Strawberry Black Tea with Boba
By the QuiteRecipes team (Jamy & Kaïna) | Food Service Professional, Early Childhood Expert & Parents
Skip the bubble tea shop! Learn how to brew a refreshing Strawberry Black Tea with Boba, loaded with sweet strawberry puree and chewy brown sugar tapioca pearls.
Skip the bubble tea shop, this one is minutes away at home. Strawberry syrup meets strong black tea and a layer of chewy boba for the full café experience. Cold, sweet, and endlessly slurpable.
🥄 Ingredients
- 🫗 3 bags of black tea (Assam or Ceylon)
- 🫗 1 cup (240 ml) hot water
- 🫗 1/3 cup (80 ml) sweet strawberry puree
- 🫗 1-2 tbsp fresh strawberries, finely diced
- 🫗 1/3 cup cooked Brown Sugar Boba (tapioca pearls)
- 🫗 Ice
Nutrition Facts*
*Nutritional information is an estimate and may vary based on ingredients, brands and portion sizes. Values are provided per serving.
👨🍳 Instructions
Steep the 3 black tea bags in 1 cup (240 ml) of boiling hot water for 5 minutes to create a strong concentrate. Remove the bags and allow the tea to cool completely.
Spoon the warm, freshly cooked brown sugar boba into the bottom of your serving glass.
Pour the 1/3 cup (80 ml) of strawberry puree and diced strawberries right over the boba.
Fill the glass generously to the brim with ice cubes to help cool down the boba structure.
Slowly pour the cooled black tea concentrate over the ice, creating a gorgeous dark tea layer above the red fruit base.
Serve immediately with a wide bubble tea straw.
🎥 Video Tutorial
Strawberry Black Tea with Boba
Video credit: embedded from YouTube. All rights belong to the original creator, who allows sharing on other websites.
⚠️ Common Mistakes
- ✕
Pouring Hot Tea Directly: Pouring piping hot black tea over your ice cubes will melt them instantly, resulting in a lukewarm, watery drink and ruining the texture of your tapioca pearls.
🔄 Variations
Strawberry Milk Tea: Splash 2 oz (60 ml) of half-and-half or whole milk into the tea layer to transform this into a rich, creamy fruit milk tea.
Green Tea Swap: Use Jasmine green tea instead of black tea for a lighter, distinctly floral flavor profile.
🧊 Storage
- 📦
Once assembled with ice and boba, this drink must be consumed within 3 hours. Cooked boba pearls cannot be stored in the fridge as they lose their signature chewy texture.
💡 Chef Tips
Keep Boba Fresh: Always use warm, freshly cooked tapioca pearls. If you put boba into the fridge or leave it in an icy drink for too long, the starch contracts and becomes unpleasantly hard and chalky.
Strong Tea Base: Using 3 tea bags for just 1 cup of water seems strong, but it is necessary because the ice cubes and sweet strawberry puree will significantly dilute the tea flavor once mixed.
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About the Authors
This recipe and guide was developed, tested, and approved in our home kitchen and daily life. Jamy is a retired Food Service District Manager and Early Childhood Program Manager who spent his career overseeing multi-site restaurant operations, large-scale culinary production, and daycare menu management. Kaïna brings the ultimate real-world test: making sure it brings ease and joy to our kids on a busy weeknight.
Read more about our professional background and philosophy →