Matcha Bubble Tea with Brown Sugar | How to Make Boba Tea

Name: Matcha Bubble Tea
Prep time: 10 min
Cook time: 10 min
Total time: 20 min
Ingredients: ½ cup tapioca pearls; ¼ cup muscovado sugar (or dark brown sugar); 50 ml cold water; 2 tsp matcha powder; ½ cup hot water; 1 handful ice; 2-3 cups milk (or non-dairy milk (less milk for a stronger matcha flavour))

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This simple but delicious Matcha Bubble Tea with Brown Sugar is the perfect afternoon treat. Refreshing and flavourful, you’ll want two cups to yourself!

If you’re a fan of brown sugar milk tea and matcha, then you’re going to love this combination. This brown sugar matcha bubble tea is so delicious and surprisingly easy to make at home. You don’t even need a matcha whisk! Get your matcha boba fix with this guide!

What You’ll Need

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.
matcha powder — a finely grounded powdered green tea
milk — or non dairy alternative.
water

How to Make Brown Sugar Matcha 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.

A pot of brown sugar syrup with tapioca pearls in a pot.

Matcha Bubble Tea

In a small bowl, whisk together the matcha powder and hot water. Set aside.
In a cup, add in half of the brown sugar syrup with the pearls.
Top with half of the whisked matcha and half of the milk.
Stir to combine and enjoy!

Glass with tapioca with brown sugar syrup.

Tips and Notes

I used a regular whisk for combining my matcha (I have a mini one!) until I finally got a bamboo whisk. It gets the job done for this matcha milk tea. If you don’t have a mini whisk, simply add the hot water and matcha powder to an airtight container like a mason jar and shake it like a cocktail until it’s combined.
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 matcha 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!

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 make this ahead of time?

The boba balls are best consumed immediately so I would not recommend making this in advance. When left out for too long (a couple of hours), the tapioca balls will harden.

Can I skip ice?

You can definitely skip ice to your matcha bubble tea if you’re worried it’ll dilute the drink! Try my matcha ice cubes instead if you want ice but don’t want the drink diluted.

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 matcha powder?

I don’t sift my matcha powder.

Does this have caffeine?

There’s caffeine in matcha so there’s some caffeine in this drink.