darker in color. Keep close eyes on the sugar syrup.

  As the sugar syrup gets darker, add milk to it. Please make sure to use room temperature milk, else the sugar will harden on meeting chilled milk. (Though you can mix it in on heating and stirring, that is an unnecessary trouble.)

  Now, cool this caramel milk and refrigerate.

Step 4 Assemble caramel milk tea

• Start by adding the tapioca pearls into the glasses. Then add in the ice cubes, followed by the brewed tea. Add half a cup of brewed tea per glass. Now pour in the caramel milk. Drop in a boba straw and enjoy.
• You can add caramel froth topped with caramel sauce for making it more decadent.

Notes

• If you are using tea leaves, add the leaves to the tea infuser and add boiling water. Let the tea leaves steep for 3 minutes. Then strain the tea and keep it cool. 
• The ideal water temperature to brew the tea is 212 Degree F or 100 Degree C which is just the boiling point of water. So just as the water starts to boil, you know that you reached the right temperature to steep the tea. 
• Cook the tapioca pearls or boba right before assembling the caramel bubble tea. They taste best when made fresh.
• The exact time needed to cook boba will vary with the type of boba you use. But look for them to come to the top. It is better to use quick-cooking boba.
• To make vegan caramel bubble tea, just substitute the whole milk with the plant-based milk of your choice and use vegan sugar to make caramel, or use a vegan caramel sauce.
• If you are making the sauce from sugar, keep an eye on it as it cooks. The sugar cooks very fast once it has melted. There are chances of burning the caramel.
  

  📋 Nutrition Facts