Easy Vegan Bubble Tea

This 4-Ingredient vegan bubble tea is creamy, sweet, and full of satisfying chewy boba! It’s also cheaper and healthier than commercial versions, and flexible, too!

What is Boba Tea (Bubble Tea)?

It’s no surprise to see the ever-increasing popularity of this Taiwanese beverage, but what exactly is bubble tea (also called tapioca milk tea, boba tea, pearl milk tea)?

The drink traditionally combines warm or chilled milk tea (usually black tea, though green tea is growing in popularity) with chewy tapioca balls — aka boba or bubbles – for a drink combining satisfying texture and beautiful aesthetics. It’s sweet, creamy, has a robust tea flavor, and delightfully chewy yet jello-like boba to suck up through a large straw.

There are now actually many versions available, including some without tea, using fruit, swapping out the tapioca balls for other jellies, red beans, popping boba, and more. However, for this post, we’re focusing on making a simple and traditional bubble tea recipe, but 100% vegan!

Why Make Boba Milk Tea At Home?

As the popularity of this boba drink increases, more bubble tea shops are popping up all over the place. However, the vegan options can still be pretty limited depending on where you’re based. More so, many store-bought options contain incredibly high levels of fat, sugar, and often artificial ingredients and colors, and all for a pretty heavy premium (not great for those on a budget)!

In comparison, preparing this vegan boba milk tea recipe at home allows you to:

• Ditch artificial flavors, colors, and preservatives.
• Be in 100% control of the ingredients used. That includes the ratios of ingredients (i.e., no refined sugars, less plant-based creamer, more boba, etc.).
• Save money! Especially if you buy boba in bulk.

Homemade vegan bubble tea is light, creamy, delicious, satisfying, and enjoyable all year long, warm or chilled. Plus, all you need are four ingredients (plus water)!

The Ingredients

• Black tea: The traditional choice is to use Chinese black tea, but any robustly flavored tea, like English breakfast tea or Early grey, will work.

• Water: To make the black tea base.
• Tapioca pearls: Choose from regular or quick-cooking tapioca balls (which take just a few minutes). They come in brown, white, or colored varieties—just double-check they’re vegan (i.e., some brown tapioca balls may contain caramel, etc.). You could also use crystal boba, made from agar, which is softer and more jelly-like than tapioca.

Feel free to adjust the amount of boba added between ½-1 cup for the recipe, based on your desired ratio of boba to tea.

• Plant-based creamer: Use the vegan creamer of your choice. Alternatively, for a lighter choice, use any dairy-free milk instead.
• Sweetener: We use agave, but any liquid sweetener (including sugar-free syrups) will work. If you want to use granulated sugar/sweetener, add it to the warm tea, so it dissolves.

The Recipe Variations

Here are just a few ways to adapt or add to the vegan boba tea.

• Ice cubes: Black tea ice cubes will mean avoiding a watered-down drink.
• Whipped coconut cream: To garnish the vegan boba tea when serving.
• Flavored syrups: The easiest way to add more flavor to the plant-based milk tea is with flavored syrups (regular or sugar-free).
• Jelly: You can find or make several types of chopped jellies to add to the boba tea, including coffee jelly, coconut jelly, etc.

How to Make Boba Tea?

Follow three steps to prepare this delicious vegan bubble tea recipe at home!

• 1) Bring the water to a boil in a medium saucepan, remove it from the heat, and add three tea bags. Allow them to steep, untouched, until the water has cooled (or for 8 minutes if enjoying warm).

Some tea may become bitter (due to tannins that release in the water) when over-steeped. To avoid bitter tea, leave the tea bags for just 6-8 minutes OR use a cold-brew method by leaving them in cold water in the fridge for 10-12 hours (overnight works amazingly).

• 2) Meanwhile, cook the tapioca pearls according to their package instructions. Mine were to use 1 cup pearls to 6 cups water and cook over medium for 20 minutes, stirring regularly. Then, remove from the heat, cover, and leave them to sit for 25 minutes.

Don’t drain the tapioca balls too early, as they can stick together and dry out.

• 3) To assemble the vegan bubble tea, scoop the cooked tapioca pearls into the two glasses, fill them ¾ way with the black tea, and top it off with your choice of plant-based creamer. Finally, give it a taste and add some sweetener if desired.

Serve the vegan boba tea with a long spoon or a wide bubble tea straw, and enjoy!

FAQs

Top Recipe Tips and Notes

• Tweak the ratio of ingredients: You can increase, reduce, or even eliminate sugar entirely and adjust the ratios of boba, tea, and vegan creamer to your liking.
• Ditch the plant-based creamer: If you aren’t a fan of overly creamy drinks, omit the plant-based creamer for more tea.
• Don’t make the boba in advance: 3-4 hours is their window of freshness before they become tough and chewy.
• For slightly sweeter boba: After cooking them, drain them and return to the pan with a small amount of your desired sweetener/syrup to cook for a further minute. Then serve immediately.
• To chill the tea quickly: Shake it in a cocktail shaker with ice (bonus if it’s tea ice to avoid watering down the drink).
• Invest in a straw: If you plan to make this vegan bubble tea recipe often, we highly recommend purchasing a reusable bubble tea straw.

How to Make Ahead and Store?

You can prepare the tea (alone or mixed with the vegan creamer to make vegan milk tea) 2-3 days in advance and store it covered in the fridge. However, the tapioca pearls should be prepared fresh so they don’t dry out and become tough.

Once fully combined, it’s best to consume the plant-based milk tea with boba within 3-4 hours. However, the leftover plant-based milk tea will last 2-3 days in the fridge.

More Fun Vegan Drinks

• Homemade Chai Concentrate
• Mexican Horchata
• Mexican Hot Chocolate
• Persimmon Pumpkin Chai Smoothie
• Fresh Watermelon Slushie
• Golden Milk

You may also enjoy browsing our entire collection of budget-friendly vegan drink recipes!

Photos by Alfonso Revilla