Honeydew Milk Tea

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Honeydew milk tea or honeydew boba is one of the unique variations of fruit-based bubble tea. It is a glorious green, refreshing, sweet, and delicious boba tea that may or may not have the tea. The unique flavor of honeydew melon paired with the chewy tapioca pearls makes this drink a hit.

Honeydew milk tea in 2 glasses served with black tapioca pearls

I love boba and I have always felt guilty that these are not always the healthy choice in drinks. But today I have got you a boba recipe which is more of a healthy recipe. It is filled with the goodness of fresh honeydew melon and chewy tapioca pearls.

Although it is a bubble tea but contains no tea.

Jump to:

What is honeydew milk tea?
🥘Ingredients required to make Honeydew Milk Tea
🔪Instructions to make honeydew milk tea using fresh honeydew
🔪 Process of making honeydew milk tea using honeydew powder or syrup.
🫙 How to Store Honeydew Milk Tea
💭Pro Tips and Substitution Notes
❓Frequently Asked Questions
🧋More boba recipes:
📝 Recipe
Honeydew milk tea
Nutrition Facts

What is honeydew milk tea?

Honeydew milk tea is a variation of bubble tea that is made with fresh or any processed form of honeydew melon. It is also called honeydew boba. They are served with chewy tapioca pearls. It is optional to add tea. Most cafes do not serve them with brewed tea. Which makes it caffein free.

Let me put down all the great things about honeydew milk tea boba in pointers.

honeydew milk tea served with wide boba straw in 2 glasses

You should try this recipe because:

Easy. This fruit tea is way easier to make than it looks
Freshly made. Nothing beats the freshly made bubble tea. You can whip up this delightful drink for yourself at your home that you are bound to love.
Refreshing. Fresh honeydew melon is used in this dish. It lends an incredible amount of freshness to our bubble tea. It has a delicious, pleasant flavor.
Approachable. All the ingredients are easy to procure.
Customizable. 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. You can reduce the sugar, add more honeydew melon, or use low glycemic sweeteners or sugar-free sweeteners.
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 honeydew boba tea at home.
Caffein free. There is no tea in this so, no caffeine. If you want, you can add brewed tea to the recipe.
Economical. Making it at home is sure to save you some bucks.
Vegan. This recipe is vegan.

🥘Ingredients required to make Honeydew Milk Tea

Do you need honeydew melon to make honeydew milk tea?

Well, not really. Honeydew milk tea can be made using fresh honeydew melons, honeydew concentrate or syrups, or honeydew powder tea mix. The cafes usually use the honeydew powder mix or honeydew concentrated syrups for making honeydew boba. Though they make very fragrant and delicious boba, both have artificial flavors in them.

So, for this recipe, we will be using fresh Honeydew melon.

image showing all the ingredients required to make honeydew milk tea

Honeydew melon

Do not confuse honeydew melon with cantaloupe and musk melon. Unlike them, honeydews have a smooth rind and lack a musky odor. Honeydews are smooth pale green melons that have green sweet and aromatic flesh.

Honeydew is accessible all year, with the peak season in the northern hemisphere occurring between June and October.

One of the most difficult aspects of purchasing large fruits like melons is determining whether they are sweet and ripe. Choose the ones that look paler and smell sweet and aromatic. The opposite end of the stem is the point where we should smell a melon to gauge its sweetness.

Other options that you can use are:

Honeydew powder tea mix. You could get ready-mix honeydew boba powder that is green in color and has a strong flavor of honeydew online. They are perfect for making honeydew boba or any honeydew-based dessert, drink, or smoothie.
Honeydew concentrated syrup: These are what most cafes use to make their honeydew milk teas using concentrated honeydew syrup.

Tapioca pearls

For making this honeydew bubble tea recipe I have used black boba or black tapioca pearls. They are made with tapioca starch and flavored with brown sugar. They become black on cooking, hence the name black boba. The brown sugar boba is most widely used and easily available.

You can use any boba of your choice. Mini, clear, rainbow or pastel-colored boba, or honeydew popping boba. You can also use jelly cubes in this honeydew boba tea recipe.

If you do not have tapioca pearls, you can DIY boba pearls at home. To make it, you will need brown sugar syrup and tapioca starch. It is a bit tedious process. But once you make them, you can store them for months.

freshly made honeydew boba served in two glasses

Brown sugar syrup

Brown sugar syrup is a luscious thick caramel-like syrup that is a must for making boba. It is made with brown sugar and water in a 2:1 ratio. I like to make it in bulk and store it. You can also make it fresh by melting 1 cup of brown sugar in half a cup of water. Let the syrup become thick and bubbly.

But if you are feeling lazy, substitute it with any kind of sweetener. You can use maple syrup, agave, simple syrup, fructose syrup, etc.

Milk or creamer

You can use dairy or plant-based milk. Usually, cafes use creamers for making honeydew boba. I am not a fan of creamers; they are loaded with unnecessary calories and chemicals.

I have used oat milk in this boba recipe. You can also use condensed milk. It will act as a sweetener as well as a creamer.

🔪Instructions to make honeydew milk tea using fresh honeydew

Step 1 Cook the boba or tapioca pearls

black boba floating at top in boiling water

Cook the boba according to the directions on the package. If you’re using popping boba or jelly boba, there’s no need to cook them. However, if you’re using tapioca boba pearls, you’ll be boiling the boba.

Brown sugar boba is what I’m using. It is better to purchase boba that cooks quickly. Bring 3 cups of water to a boil to simmer ⅓ cup brown sugar or black tapioca balls. Allow them to boil for 4-5 minutes, or until they float to the surface.

The amount of time depends on the type of boba you use. However, expect them to rise to the top. Cook for a further 5-7 minutes over medium heat when the boba starts to float. Then remove the pan from the heat and cover it, allowing the boba to soak for another 5 minutes. After that, strain the water and collect the cooked boba.

Place them in a small bowl and add brown sugar syrup. However, you can use any syrup you prefer. Cooked tapioca pearls tend to stick together. So, dunking them in syrup is crucial.

Step 2 Make honeydew melon slush with milk

images showing process of blending fresh honeydew melon slices

Cut the honeydew melon into half and remove the seeds. Then cut half the melon into cubes. The half melon should be enough to make 2 large cups of honeydew boba.

Into a blender add honeydew melon cubes, milk, and 7-8 ice cubes. Blend to make a slushie

If you want, you can strain it. But I do not want to lose all the fiber and goodness, so I am just using it as such.

Step 3 Assemble the honeydew boba drink

To assemble the honeydew milk tea, add the cooked boba with syrup first. Followed by the ice cubes and then, pour the honeydew slushie at the top. Add an extra-wide boba straw and enjoy.

🔪 Process of making honeydew milk tea using honeydew powder or syrup.

First, you need to cook the tapioca pearls, soak them in syrup, and set them aside. Then into a blender add all the remaining ingredients ( honeydew syrup or powder, ice, and milk) and blend.

You will not need brown sugar syrup if you are using honeydew syrup. Soak the cooked tapioca pearls in the honeydew syrup and skip the brown sugar syrup totally from the recipe.

Now into the glasses, first add the tapioca pearls, followed by some ice cubes, and then pour the contents of the blender. Drop a boba straw, stir and sip!

Serving Variations of honeydew milk tea

You can use any of the following additives to top your honeydew milk tea for making them stand out.

Popping boba: Popping boba is juice-filled balls that can be added to the bubble tea. They are a blast of concentrated juice flavor. Fusion popping boba works in almost all boba recipes.

Jelly cubes: you can make honeydew jelly and cut it into small cubes to top your honeydew bubble tea.
Green tea or jasmine tea: You can brew some green tea and add the cold tea to the honeydew boba for an extra depth of flavor. You can also use black tea if that is your choice of tea.
Replace brown sugar with maple syrup, agave, simple syrup, fructose syrup, honey, or honeydew syrup.

🫙 How to Store Honeydew Milk Tea

Honeydew boba is something that is best made and enjoyed fresh. But you can make the honeydew slushie in advance and store it in the fridge for 2-3 days. And then, whenever you are wanting to make yourself a drink, cook some boba and assemble the bubble tea.

💭Pro Tips and Substitution Notes

You can replace fresh honeydew melon with honeydew powder tea mix or honeydew syrup.
You can add brewed jasmine tea to the honeydew boba if you like.
Replace the soy milk with any other plant-based milk or dairy milk, dairy creamer, or condensed milk (cut down the brown syrup).
Cook the tapioca pearls or boba right before making the honeydew milk tea. They taste best when made fresh.
The time it takes to cook boba depends on the sort of boba you use. It is best to use boba which cooks quickly.
If the honeydew melon is sweet, you might need to reduce the amount of syrup.

❓Frequently Asked Questions

Is honeydew milk tea healthy?

Well, it depends on what you add to it. in this recipe, we have used fresh honeydew melon without straining. It has all the goodness of fruit. Use low glycemic sweetener to make it healthier.

What does honeydew milk tea taste like?

Honeydew milk tea tastes sweet, fresh, and fragrant. It has some smoothness of milk and chewiness of the black tapioca pearls. It is a delectable boba that will have you wanting more.

Does honeydew milk tea have caffeine?

This recipe does not use ant tea, hence it is caffein free.

Honeydew milk tea made from scratch at home using fresh honeydew melon

🧋More boba recipes:

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

Hope you love this Honeydew Milk Tea. 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

gloriously green looking honeydew boba glasses

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