Strawberry Milk Tea: Boba Tea with fresh Strawberries!

This strawberry milk tea is a smooth, fruity drink, with a hint of tea and strawberry which is served with chewy boba that hit your palate time and again. It is a delicious treat that you are sure to enjoy.

What does strawberry milk tea taste like?

Strawberry milk tea, often called strawberry boba tea is a bubble tea recipe that has a strawberry flavor. This refreshing tea is usually served with brown sugar or black boba pearls. So as far as its flavor profile is concerned, it is more of a fruit drink.

• It has the freshness and flavor of strawberry.
  
• Tea is there in the drink that pleasantly hits your palate from time to time.
  
• The brown sugar boba not only gives the chewy surprise as you sip the tea through the boba straw but also gives it a characteristic brown sugar syrup flavor which is characteristic of any bubble tea.
  
• Milk gives it much-needed smoothness.
  

Why does this strawberry boba tea recipe work? Or why should you try this recipe?

• Freshly made. Unlike the store-bought boba that is not freshly made. You can whip up this delightful drink for yourself fresh batch at your home.
  
• Refreshing. This recipe uses fresh strawberry fruits. The freshness that strawberries add to this bubble tea is unbeatable. It is fruity and refreshing.
  
• Easy to make. The level of skills that you need to make strawberry boba tea is a beginner level. It is so easy to make. It does have some steps involved when you are making the strawberry milk at home. But if you use store-bought strawberry milk, it is going to be way easier and quicker.
  
• Approachable. 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 or diet needs. 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.
  
• Customizable to taste. You can customize it to match your taste. You can reduce the sugar, add more strawberries, or use frozen ones, use low glycemic sweeteners or sugar-free sweeteners if those are your choices.
  
• No preservatives or stabilizers. The packed bubble tea has some kind 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 bubble tea at home.
  

Other milk tea or bubble tea recipes

Traditionally bubble tea was just taro or Thai tea flavored boba. But over time numerous flavors got added to the list. Like strawberry milk tea, there are numerous other ways to flavor bubble tea.

• Blueberry bubble tea
  
• Honeydew bubble tea
  
• Chocolate boba
  
• Lychee bubble tea
  
• Mango bubble tea
  
• Rose milk tea
  

Ingredients and their substitution for making strawberry boba tea

 1 Boba pearls

I am using brown sugar uncooked boba for making this strawberry milk tea. You can choose whichever boba pears you like the most. Mine is quick cooking boba.

The brown sugar boba is the most common and is very easily available. They are also called black boba sometimes due to their color.  Other options that you can explore are:

•  Clear boba. You can use clear boba. Unlike the brown sugar boba, they can absorb the flavors from the milk tea.

• Mini boba. I love mini boba. I have used them in my lychee bubble tea. They are a type of clear boba, but smaller in size. You do not need an extra-wide straw to sip through if you use them in your strawberry milk tea recipe.

• Flavored boba. These are usually fruit-flavored tapioca pearls. They taste best with respective bubble tea flavors.

• Popping boba. These are juice-filled boba. They come in various flavors. Works wonders with fruity boba tea. But they are not easy to find. And the flavor options are also minimal. They have an interesting texture. A pop-up juice balls sort of thing.

• Jelly boba. They are boba made with fruit-flavored jelly. They are chewy and fruity, but way different than the regular tapioca pearls boba.

2 Fresh strawberry

I am using the fresh strawberries to make a strawberry sauce. You can use frozen strawberries also. They are easier to cook and make a sauce.

Another substitution is to use store-bought strawberry milk. It is easier and more convenient. But you cannot control the intensity of the flavors here. You can use 1 ½  cup strawberry milk for making 2 cups of bubble tea.

The strawberry bubble tea that we are going to make using the fresh strawberry is going to have way far stronger and fresher flavor. Also, it is preservative free strawberry milk.

3. Tea

You can use whichever tea you like. Black or green tea. You can use tea bags or tea leaves. Choose your favorite tea and steep it a few hours ahead of making the bubble tea and refrigerate it. To read the steeping process in detail refer to the lychee sweet tea recipe.

4 Sweetener

You can use whichever sweetener that you like. But the regular cane sugar works best for making the sauce of strawberries.

You can substitute it with brown sugar or vegan sugar alternatives if you follow a vegan diet.

Also, I am using some maple syrup to dunk the boba after cooking it. You can use honey, brown sugar syrup, or any other syrup of your choice.

5 Milk

We are going to need whole milk in this recipe. If you are vegan, choose your favorite plant-based milk.

Also, you can use some cream if you want to raise the bar of decadence.

Now, let us start with the strawberry bubble tea recipe.

Step by step Instruction to make strawberry milk tea

Step 1 Brew the tea

As I discussed in the ingredient section, you can use whichever tea you like. I have used black tea in this recipe.

I placed a teabag in a cup. Then, to brew the tea, I boiled 1 cup of water. When the water started to boil, I turned off the heat and poured the water into the cup. Lift the tea bag 2-3 times in the cup to allow movement of tea leaves to ensure maximum tea flavor extraction. Then cover the cup with a plate and steep the tea bag in the boiling water for 3 minutes of total time. Uncover the teacup and remove the teabag.

You want to do this step in advance so that you have enough time to chill the tea. After brewing the tea, refrigerate it for at least 2-3 hours or until chilled.

Step 2 Make strawberry milk

What is strawberry milk? How to make fresh strawberry milk at home?

Strawberry milk is nothing but strawberry-flavored milk that can be easily made at home.

Making strawberry milk is the key step in making this strawberry boba. If you are using store-bought strawberry milk, skip this step. You just need to cook the boba and assemble the bubble tea.

But if you are making the strawberry milk at home, follow along.

You can use fresh or frozen strawberries to make it. But there are further two ways to do it.

1.  Just blend the strawberries and milk, strain, and use. This is not the best way in my opinion. The strawberry flavor in the milk is not that strong.
   
2. Make the strawberry sauce. In this method, we can use fresh or frozen strawberries. We cook them with some sugar. It is cooked until it becomes all mushy and sauce-like thick and bubbly.
   
   Use a potato masher to press and mash the strawberries. When done, empty the contents in a strainer or strain through a muslin cloth or a cheesecloth. Push the pulp through the strainer or cloth.
   Now add the cold milk to the gathered sauce. Mix well and there you have it. Strawberry milk!

Step 3 Cooking boba

Cook the boba according to the package instructions. If you are using popping boba or jelly boba, you do not need to cook them. But if you are using tapioca boba pearls like me, you will be cooking boba in boiling water.

I am using the brown sugar boba. It is better to buy fast cooking boba. It is flavored with brown sugar syrup. To cook ⅓ cup of brown sugar or black boba, bring 3 cups of water to a boil. Then add the tapioca pearls to the boiling water. Let them boil for 4-5 minutes or until they come floating to the top.

The exact time will vary with the type of boba you use. But look for them to come to the top. When boba starts to float, cook them for additional 10 minutes at medium heat. Then, turn off the heat and cover the pan and let the boba soak for 5 more minutes. Then, strain the water and gather the cooked boba.

 Transfer them into a bowl. Then add some simple syrup to dunk the tapioca pearls. The conventional choice is brown sugar syrup. But you can use whichever syrup you like. I have used a few teaspoon of maple syrup to soak the boba at room temperature until we are ready to assemble the tea. Tapioca pearls are starchy. They tend to stick together after cooking if no syrupy is added to them.

Step 4 Assemble the strawberry milk tea

To assemble the strawberry milk boba, start by pouring in the syrup dunked the boba into the glasses. Add more or less boba depending on how much you want in your tea. I usually lean towards less boba in my tea as they are starch-rich - high-calorie stuff.

Then add 9-10 ice cubes to each glass. Then pour in half a cup of brewed tea per glass. Finally, add the strawberry milk. Put a boba straw and give it a generous stir. You can also add cream to make it creamier if you want.

There you have it... A strawberry milk bubble tea!

 How to make vegan strawberry bubble tea

To make vegan strawberry bubble tea, just substitute the whole milk with plant-based milk that you like. Also, use vegan sugar instead of cane sugar. Follow the rest of the recipe as such to make the vegan strawberry milk tea.

Recipe notes

• The ideal water temperature to brew the tea is 212 ⁰F or 100 ⁰C 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.
  
• Make the tea in advance and chill it in the fridge.
  
• Cook the tapioca pearls or boba right before making the strawberry milk tea. They taste best when made fresh.
  
• If you are using popping boba or jelly boba, you do not need to cook them.
  
• 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.
  

Frequently Asked Questions

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Make it delicious!

Strawberry milk tea recipe card