Butterfly Pea Milk Tea with Boba Pearls

5 from 1 vote

This butterfly pea milk tea is not only super delicious, but also easy to make. Served with warm boba, this blue tea is an absolute treat!

Prep Time20

Cook Time30

Total Time50

Course: Drinks

Cuisine: Asian

Servings: glasses

Calories: 246.5kcal

Pour the milk into a small saucepan.
Heat it 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.
Add the butterfly pea flowers and sugar into the milk and stir.
Cover the pot with a lid and let the flowers steep in the hot milk for 5 minutes.
Uncover and strain the milk. Press the flowers with the back of a spoon to remove as much extract as possible.
Set the milk aside to cool down. You can also place it in the refrigerator while preparing the boba pearls.

Note: If you are using store bought uncooked boba pearls, follow the instructions on the packaging for cooking the boba pearls and skip to the section 'Making the muscovado sugar syrup'. The steps below are only a general guide for cooking boba pearls.
Pour water into a medium sized pot.
Bring the water to a rolling boil.
Add the boba pearls and stir to avoid them from sticking.
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. This step is subject to the cooking instructions for the boba pearls you use.
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.
Strain the boba pearls and set them aside while you prepare the muscovado sugar syrup.

Measure the muscovado sugar into a small saucepan. Add water.
Turn on the heat to a low flame. Stir the sugar and water briefly and add in the strained boba pearls.
Stir to coat them well with the syrup.
Continue to cook over low heat until the sugar syrup thickens. The consistence of the syrup should be thick enough to coat the sides of your drinking glass. Once the syrup is ready, turn off the heat.

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

Whole milk can be replaced with skim milk or other plant based milks like almond milk or oat milk.
Dried butterfly pea flowers can be substituted with fresh flowers. Use in the exact same quantity.
Muscovado sugar can be replaced with brown sugar. Use exact same quantity as mentioned in the recipe card.
The brown sugar syrup for boba can be prepared in advance.

For a vanilla flavored butterfly pea boba tea, add half a teaspoon of vanilla extract to the milk tea after straining the flowers. Add ice cubes to the drink right before serving to prevent it from becoming too diluted.