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    You are here: Home / Recipes / Drinks / Hojicha Bubble Tea with Brown Sugar Syrup

    Hojicha Bubble Tea with Brown Sugar Syrup

    Posted: May 20, 2021 Last Modified: Mar 21, 2022 by Carmy · This post may contain affiliate links. As an Amazon Associate and member of other affiliate programs, I earn from qualifying purchases.

    Jump to Recipe - Print Recipe

    This Hojicha Bubble Tea with Brown Sugar Syrup is a super easy drink to make. A little bit smoky, sweet, and full of roasted tea flavour notes, this hojicha boba tea is so refreshing.

    If you’re a fan of green tea, then you’d love this hojicha bubble tea. I’ve combined my love for brown sugar milk tea with hojicha and this delicious hojicha boba tea is the result.

    Two glass of hojicha bubble tea.

    As a bubble tea lover who has probably averaged 2-3 a week when Chatime opened near my workplace and Tiger Sugar came to Toronto, moving away from it reallllly hit me hard. I needed to get my fix of it! This post will show you just how easy it is to make bubble tea at home! You really wouldn’t believe how easy it is to make brown sugar milk tea, especially if you’re using store-bought tapioca.

    What is Hojicha?

    Hojicha is a Japanese roasted green tea that is made by slowly roasting twigs and leaves of the tea plant. Hojicha has a toasted nutty taste to it as well as a smoky sweet flavour thanks to the roasting process. This recipe uses hojicha powder.

    What You’ll Need to Make Hojicha Bubble Tea

    • hojicha powders.
    • A bag of hojicha powder.
    • tapioca pearls — I use these specific ones for extra sweetness for this hojicha boba. You can use any topioca pearls you like.
    • muscovado sugar — or dark brown sugar. Muscovado sugar is a little less refined than regular brown sugar so it has more pronounced caramel and toffee notes to it.
    • hojicha powder — you can get this from Amazon! I also love hojicha from Hojicha Co and Paragon Tea Room. The hojicha used in the brown sugar milk tea photographed is Paragon Tea Room’s Hojicha Obsidian.
    • milk — or non dairy alternative.
    • water
    Boba pearls.

    How to Make Brown Sugar Hojicha Boba

    Brown Sugar Boba Pearl Syrup

    • Prepare your tapioca pearls according to the package.
    • In a pot, combine the muscovado sugar with 40 ml of water and bring it to a boil. Turn down the heat to a simmer and add in the prepared tapioca pearls. Simmer until the brown sugar syrup has thickened. Simmering the cooked tapioca pearls in the syrup just adds more flavour to them.
    • Remove from heat once it has thickened.
    • Brown sugar syrup with tapioca.
    • Glass with brown sugar syrup and tapioca.

    Hojicha Bubble Tea

    • In a small bowl, whisk together the hojicha powder and 200ml of cold water. Set aside.
    • In a cup, add in half of the brown sugar syrup with the pearls.
    • Top with some ice, half of the milk, and half of the whisked hojicha.
    • Stir to combine and enjoy!
    • Milk added to the glass.
    • Glass with milk and brown sugar boba.
    • Hojicha added to the glass of milk and tapioca.
    • Hojicha added to the glass of milk and tapioca.
    • Glass of hojicha bubble tea.
    • Two glass of hojicha bubble tea.

    Tips and Notes

    • Please feel free to adjust the amount of tapioca pearls and brown sugar syrup to your liking. I prefer my boba tea to be on the sweeter side and I love chewing on QQ pearls so I’m all for it! I usually add extra to mine and H adds less to his. My glass of hojicha bubble tea is usually much bigger than the glass pictured here haha.
    • Feel free to double or even triple this recipe.
    • Be sure to get some boba straws as your pearls won’t fit through regular straws!

    Boba FAQs

    Can you make your own boba pearls?

    If you want, you can definitely make your own pearls. For a while, I made my own but it was so time consuming rolling every single tapioca pearl by hand that I just purchase the shelf stable ones instead. This is the one I buy.

    Can I add ice?

    You can definitely add ice! I usually skip the ice since I don’t like how it dilutes the drink if I don’t finish it fast enough.

    What if I only have loose leaf hojicha?

    When I’ve only had loose leaf hojicha, I turned it into a powder by using H’s coffee grinder. It gets the job done when in a pinch. It’s definitely not as fine of a powder though.

    Since we are turning it into a fine powder, I don’t think a large food processor would work as you’ll need to put in a ton of hojicha.

    What is the difference between “Boba Tea” and “Bubble Tea?”

    They’re the same thing. Boba, boba tea, bubble tea, milk tea, tapioca tea, pearl milk tea. It’s mostly a regional verbiage.

    Do I have to sift my hojicha powder?

    If it’s something you feel like doing, more power to you! I usually just whisk my hojicha powder as is since sifting it requires extra work.

    Does this have caffeine?

    Hojicha has a very low amount of caffeine!

    Can I make this ahead of time?

    The boba balls are best consumed immediately so I would not recommend making this in advance.

    Two glass of hojicha bubble tea.

    Hojicha Bubble Tea

    This Hojicha Bubble Tea with Brown Sugar Syrup is a super easy drink to make. A little bit smoky, sweet, and full of roasted tea flavour notes, this hojicha boba tea is so refreshing.
    5 from 1 vote
    Print Rate
    Prep Time: 10 mins
    Cook Time: 10 mins
    Total Time: 20 mins
    Servings: 2 servings

    Ingredients

    Brown Sugar Boba Pearl Syrup

    • ½ cup tapioca pearls
    • ¼ cup muscovado sugar, or dark brown sugar
    • 40 ml water

    Hojicha Boba Tea

    • 4 tsp hojicha powder
    • 200 ml cold water
    • 500 ml milk, or non-dairy milk

    Instructions

    Brown Sugar Boba Pearl Syrup

    • Prepare your tapioca pearls according to the package.
    • In a pot, combine the muscovado sugar with 40 ml of water and bring it to a boil. Turn down the heat to a simmer and add in the prepared tapioca pearls. Simmer until the brown sugar syrup has thickened. Simmering the cooked tapioca pearls in the syrup just adds more flavour to them.
    • Remove from heat once it has thickened.

    Hojicha Bubble Tea

    • In a small bowl, whisk together the hojicha powder and 200ml of cold water. Set aside.
    • In a cup, add in half of the brown sugar syrup with the pearls.
    • Top with some ice, half of the milk, and half of the whisked hojicha.
    • Stir to combine and enjoy!
    Tried this recipe?Did you make this recipe? I’m always so happy to hear about it! I’d love to see how it turned out. Tag me at @CarmysHungry on Instagram so I can see it! If you enjoyed the recipe, I’d really appreciate a comment with a 5 star rating! ♥

    Nutrition Per Serving

    Calories: 393kcal | Carbohydrates: 73g | Protein: 8g | Fat: 8g | Saturated Fat: 5g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 1g | Monounsaturated Fat: 2g | Cholesterol: 25mg | Sodium: 117mg | Potassium: 371mg | Fiber: 1g | Sugar: 41g | Vitamin A: 405IU | Calcium: 314mg | Iron: 1mg
    Author: Carmy
    Course: Drinks
    Cuisine: Asian

    More Drinks To Try

    • Matcha Bubble Tea with Brown Sugar
    • Strawberry Matcha Latte
    • Iced Matcha Latte
    • Thai Boba Tea
    • Taro Milk Tea
    • Brown Sugar Milk Tea
    • Hong Kong Milk Tea
    • Hong Kong Iced Tea

    Other places to connect with me
    @carmyshungry on Instagram
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    Email: [email protected]

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    Comments

    1. Irina

      November 16, 2021 at 4:13 pm

      Whoa love this!! I was wondering could you refrigerate/freeze the pearls and brown sugar after simmering them? Like to prep much in advance?

      Reply

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