Bubble tea is sweetened in two places, and getting the balance right means treating them separately: the tea itself, and the pearls. Sweeten the tea while it is hot, because sugar dissolves properly in hot liquid and barely at all in a cold glass, and sweeten the pearls afterwards by soaking them in syrup for about fifteen minutes. A simple sugar syrup is the easiest way to control both, it takes five minutes to make, and it keeps in the fridge for several weeks. Fruit syrups do a different job again, flavouring as well as sweetening.
How do you make simple syrup?
Bring half a cup of water to the boil, turn the heat down to medium, and stir in a cup of white or brown sugar until it has fully dissolved. Let it come back to the boil, then turn off the heat and let it cool to room temperature. That is the whole recipe, and any spare keeps in the fridge for several weeks.
Make more than you need. It is the thing you will reach for every time you make bubble tea, and having a jar of it in the fridge door removes the most fiddly part of the process from a weeknight.
White sugar gives a clean, neutral sweetness that lets the tea come through. Brown sugar gives something darker and more caramelly, which is particularly good with black tea and with coconut milk, and it is the flavour a lot of people associate with brown sugar boba. Both behave identically in the pan.
Why sweeten the tea while it is hot?
Because cold liquid and granulated sugar are a bad combination. Stir sugar into an iced drink and a good proportion of it settles at the bottom of the glass, so the first mouthful is thin and the last one is syrupy. Hot tea dissolves it completely.
Syrup sidesteps the problem entirely, since it is already liquid, which is the main reason bubble tea shops work from syrup rather than sugar. If you are making an iced drink, syrup is the better route; if you are making a hot one, either works.
Brew the tea strong, sweeten it, then cool it before the milk goes in. Hot tea poured straight onto cold milk, and plant milks in particular, is the usual cause of a split, curdled looking glass.
How do you sweeten the pearls?
This is the step people skip, and it is why home bubble tea sometimes has a chewy but oddly bland bubble sitting in a nicely sweet drink.
Cooked pearls come out of the boiling water tasting of almost nothing. Drain them and soak them in simple sugar syrup, honey or agave for about fifteen minutes before they go into the glass. They take on the flavour, they stop clumping together, and they end up glossy instead of dull.
It has a practical benefit too. Cooked pearls last about four hours in the fridge when covered with sugar syrup, honey or agave, whereas left dry they seize up and harden much faster. They are still much better fresh, so cook what you plan to drink, but the syrup buys you the afternoon.
What do the fruit syrups do?
They sweeten and flavour in one go, which is what makes fruit tea so quick. Our Bubble Tea Kit, Black and Green Tea with Fruit Syrups includes mango and strawberry syrups alongside loose leaf black and green tea, tapioca starch and ready-made pearls, and makes about eight large glasses as milk tea or fruit tea.
Fruit syrup belongs with green tea rather than black. Green tea is lighter and more aromatic and sits alongside fruit instead of fighting it, while black tea has enough tannin and malt of its own to make the combination muddy. Green tea is also lovely blended with fresh juice if you want to go further in that direction.
Build a fruit tea the same way as a milk tea: pearls first, then ice, then the brewed and cooled tea, then the syrup, and stir. Start with less syrup than you think and add more, because it is straightforward to sweeten a glass and impossible to unsweeten one.
How sweet should you actually go?
Less than a shop, almost certainly, and then adjust upwards over a few attempts until you find your level. This is the genuine advantage of making it yourself: the sugar is entirely under your control and nobody has decided it for you.
A useful method is to sweeten the tea lightly and let the pearls carry more of the sweetness. You get a glass that tastes of tea, with a hit of sweetness arriving with each bubble, which is a more interesting drink than one sweetened uniformly throughout.
You can also swap the sugar for a natural sweetener such as agave or maple syrup, both of which dissolve readily and bring a little flavour of their own. Honey works for the pearls too. And if a batch does come out too sweet, the fix is more tea rather than more water, so brewing a little extra and holding it back is a sensible habit.
When you want to carry on making bubble tea after the kit, tapioca starch is easy to find in the gluten-free section of most supermarkets, and Asian supermarkets stock loose black tea, fat straws and ready-made pearls. Every ingredient is listed on the pack; if you have an allergy question, email hello@sandyleaffarm.com before ordering.
Bubble tea sugar FAQs
How do you make simple syrup for bubble tea?
Bring half a cup of water to the boil, turn to medium heat and stir in a cup of white or brown sugar until fully dissolved. Let it boil again, then cool it to room temperature. Spare syrup keeps in the fridge for several weeks.
Why are my tapioca pearls not sweet?
Because boiling leaves them plain. Soak the drained pearls in simple sugar syrup, honey or agave for about fifteen minutes before they go into the glass.
Can I use honey or agave instead of sugar?
Yes, for both the pearls and the tea. Agave and maple syrup are easy swaps in the drink, and honey works well for soaking the pearls.
Should I use brown sugar or white sugar?
White sugar gives a clean sweetness that lets the tea through, and brown sugar gives a darker, more caramelly note that suits black tea and coconut milk. Both make simple syrup the same way.
Which kit includes fruit syrups?
Our black and green tea kit includes mango and strawberry syrups, and makes about eight large glasses as milk tea or fruit tea.
Fancy sweetening it exactly how you like it? See our bubble tea kits.
