Purple Boba is a beautiful and unique ube milk tea with vibrant color and sweet boba. Enjoy boba at home anytime without going to a restaurant or specialty bubble tea shop.
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Table of Contents
- Purple Boba is a beautiful and unique ube milk tea with vibrant color and sweet boba. Enjoy boba at home anytime without going to a restaurant or specialty bubble tea shop.
- Why You’ll Love This Purple Boba Recipe
- What is Ube Boba?
- What is the Difference Between Taro and Ube?
- Ingredients
- Ingredient Substitutions
- How to Make Purple Boba
- Recipe Pro-Tips
- FAQs
- Save this Recipe for Later on Pinterest
- Tools Needed to Make This Recipe
- More Drink Recipes
Purple boba tea (also known as purple bubble tea) is surprisingly easy to make at home with your favorite brewed tea, simple syrup, milk, and boba! Boba drinks make a delicious dessert or treat with tapioca pearls that add a sweet chew to the milk tea and are easy to prepare.
If you’ve been wanting to try an ube powder recipe or have ube extract in your pantry from making ube pancakes or ube brownies, this recipe is an easy, sweet, and beautiful way to sample ube flavor!
Why You’ll Love This Purple Boba Recipe
- Colorful. Ube extract adds rich pigment to this milk tea drink. A colorful drink is unique and festive and will have you and your guests dreaming of more ways to use ube.
- Make and Enjoy The Same Day. This recipe does not require overnight refrigeration or multi-day preparation so you’ll have the satisfaction of sipping your purple boba drink minutes after you start the recipe.
- A Sweet Treat. Boba pearls are sweetened with homemade simple syrup that is truly simple, making this a treat to pair with any meal, dessert, or serve up for a party or special occasion.
What is Ube Boba?
Ube boba is a sweet drink flavored with ube and made with tea, milk, and boba pearls. Ube is a purple sweet potato that’s popular to use in both drinks and baking. Boba, or bubbles, are tapioca pearls, usually purchased dry, that are boiled and then sweetened with simple syrup before adding to the bottom of your drink.
What is the Difference Between Taro and Ube?
Taro and ube are both root vegetables that are used in extract or powdered forms to make purple or lavender drinks and baked goods. When harvested, ube is typically a rich purple color while taro is a lighter white hue with purple flecks. The flavors are also commonly combined in boba or lattes, so you may see them together on a drink menu.
Ube has a more pigmented purple or deep lavender color and typically has a stronger flavor. While both taro and ube can be described as having nutty flavor, ube has vanilla notes as well as an underlying nutty taste.
Ingredients
- Black Boba Pearls: Tapioca pearls have a distinctive texture and chew and make every sip of this drink fun.
- Sugar: Granulated white sugar makes the best simple syrup.
- Tea: Black or green tea of any type.
- Ube Extract: This extract is made from purple yams and adds color and flavor to purple boba tea.
- Ice Cubes: A handful of ice makes the tea refreshingly cool.
- Milk: Plant-based or dairy milk can be used for this ube milk tea recipe.
Ingredient Substitutions
White Tea: Ube bubble tea is delicious with all sorts of tea varieties. Try white tea for floral notes and a more subtle tea flavor compared to black or green tea.
How to Make Purple Boba
For the complete recipe and measurements, scroll to the recipe card at the bottom of this post.
Step 1: Cook the boba according to package directions.
Step 2: While the boba boils, make the simple syrup by bringing water to a boil in a saucepan on the stovetop or in a measuring cup in the microwave. Whisk the granulated sugar into the boiling water until the sugar dissolves. Remove the pan from the heat if making the simple syrup on the stovetop.
Step 3: Stir the drained cooked boba into the simple syrup. Stir and let sit for 10-15 minutes.
Step 4: Brew the tea in hot water according to the package instructions.
Step 5: Add half of the boba, as much of the simple syrup as desired, half of the tea, and ube extract EACH to two large glasses. Stir well.
Step 6: Add a large handful of ice to each glass. Divide the milk between the two glasses. Add extra simple syrup to taste and enjoy!
Recipe Pro-Tips
- Brew Tea in a Measuring Cup. Brew your hot tea in a glass measuring cup to easily pour the brewed tea into two glasses. Follow the instructions on the tea package for the ideal water temperature and brewing time for your tea.
- Let Boba Soak in Simple Syrup. It can be tempting to skip this step because you are so excited to enjoy this ube drink, but soaking the boba in the simple syrup for at least 10 minutes is essential to sweet boba.
- Serve with a Straw. Part of the delight of drinking ube boba tea is getting sweet boba in every sip. Large-circumference straws, sometimes called smoothie or boba straws, can be easily purchased online in metal or plastic varieties. Straws are colorful and effective at bringing boba to every sip.
- Use a Clear Glass. Building your boba tea in a clear glass allows the boba and lavender color of the ube to be on full display. The taste is the same in any glass, but seeing the contrast of the purple milk tea and black boba is part of the fun of this drink!
Recipe Variations
- Lavender: Make lavender boba tea by adding a few drops of lavender extract to your simple syrup when soaking the boba pearls. Or add a teaspoon of store-bought lavender simple syrup to your glass before adding the milk.
- Mini Boba: There are many types of boba available online and at international grocery stores. Get mini tapioca pearls for a fun variation.
- Top with Whipped Cream: Topping purple boba with a swirl of whipped cream ups the presentation and sweetness of this drink.
Serving Suggestions
Boba is such a fun stand-alone treat to enjoy any time of the day. By making your own boba, you can adjust the sweetness to pair it with any meal. When buying your boba, you can also purchase boba straws and even plastic cups with lids to serve your boba.
I love serving ube tea with Strawberry Shortbread Cookies or Vegan Coffee Cake for snacking with friends or a movie night treat. For a restaurant-style date-night meal, serve ube boba with Asian-inspired meals like House Special Fried Rice or Ground Beef Stir-Fry.
Dietary Adaptations
To make this recipe dairy–free and vegan, use any plant-based milk.
Storage Directions
Ube boba is best enjoyed within 4 hours of making it. Extra cooked boba in simple syrup keeps in a sealed container in the refrigerator for 2-3 days. This ube drink recipe does not freeze well.
FAQs
Ube has a sweet vanilla flavor that’s subtly nutty. Ube is often used to add color and flavor to drinks and baked goods.
Ube is a Filipino purple yam that’s enjoyed worldwide. Ube extract, ube powder, and ube paste are all easy ways to cook with ube flavor without sourcing or cooking raw ube.
Ube extract typically contains ube and water to make it easy to pour and measure. Ube power and ube paste may only contain ube which has been dehydrated or dried, also making ube easy to use.
Ube taro milk tea will have a nuttier flavor than this ube milk tea recipe. Taro, which like ube is a root vegetable, is a popular flavor for purple drinks and tastes nutty. Purple boba flavor can be from taro, ube, or both!
Purple boba is called ube boba or ube milk tea. The color comes from adding ube extract or flavoring to make purple yam boba.
Ube milk tea is a sweet purple bubble tea drink made with brewed tea, the milk of your choice, ube flavor, and boba tapioca pearls.
Save this Recipe for Later on Pinterest
Tools Needed to Make This Recipe
More Drink Recipes
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