Butterfly Pea Milk Tea with Boba - Easy Bubble Tea

This butterfly pea milk tea is a must try for bubble tea lovers. It is not only super delicious, but also very easy to make. This homemade milk tea recipe is an interesting variation to the typical bubble milk tea and that is simply because it is made using blue butterfly pea flowers, and the lovely blue color of the drink is from the natural extract of the butterfly pea flowers.

This butterfly pea bubble tea starts with a butterfly pea milk tea base made using milk and butterfly pea flowers extract. Boba pearls cooked in muscovado sugar syrup are then added to the creamy drink to make the delicious butterfly pea milk tea. Served with ice cubes, this butterfly pea drink is an absolute treat!

You can make your own boba pearls for this drink but if you want a quick fix, you can always purchase ready made ones and simply cook them with the muscovado syrup for your milk tea.

What is butterfly pea?

Butterfly pea is a tropical plant that is widely found in the Southeast Asian countries. It is a vine that produces bright blue flowers known as the butterfly pea flowers (also known as Asian pigeonwings or blue pea flowers. These flowers have been traditionally used in cooking (both sweet and savory dishes) across the region and are often used as a natural food dye. The flowers impact a lovely blue extract when seeped in hot water.

An interesting property of these flowers is their color-changing properties. Naturally, when seeped in hot water, the flowers release a lovely blue extract. When a little lemon juice or lime juice is added, the color changes to a lovely magical purple as you can see in my butterfly pea lemonade recipe.

How to Make Butterfly Pea Milk Tea with Chewy Tapioca Pearls

Ingredients

• Milk
• Dried butterfly pea flowers (or fresh flowers)
• White sugar
• Muscovado sugar
• Boba pearls (Tapioca balls)
• Water

Making the butterfly pea milk tea

1. Pour the milk into a small pot.
2. Heat is up and bring it to a boil. Keep a close watch on the milk as it will froth and overflow as it boils. As soon as you see it frothing and rising, you can turn off the heat.
3. Add the butterfly pea flowers and sugar into the milk and give it a brief stir.
4. Cover the pot with a lit and let the flowers steep in the hot milk for 5 minutes.
5. Uncover and strain the milk. Press the flowers with the back of a spoon to remove as much extract as possible.
6. Set the milk aside to cool down. You can also place it in the refrigerator while preparing the boba pearls.

Preparing the boba pearls

If you are using store bought uncooked boba pearls, it is best that you follow the package instructions for cooking the boba pearls. The steps below are for the version I used to make this recipe.

Once the boba pearls or tapioca pearls are cooked, you can follow the steps below in making the muscovado syrup for the boba pearls.

1. Pour water into a medium sized pot.
2. Bring the water to a rolling boil.
3. Add the boba pearls and stir to avoid them from sticking.
4. Reduce the heat to low and let the pearls cook in the boiling water for 30 minutes. The pearls will start floating after a few minutes in the boiling water. Let them cook until the 30 minutes is up, stirring occasionally. You should adjust this timing accordingly, based on the instruction on your boba pearls packet.
5. Turn of the heat and let the boba pearls continue to cook in the hot water for another 30 minutes with the lid on. This step is also subject to the cooking instructions for the boba pearls you use.
6. Strain the excess water and set the boba pearls aside while you prepare the muscovado sugar syrup.

Making the muscovado sugar syrup

1. Measure the sugar into a small pan or pot. Add water. Stir into the sugar.
2. Turn on the heat to a low flame. Stir the sugar briefly and add in the strained boba pearls.
3. Stir to coat them well with the syrup.
4. Continue to cook over low heat until the sugar syrup thickens such that it sticks to the spoon and does not flow off. The consistence of the syrup should be thick enough to coat the sides of your drinking glass. If it is too runny, you will not get the pretty brown sugar strokes around your glass as you typically see in brown sugar milk teas. Once the syrup is ready, turn off the heat.

Assembling the butterfly pea milk tea

1. Prepare your drinking glass. Add the cooked boba pearls into the glass.
2. Move the tapioca pearls up the sides of the glass to allow the muscovado sugar syrup in the boba pearls to coat the sides of the glass.
3. Add ice cubes.
4. Pour in the butterfly pea milk tea into the glass.

Serve.

Notes

Can you make the butterfly pea milk tea in advance?

• The butterfly pea milk can be prepared in advance and kept chill in the refrigerator.
• The boba pearls, however, are best served warm. They tend to get harder when they get cold, and therefore, best consumed when warm.

Can you adjust the amount of sugar?

• My version of this butterfly pea milk tea recipe uses 2 types of sugar. The first is white sugar which I use to sweeten the butterfly pea milk. The second is the muscovado sugar which I used to make the syrup for the boba pearls.
• While I do not recommend reducing the muscovado sugar in the recipe, you can always add more if you want sweeter boba pearls.
• As for the butterfly pea milk, you can totally omit the white sugar if you like, or you can reduce it to make it less sweet. And if you prefer your drink sweeter, you can add more sugar.

Is it ok to replace muscovado with brown sugar?

• Yes you can. Simply replace the muscovado sugar with the same amount of brown sugar.

How long will the butterfly pea bubble tea last?

• The milk tea (without the boba pearls in it) is best consumed within the same day it is made.
• The boba pearls, on the other hand, are best prepared when the drink is ready to be served, otherwise they tend to harden as they get cold.
• The milk tea is best assembled (i.e. mixing the butterfly pea milk with the boba pearls) right before serving.

Like this butterfly pea milk tea recipe? Here are my other posts you might want to check out:

• Pandan Milk Tea - Easy Homemade Bubble Tea Recipe
• Butterfly Pea Flower Drink - Blue Pea Tea
• Pandan Milk - Flavorful and Easy
• Grass Jelly Milk Tea - Easy Bubble Tea Recipe
• Butterfly Pea Latte -
• Butterfly Pea Syrup

Recipe (Printable)

Here is the full printable version of the butterfly milk tea recipe.

And that's my super simple and super yummy butterfly milk tea recipe.

Enjoy!