How To Make 3 Kinds Of Boba Milk

[Andrew] My name is Andrew Chuang.

I'm the CEO of Xing Fu Tang USA

and today I'm gonna be using these ingredients

to make three different kinds of boba.

[Dramatic music]

First, I'll be making our signature drink,

brown sugar boba milk.

Boba is made from tapioca starch formed

into round balls and cooked in hot water.

It really comes down to the ingredients that you use.

So this tapioca starch

is really what makes our boba perfectly chewy

and soft and bouncy and makes it able to hold up

against the drink for a long time.

The blend we use for this particular tapioca starch

is a special recipe that we developed

just for our boba here at Xing Fu Tang.

When we're making the dough, we wanna make sure

that the water is hot enough

for the dough to actually come together.

So right now what I'm looking for

is for the dough to start to come together

and form shaggy clumps.

[mixer whirring]

Next, I'm gonna add our brown sugar.

This is the only other ingredient in the dough.

The sugar that I'm using here

is from one very specific part of Taiwan

and it's got the perfect combination

of sweetness and texture and flavor

in the way it torches and caramelizes.

It's stickier and almost more syrupy

than store bought brown sugars.

At this point, I'm watching for the brown sugar to mix

into the dough and for the dough to form a ball.

Now that the dough has come together,

I'll knead it into a ball and roll it out

into a slab to feed into the machine.

[tranquil music]

The dough itself is not too sticky.

It's much firmer than a bread dough would be.

You can see as I'm pressing through that there's some give

but it's taking a little bit of effort.

When you're right above the dough,

it really smells like brown sugar.

Every time you knead it,

you get a little waft of that aroma.

[tranquil music] [rolling pin squeaking]

You can see here some clumps of brown sugar.

This will all melt away once we cut and cook the dough.

[lively music]

I'm gonna be using this boba machine

or as we call it in the store.

[Andrew speaking in foreign language]

It just means boba machine.

Add a little bit of starch

to the roller so that doesn't stick.

It'll also dust this tray

so that the finished pearls don't stick to it.

[machine whirring]

So the roller will cut off little ropes of boba

and then the two spinning wheels inside

of the machine will cut it into balls

and then it'll roll out of the tray.

[lively music] [machine whirring]

Once the boba comes out of the machine,

you wanna roll it by hand

so that it forms a nice round shape.

If you let it just come out of the machine as is,

it'll be a little bit cylindrical and not as nice to drink.

It's very satisfying to watch Boba drop out of the machine.

So now that we have a full batch of shaped boba,

it's time to cook them.

So the water's at a rolling boil.

I'm gonna pour these in.

Once the boba goes into the water,

it's immediately going to swell and get sticky.

So we wanna keep it moving.

[boba rattling]

I'm gonna stir the pot just to make sure

that nothing sticks to the bottom or the sides.

And once the boba starts to float on its own,

I'll let it boil on its own.

Cooking the boba takes about 45 minutes start to finish.

Now that the boba is floating,

you know that most of the outside layer has been cooked

and gelatinized already, so we'll just come back once

in a while to stir it.

Once it's cooked, the boba should swell about 25% bigger

than it was going in

and it should be sticky and soft and gelatinous in texture.

In Taiwan, we call this little bit of springiness combined

with the softness that the Boba has QQ

and it's similar to the Italian idea of al dente

where it's like perfect texture for whatever you're eating.

[lid clattering]

You'll also notice that cooked boba is also more translucent

and a darker brown.

Squeezing it should be soft, squishy, sticky.

It should bounce back when you bite it,

bounce back when you squeeze it.

This one pearl right here is a perfect example

of what you want boba to be like once you've cooked it.

It's a little bit translucent.

There's a bounciness to it, a softness to it.

Once you bite into it, you'll really recognize that feeling.

So next, I'm gonna be using a hot wok

to help caramelize some brown sugar.

It'll start to toast and caramelize,

and it really gives off a strong brown sugar aroma.

It just smells amazing.

I'll know it's time to add the boba to the wok

once I start getting a rich,

toasty smell of brown sugar.

It might seem unnecessary

but toasting the brown sugar really brings

out some extra aromas and flavors

that you wouldn't get otherwise.

Once the sugar and boba is combined, we're ready to go.

So now I'm gonna be making the milk foam topping

for our drink.

I'm using whole milk here, and we'll just get this going

in a blender and then add the mix to it

so that incorporates evenly.

The topping mix is just a combination

of a stabilizer to give us a thick foam

and some salty cheese flavoring.

We'll let it sit in the blender

for about five minutes while it whips up air into the mix.

Our milk foam is similar to what a lot

of other places will label as cheese foam.

It gives a little bit of depth that's not just sugar.

After it's blended, it should be thick

and aerated and have almost doubled in size.

[lively music]

The milk foam is done

and it's ready to go on top of our drink.

So first, I'm gonna add brown sugar boba to the cup

and while I'm doing that,

I'll coat the sides of the cup with brown sugar syrup.

This ladle is actually just the same perforated wok ladle

that you'd see in any Chinese restaurant.

We've bent it down to the size of a cup

and it works really well at scooping just the right amount

of boba and syrup.

On top of the boba, pour some milk in.

So it's important that the drink looks as good

as it's going to taste.

Next up, I'll add the ice.

And ice level is one of those things

that people love to change.

Some people really want less ice in it

but the boba is hot in the cup.

So once you add the ice, it does really melt quickly.

So once the ice is in the cup,

we'll top it off with milk foam.

Not only does the milk foam give the drink balance

and richness, it also serves as a platform

for us to sprinkle brown sugar on top.

[shaker rattling]

The brown sugar that you get

on top of the drink is bruleed

into a caramel candy that sinks down into the drink

and you get bits of that as you drink it.

[flame whooshing]

The silver ring's just there to protect the sides of the cup

from burning as we torch it.

So we tell the customers to make sure

that they stir 18 times before they drink,

and it'll be the perfect amount of mixing

for the ingredients to combine.

Trust me, I'm an expert.

And if you're feeling extra luxurious,

you can add real edible 24 carat gold leaf

on top of your drink.

This is our signature brown sugar boba milk,

rich, sweet, creamy, luxurious, still classic.

Next up, I'll be making ube boba milk with taro boba.

In order for us to make our taro boba, we'll need to start

with taro paste.

So first, I'm gonna peel this taro root.

The skin of it is pretty thick and waxy,

so it takes some effort to get it off.

Taro's a type of starchy root vegetable that's found

in parts of Asia and Africa.

Now, South America.

[knife chopping]

In parts of Asia, they use it as a savory ingredient.

In Taiwan, it's got a long history

of being used as a dessert ingredient.

After we cook it, it'll be starchy

and soft and perfect for adding to our drink.

So we have a pot of boiling water

and we're just gonna add sugar and taro to that

and let it cook down until it's soft.

After 30 minutes,

the taro should be partially dissolved in the water.

We hand mash the taro because if you use a blender,

the speed of the blades is too high.

So it'll tear the glucose chains

of starch inside of the taro and it'll become gummy.

So here we have taro paste in its final form.

As it cools down, it'll thicken up and stiffen up.

And once this cools down, I can use it for boba.

So now we'll move on to making our taro boba dough.

So the overall process that we'll have here is similar

to what you saw before, but with just a few key differences.

[tranquil music] [liquid pouring]

[machine whirring]

Once the dough starts to come together,

I'll add in the sugar.

Using white sugar here instead of brown sugar

will help to highlight the taro's natural flavors.

So we'll scrape in the taro paste.

For taro boba dough, you have to watch it carefully,

so you remove it as soon as it comes together.

If you don't, it'll become sticky and stick to the bowl.

So you have to be a little bit more careful with this one.

I'm just gonna put a little extra starch

on the counter so this doesn't stick.

[bowl rattling]

You can see here

that I have to work a little bit harder

to get this dough out of the bowl because it is stickier.

Once I pull the dough out, you can see immediately

that it is much softer and that it spreads out

on its own a little bit more than the brown sugar one does.

And as I'm kneading it, I can really feel a difference

in the consistency of the dough, how soft it is,

how easily it spreads, and how sticky it is to my hands.

And here you can see little bits of taro inside the dough

and that's something that we like to see.

[tranquil music]

Of all the doughs that we make,

this is probably the trickiest one to get right.

From here, the process is the same.

[tranquil music] [knife chopping]

[machine whirring]

So the final pearls here, similar to the dough,

will be softer and more elastic than the brown sugar was.

The taro boba cooks much faster

because it does have its own starch

and because it does have more moisture in it.

Once I add the boba to the pot, I start stirring right away.

The taro boba is much stickier than the brown sugar boba

so we have to really make sure

that it doesn't stick to the bottom.

So you can see here, once it's cooked,

the tapioca becomes clear

but the taro stays whole inside of it.

Once these are cooked, they'll go into a bowl

with water and sugar so that they don't stick together

and these taro boba are ready.

Next, I'll be making the ube mix.

Ube is a root vegetable from the Philippines,

similar to a sweet potato or taro,

but it's got a more mellow, sweeter flavor

and is almost always used for desserts.

So I'll cut this ube down into smaller chunks

so it cooks faster.

So now I'll add the ube root to some boiling water.

This will cook for about 25 minutes until the ube's soft

and then we'll blend it up with some sugar and coconut milk.

[liquid pouring]

The cooking liquid has taken on a lot of the color

of the ube.

The coconut milk gives the ube mix some creaminess

and some richness,

and it's just got a more nutty tropical flavor

that goes really well with the ube and with the taro.

[blender whirring]

Ube is not a traditionally Taiwanese flavor

but it's really popular

and it's really delicious and it's really beautiful.

So we felt like it would fit perfectly

with what we're doing.

And with that, the ube mix is done

and we're ready to make our drink.

So one thing that's unique about this drink

is that we add sago as a topping to the drink.

Here we have some brown sugar sago.

Sago pearls are made

from the starch that comes from a sago palm

and it's a common topping

in ube desserts in the Philippines.

So first, I'll add taro boba to the cup

and then on top of that, I'll add some brown sugar sago.

The sago pearls are similar to the tapioca pearls

but they're a little bit firmer and they're smaller.

So you'll have the contrast

between the larger softer boba pearls.

And on top of that, we'll add our simple syrup.

Add to that your milk of choice.

In this case, I'm using whole milk

and stir that all together and put a layer of ice.

[ice clinking]

And finally, we'll top it off with a layer of our ube mix.

Using the spoon here helps me keep a separate layer

of ube on top of the drink.

And here we have our ube boba milk with taro boba.

It's thick and it's rich.

It's not too sweet, and it's perfectly balanced.

For our last drink,

I'll be making matcha boba milk with strawberry boba.

[lively music]

Matcha and strawberry is a classic combination,

so we're not reinventing the wheel here.

In contrast to the other bobas we've made so far,

this strawberry boba will be bright red, sweet and fruity.

Once that's starting to come together,

I'll add our sugar, red yeast rice, and strawberry jam.

The strawberry jam is what gives it

its strong strawberry flavor,

but we add the red yeast rice

to give it a darker, richer ruby color.

[mixer whirring] [lively music]

[rolling pin squeaking]

[knife chopping]

[machine whirring]

The strawberry dough

comes through the machine nice and easy.

And now that I've made enough strawberry boba,

I'm ready to cook.

Just like before, I'll stir the boba to make sure

that it doesn't stick to the bottom of the pot

and to make sure that doesn't clump up.

This is the part in the process

that'll really bring out that red color

that we're looking for.

The cooked boba will be somewhere

between the two different bobas

that we've shown you so far,

softer than the brown sugar, but firmer than the taro.

This will cook for 25 to 30 minutes and rest for 10.

I'm using ceremonial grade matcha here,

the highest grade of matcha that you can get from Japan.

It's got a grassy flavor, but it's not bitter.

I'll whisk together matcha powder and hot water

until the top becomes nice and foamy.

You can see our cooked strawberry boba has taken

on a gem-like appearance.

We'll add our boba to our cup.

We'll top with a little bit of simple syrup

and in this case, whole milk.

[lively music]

And we'll stir to combine all of that.

Add our ice. [ice clinking]

Other than cooling the drink,

it gives that mix something to cling onto

so that you can have that beautiful separation of layers.

I'll use a bar spoon to pour the matcha into the drink.

And here we have matcha boba milk with strawberry boba.

This is one of my personal favorite drinks.

I just love the way that the fruity strawberry boba

and the earthy matcha interact with each other.

And that's the process

for making three unique boba drinks from scratch.

Boba is so much more than food or drink or dessert.

It's a part of our social lives.

It's a part of our culture and our humor and our identity.

So to see it reach so many new people

and for it to become that to them too is exciting for me.

[lively music]