Step 1

Place the brown sugar and water in a small saucepan. Heat over medium heat, and stir to dissolve the sugar.

Step 2

Bring the water and sugar mixture to a boil. If you want to use food color to color the dough, add a few drops to the water at this stage.

Step 3

While the water is coming to a boil, mix the cocoa powder (or matcha powder or butterfly pea powder if you're making those versions) and tapioca starch together if you’re making black or colored boba pearls.

Step 4

As soon as the liquid comes to a proper boil, remove the pan from the heat.

Step 5

Add roughly 3 - 4 tbsp of the tapioca starch (or tapioca starch + cocoa mix for black boba pearls), into the water. Whisk well (but quickly), to completely dissolve the starch in the water.

Step 6

Return the mixture back to the stove, and heat over medium low heat while whisking quickly and constantly. If the dough is heating too quickly, you can momentarily remove it from the heat to whisk the dough to temper the heat.

Step 7

The mixture will start to thicken and form a gelatinous mass within 2 - 3 minutes. This is your starter dough.

Step 8

Add the rest of the tapioca starch to this, and fold it in to mix it as well as possible.

Step 9

Turn the dough out onto a clean, smooth work surface. It is normal to have some dry spots of tapioca starch, and you may have a few lumps as well. These will disappear when you knead the dough. Scrape as much of the dough from the saucepan as possible.

Step 10

The dough will be hot, so be careful when handling the dough. Knead the dough while it’s hot until you get a nice, smooth dough, that is still soft while warm, and a little tacky. Knead quickly, as the dough will harden as it cools down and become hard to knead.

Step 11

The dough will be smooth, soft, and tacky while warm.

Step 12

Optional - Wrap the dough tightly in plastic wrap, and set aside until it comes to room temperature.You can still work with the dough while it's warm as well.

Step 13

Dust your work surface very lighty, and roll out the tapioca dough until it’s about ¼ inch thick.

Step 14

Cut 1 cm strips in one direction first. Then, cut 1 cm strips in the perpendicular direction. This will create small squares (see pictures in the post). You can also use a cooling wire rack to create the grid pattern, to use as a guide to cut the dough.

Step 15

Cover the cut up squares in plastic wrap. Also, add some tapioca starch to a bowl and set aside.

Step 16

Start rolling the small dough squares into balls, a little at a time (keep the rest of the squares covered in plastic wrap, as the dough can dry out quickly if exposed). Place each ball in the bowl with tapioca starch, and move it around to coat the ball.

Step 17

Repeat with all the square pieces of dough. This is the time consuming step of the recipe.

Step 18

If a piece of dough feels dry and doesn’t form into a smooth ball (and develops cracks), you can dip a finger in a little cold water and use it to moisten the piece of dough. This will make it easier to roll it up again.

Step 19

When all the dough squares have been rolled into little balls and are coated in tapioca starch, place them on a quarter sheet pan (or half sheet pan).

Step 20

Let them dry for 4 hours (if you want to store them for a long time). Then, at one hour intervals, use your palm to lightly roll the balls on the surface of the half sheet pan. After 4 hours, the pearls should be firm, and they will remain nice and round.

Step 21

Store them in air-tight containers, or vacuum seal them and freeze for later.

Step 22

Measure out how much of the boba pearls that you will be cooking. Each batch will make about 1 cup of pearls, which should be enough for about 6 drinks. You can make as much or as little of the boba pearls as you like.

Step 23

For every cup of boba pearls you're cooking, bring at least 4 cups of water to a boil (i.e. at least 4 times the volume of the boba pearls). I like to use about 5 - 6 cups. A covered pot will come to a boil faster as well.

Step 24

When the water has come to a boil, remove the lid and add the boba pearls. Immediately start stirring to prevent the pearls from sticking to each other.

Step 25

After the boba pearls float to the surface, let them cook for about 30 - 40 minutes, stirring occasionally, until they are mostly translucent at the edges. Remove the pot from the heat. Cover the pot, and let the boba pearls sit for about 15 - 25 more minutes, until completely translucent or almost translucent.The cooking time will vary depending on how big and how dry the tapioca pearls are.

Step 26

The cooking liquid might be thick at this stage, and this is natural.

Step 27

Remove the tapioca pearls with a slotted spoon, and transfer them into a bowl with cold water.

Step 28

Let them sit in the cold water for a few minutes to rest. At this point, they may also return to their original size.

Step 29

In a clean saucepan, add the brown sugar/s and water.

Step 30

Cook over medium heat while stirring with a spatula to dissolve the sugar, and then bring it to a boil.

Step 31

Boil the mixture until it reaches the desired thickness / consistency.

Step 32

Using a slotted spoon, remove the tapioca pearls from the cold water and transfer them into the saucepan.

Step 33

Bring the sugar syrup back to a boil. Cook the syrup a little longer to thicken it. About 2 - 3 minutes. Cooking them further in the syrup will also turn the boba pearls completely translucent (if they weren't before). Then remove the saucepan from the heat. Transfer to a glass jar.

Step 34

The boba pearls are best used while warm (since they harden as they cool down).

Step 35

Place 2 - 4 tbsp of boba pearls WITH the brown sugar syrup, in a glass.

Step 36

Using a spoon, drag the brown sugar syrup along the inside wall of the glass to create streaks. This is optional, but does make the drink look visually better.

Step 37

Add a few cubes of ice, and top with milk.

Step 38

Serve immediately with a boba straw. Stir well before drinking.