What is Bubble Tea?

Bubble tea: congealed eel tissue in a drink. Actually no, please don’t think I hate bubble tea: I like many of you, get occasional cravings every so often. To think that I despised it a few years back; I thought the pearls were very tough and completely flavourless, so I always used to spit them out. Now, with better preparations (and a more mature taste tolerance), the boba is much tastier and I can heartily enjoy them.

Most of the world has succumbed to an obsession with bubble tea; the global market value for bubble tea is $2.02 billion! This is very understandable. Bubble tea is a rich but refreshing liquid with a flexible canvas that adds to but not destroys the taste of the base (the combination of tea and boba, of course.) It is also easy to modify the drink because the construction is so simple—many have tried replacing the teas with fruit-based alternatives, changing the variety of the toppings, and being very inventive by fusing other cooking styles, such as using milk foam and bruléeing to add a flavour complex.

I’ve always been more of a purist when it came to food innovation and fusion. Again, for a long time, I ditched pearls altogether, and afterwards, I’ve yet to try all the cheese teas, fruit teas, and other confusing juxtapositions of texture and flavour there are. However, when I do accept and enjoy innovations is when it doesn’t just complement but enriches the fundamental experience of eating. The spirit of bubble tea is incredibly hard to define–it almost exclusively functions upon the idea of change! But, after doing some research, I embarked on a quest to find something that would satisfy the craving, the need, for bubble tea, whilst giving a different impression from a new angle. Paradoxical, I know.

So, where am I going with this? I’ve decided to develop a bubble-tea inspired dish that would give a fresh persona to the drink, while still developing and refining what we know and love. See how that went.

Background

Bubble tea hails from the island of Taiwan and is a combination of a black milk tea base with small spheres of tapioca starch (cassava flour) dough. The flavour profiles are complementary, as tapioca by itself has no taste and can take on the creamy and slightly bitter notes of the tea. Black tea is my preferred base because on its own it is powerful enough to counter both the milk and the tapioca, giving it a well-rounded taste in the end. Other teas will work too though—matcha especially, as its bitter qualities are accentuated by a more floral aftertaste, adding yet another dimension to the beverage.

One of the innovations I enjoy immensely is a drink known as Brown Sugar Milk Tea. This involves the extra step of braising already cooked boba in a brown sugar caramel, which is then spooned in along with the boba. A weakness of plain bubble tea is that, when made poorly, there is no unity between the 2 components. The caramel softens the line with an intermediary, sweeter taste profile to bind the drink. Plus, it imbues flavour in the boba and makes for better visual presentation.

What I find so quintessential about bubble tea is its ability to satisfy. When I have it, the simplicity of the drink interlocks in the most fascinating way, and I do not want to steal away from that. Therefore, to make the most powerful bubble tea-inspired dish, I decided to take this approach and make something that has a satisfying flavour profile, but which delivers the same satisfaction as a good cup.

The Beginning of the Search

You may remember that a month back, I asked you, dear readers, for some of your opinions and preferences on bubble tea. You replied, and as expected there were a lot of conflicting opinions on what would be the best course of action. After consolidating my research, I settled on 3 goals to guide this project:

• To be visually interesting, satisfying in taste and texture, and having variety;

• To be easily modified & custom made to tailor to personal preferences;

• To be easy to make and accessible to most people.

Before we started, I assembled [ink.] writers Sophia, Ada, and Maia to help me with this task, as this [cough] ain’t gonna be an easy journey.

“All I basically did was help Howard [*slap] some cookies and help Maia escape the torture that is listening to the last 3 symphonies of Sibelius [Finnish composer], but nonetheless I had a great, great day filling my stomach with cheesecake batter. (Sorry for unknowingly tainting all the samples with my own saliva.)”

—Ada Jolly, Level 1 Bubble Tea Enthusiast

“Most of the work was done by Ada and myself, resulting in a breathtakingly beautiful cheesecake. However, Howard’s accompaniment of hardcore death metal was received so well, it has forced us to run away crying as a reaction to how wonderful the music was.”

—Maia Engelbrecht, Level 2 Bubble Tea Enthusiast

“Howard ‘almost’ blew up the kitchen the last time we made something like this and he always seems to mess up in some way. He says he ‘kindly employed’ me so he wouldn’t kill anyone. Also, it was fun seeing Ada and Maia playing ‘heavy’ rock music in his house because he’s a classical music junkie. By the way I take responsibility for doing the actual baking.”

-- Sophia Domingo, Level 3 Bubble Tea Enthusiast

The first goal was relatively easy to meet; we needed to satisfy the taste profiles of luscious creamy milk tea and balance it with the complexity of the caramel. In our survey, 50% of responders said they were ambivalent to tea/bubble preference, while the other half believed that the tea is more important than the bubbles. So, taking a tea-with-dairy direction with our product, we shortlisted these possible options, all utilising boba as a topping and the brown sugar caramel as a sauce. Recipes for those exist already and are complete.

• Milk Tea Mousse Cake

• Tea-Flavoured Milk Pudding

• Milk Tea Cheesecake

• Tea Crème Caramel

As you can see, these are quite orthodox options that we’re choosing to follow, to maintain the level of satisfaction and approachability at a consistent level. However, surprisingly, we took the least conventional option out of the bunch; the cheesecake. Cream cheese by itself is very mild, so it will not interfere with the overwhelmingly sweet tea. Plus, a little tartness will cut down the sugar taste by quite a lot, something that we accentuate with lemon. Another incentive to the cheesecake solution was the crust. Cheesecake crusts are fashioned out of pulverised graham crackers, which is a good change from the soft textures from the rest of the drink. So now there is a third player in our perfect match, which will improve the eating experience with its contrasts. Specifically, we opted for a no-bake recipe; bubble tea is best served cold (with warm pearls), and without the inclusion of flour and egg, the dessert is more dairy-forward and mousse-like.

The second objective is much harder to fulfil. In order to do that, the recipes that we develop introduce customisation on a smaller scale. We tested using the base canvas of Earl Grey tea, which is black tea smoked with bergamot oil, more floral and pungent. The teabags are infused in heavy whipping cream, which is then whipped to aerate the filling. Whipped cream is a good medium to incorporate flavour, and many flavouring agents can be incorporated, such as taro, coffee, or chocolate (if you’re into that sort). You can also make a fully- functioning dessert by adding any other toppings of your choice that you might want to have, such as jellies and icings. I will only provide the recipe for the boba though. In the process of allowing flexibility, we also achieved the side goal of making the process as easy as possible, although this might require some specialty ingredients.

We decided to use this fairly traditional no-bake cheesecake recipe, save for adding honey and muscovado sugar to the crust. We also substituted chocolate graham crackers with digestive biscuits. (They have more flavour in comparison to graham crackers; you can use chocolate if that’s how you like your cheesecake.) Here is the source boba recipe; the homemade stuff tastes even better than some of the best teas I’ve tasted; maybe it’s the secret ingredient of hard work.

So, this is where we left things. A light and creamy cheesecake filling supplanted by a crisp honey crust, all topped with juicy boba in brown sugar caramel.

Cooking it up

First, doing shopping. Most of the more boutique items can still be found in your local baking store if you do some digging. The amount of tapioca starch on the shelves is a statement to how many people decide to try something new and make their own artisanal desserts.

In regards to cream cheese, please use blocks instead of tubs, as the latter has been diluted and pre-worked as a spread. This will be harder to work, so remember to soften ahead of time by leaving at room temperature for the night, or otherwise creaming it. Finally, sugar; we used muscovado sugar, which is unprocessed cane sugar that is very soft and rich in molasses. This is quite expensive and difficult to find, so use a good dark brown sugar instead if you cannot find it. But, the muscovado has a richer, more nuanced taste and goes well with everything, so I’m sure it would be a good investment. It is soooo much better-tasting than white sugar.

On a nice, clear day at the undisclosed location of my house, my willing friends and I met up and started to make this thing to the joyous tunes of Sibelius and [uhh…] Metallica. We were short on time from the start, so we blast-chilled the cheesecake in the freezer. (I did take the liberty of ordering Lanzhou Lamian for everyone, which was clearly time not wasted.) Rolling boba was actually very fun—this is a great way to incorporate a community/family project into your life if you’re into that sort of thing. Hailing back to quintessential Taiwanese textures, pearls should be beyond al dente, “Q弹” in local parlance, which should be very flexible and otherworldly. Knead sufficiently to do this, and take care to add a generous, but not overindulgent amount of tapioca starch.

A few more notes on the tapioca: Do apply enough tapioca starch to the bench, as the dough is very sticky, and take care to constantly stir the pearls in the water for the same reason. With all similar dough products, the only way to test if they’re cooked is to taste. Please also consume boba immediately after cooking, as they will harden when left out of sugar syrup, making them less texturally appealing and harder to digest.

Throughout the process we’ve tried to keep things true to the spirit of bubble tea. We don’t employ any major flavouring agents outside Earl Grey and muscovado sugar, and our plating is minimalistic. Placing the boba in the middle allows us to see its natural behaviour as a substance; slow-moving like lava, elegantly streaming out once the cheesecake is sliced. The cheesecake tastes like a replication of the flavours of bubble tea—except with an inversion of texture. We believe that has fulfilled the spirit of bubble tea, and hope that you agree.

So, over 8 hours of labour, we are proud to present our Earl Grey Cheesecake with Brown Sugar Caramel and Boba, inspired from Brown Sugar Boba Milk Tea, for [ink.] and by [ink.]. Enjoy！

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“玉山” Earl Grey Cheesecake with Brown Sugar Caramel and Boba

Makes 8 servings

Preparation: 2 h 45 mins

Cooking: 4 h

Nutritional value: 603 cal per serving

Ingredients

Cheesecake:

130 g Graham Crackers or Digestive Biscuits

40 g Unsalted Butter, melted and cooled

30 g Honey

7 g Muscovado Sugar

340 g Cream Cheese

345 g Heavy Whipping Cream

8 g Earl Grey leaf tea

125 g Icing Sugar

¼ tsp Vanilla Bean Paste

5 g Lemon Zest (Optional)

Boba and Caramel:

110 g Tapioca Starch, plus more for bench

65 + 240 ml Water

45 + 120 g Muscovado Sugar

15 ml Brandy (Optional)

Garnish: Candied Lemon Peel (Optional)

Equipment:

8-inch (20 cm) Springform cake pan

Stand Mixer or Handheld Mixer

Food processor

Bench and Bench Scraper

Offset spatula

Medium-sized saucepan

Sieve

Ice-bath (ice water)

Whisks and Spatulas (heat-proof)

Procedure:

1. Prepare ingredients and equipment.

2. Place Earl Grey tea in cream, then simmer in a saucepan at medium-low flame (or microwave) until the mixture is warm to the touch. Remove from heat and steep for 1 hour. Remove tea leaves, and place infused cream in the refrigerator until ready to use.

3. Crush graham crackers into a coarse powder. Place in a bowl, and add the melted butter, honey, and sugar. Incorporate with a spatula until the texture of the crust feels like wet sand. Add more honey or butter if the mixture is failing to bind.

4. With a flat surface, press the crust into a greased 8-inch springform pan. Press in an even layer, up the sides if desired. Set in refrigerator for 10 mins.

5. In a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment (or handheld mixer), place soft cream cheese in the bowl and work on medium-speed. Add icing sugar and vanilla bean paste. Proceed to mix until the filling is fully incorporated.

6. Whip Earl Grey-infused cream to moderately stiff peaks. Towards the end, add lemon zest.

7. Fold whipped cream into filling gradually. Once this is completely incorporated, transfer filling into the prepared pan. Smoothen top with offset spatula, and knock on the counter to remove any large air bubbles.

8. Set in the refrigerator for minimum 4 hours, or until the cheesecake is solid but creamy.

9. While cheesecake is setting, prepare boba: Heat 65 ml water and 45 g sugar in a saucepan until sugar is fully dissolved.

10. Once the sugar water is ready, dump tapioca starch at once into the water. On low heat and with a spatula, vigorously incorporate tapioca starch until a sticky paste has formed.

11. Transfer dough onto a bench, liberally dusted with tapioca starch. Coat your hands and tools with sufficient starch too. Work the dough until it has cooled and hardened, and gradually incorporate more tapioca starch, if needed, to achieve this.

12. Stretch the dough into your desired shape. Take boba, portion into approximately 0.9 cm balls, and roll to smoothen out. Dust in tapioca starch to prevent sticking. Note that the boba will expand when cooking.

13. Cook boba in boiling water for 25 mins, or until they are fully cooked and turn translucent. Stir constantly to prevent sticking; they will not stick as much when they begin to cook. Shock in ice water immediately after to stop cooking.

14. In another saucepan, cook remaining water and sugar until boil. Once boiling, add back in boba, and braise for 25 mins until the sauce is thick and syrupy. Add brandy at the end of braising. Keep warm in the saucepan until ready to serve.

15. Place chilled cheesecake in the centre of your serving dish. Place boba in the centre of the cake, in an even but thick layer, leaving a 3 cm gap between the edge and the boba. Drizzle any remaining sauce over and around the boba garnish. Optionally top with candied lemon peel.

Notes:

1. If wanting to substitute for other leaf teas (e.g. Oolong, Thai tea), infuse said tea in the whipped cream in place of Earl Grey. If wanting to substitute for powders (e.g. cocoa, espresso, matcha, taro) or fruit zests, mix by adding to uninfused whipped cream. Do not add liquid to whipped cream.

2. Take care to sift powders, such as icing sugar and tapioca starch, to ensure that there is no clumping. Do not sift muscovado sugar.

3. Chill cream, bowl, and utensils before whipping. If cream fails to whip, add more gradually by 20 ml, and/or switch to whipping by hand.

4. Do not overly coat the uncooked boba in tapioca starch.

5. When garnishing, take care to work quickly, as the cheesecake will melt when the boba is served warm. Alternatively, cut the cheesecake and then top with boba.