Taro milk tea is a gourmet like tea that originated in Taiwan in the 1980’s. It is made from the taro root, along with other ingredients that make it a delicious experience you’re not soon to forget.
Taro milk tea has a vibrant, beautiful purple color that is visually wonderful.
What is Taro?
Taro is a root vegetable that looks similar to a sweet potato on the outside. When cut open, it has a white flesh on the inside that includes purple speckles throughout.
What Does Taro Root Taste Like?
Taro root has a slightly sweet, nutty and light flavor that goes well with milk, sugar, and black tea used to make taro milk tea.
Taro Health Benefits
Taro is considered a superfood because it’s packed with fiber and a variety of vitamins and minerals.
Some of the potential health benefits of taro include:
An improved digestive system
Consumption of vitamins C, B6, and E to aid an immune system
Good source of dietary fiber and good carbs
Taro root contains:
Copper
Potassium
Manganese
Phosphorus
Folate
How is Taro Milk Tea Made?
Taro milk tea is made by brewing taro, along with Jasmine tea or black tea, depending on your preference. It includes a simple brown sugar syrup, milk, and tapioca pearls.
Use our step-by-step recipe below for the full instructions for how to make it.
Is Taro Bubble Tea Healthy?
Whether taro bubble tea is healthy, depends how it’s made and what ingredients are used to make it.
Difference Between Instant Powder and Ground Taro Paste
The difference between instant taro powder and ground taro paste is that ground taro paste is made from fresh taro root. This can be done by placing it in the food processor or blender.
Taro powder has a starchy texture and works well for thick beverages like taro bubble teas, milk teas, and smoothies.
Taro Milk Tea in 2 Ways! Make From Fresh Paste or Powder
Taro milk tea can be made either from fresh paste or from the store bought already prepared powder. Just use our recipe below and substitute it out as preferred.
Why This Recipe Works
Below we’ve included our step-by-step instructions for how to make taro milk tea. This recipe works well for a few basic reasons.
Only a few ingredients. Only a few basic ingredients are used to make this bubble tea, which makes it great.
Vibrant. The end result is a tea that has a vibrant purple appearance.
Beautiful. Taro milk tea is beautiful and delicious to serve. From the dark boba in the bottom of the glass to the purple color of the tea that’s beautiful in appearance, it makes it a drink that’s visually attractive.
What is Taro Milk Tea?
Taro Milk Tea is a kind of bubble tea that originated in Taiwan. It’s made from taro root, milk, Jasmine tea, and tapioca pearls. Taro milk tea is beautifully purple in color.
What is Taro Milk Tea Made From?
Taro milk tea is made from Jasmine tea or black tea as well as brown sugar, milk, water, and taro powder.
See our list of ingredients and step by step instructions below in the recipe.
Is Taro Bubble Tea Vegan?
Whether taro bubble tea is vegan depends on the ingredients used to make it. For the tea to qualify as vegan friendly, it needs to use ingredients that are not derived from animals.
This would mean that the tapioca pearls used would need to be made from vegan friendly ingredients as well as all the other items.
Milk Tea Vs Bubble Tea
Milk tea and bubble teas are similar but they do have differences.
Their similarities include the fact that milk tea and bubble teas both contain milk tea as a base.
The difference comes into play in that milk tea has the traditional ingredients that are found in Chinese teas such as herbs, spices and fruit flavors.
Bubble teas generally include an abundance of flavored syrups and juices along with tapioca pearls or balls.
How To Drink Bubble Tea
The best way to drink bubble tea is with a wide straw, such as a boba straw. There’s no way around it. Otherwise, your straw will get clogged, and it won’t work well.
Storage
For how to store taro milk tea, here are some comments to help you maximize the shelf life.
Taro milk tea is best when consumed right away, especially if the mixture has already been prepared and is fully ready to be served.
Tea. The tea can be stored in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 5 days.
Tapioca Pearls. Tapioca pearls are best when kept uncooked in a cool, dry place such as a pantry. We don’t recommend cooking them more than a couple hours before their intended use.
Brown Sugar Syrup. Brown sugar syrup can be stored alone in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 3 weeks. We don’t recommend storing brown sugar syrup that’s been mixed with Boba as it will compromise the quality as it sits.
Is Taro Milk Tea a Potato?
No, taro root and a purple sweet potato are similar in appearance on the outside, but are quite different on the inside. Taro milk tea is not a potato, nor is it made from a potato.
Where is Taro Milk Tea From?
Taro Milk Tea comes from the taro root. This starchy root vegetable comes from Southeast Asia.
The root is brown on the outside and white on the inside with specks of purple throughout. When made into taro powder, the powder appears purple in color.
Taro root can be challenging to find in American grocery stores. You can substitute taro powder in its place in most any recipe.
How to Pick Taro & Purple Sweet Potato
You’ll want to keep in mind the differences between taro root and sweet potato. While the two might appear similar on the outside, the insides are different.
Taro root is white inside and has purple speckles throughout. Sweet potato on the other hand, is just purple throughout.
The best taro and purple sweet potato should both be firm when you’re selecting them, and shouldn’t have any physical bruising or soft spots.
Brewing Tips
Blending too much taro in the milk tea will give you too much of a pasty texture when you try to brew it later on.
How to Make Taro Milk Tea with Boba Pearls & Taro Powder
Below, included in our recipe card, we’ve given step by step instructions for how to make the best taro milk tea with boba pearls and taro powder.
What Does Taro Milk Tea Taste Like?
Taro milk tea is a beautiful purple color and tastes mildly sweet with a hint of nutty flavor.
Taro milk tea is made from black tea, milk, sugar, and has vanilla undertones.
What is the Taro Root?
The taro root is a root vegetable that has a mildly sweet flavor that’s slightly nutty. It looks a lot like a sweet potato from the outside and has a dark brown skin.
The inside is white with speckles. It is a great source of nutrients.
Is Taro a Fruit or Vegetable?
Taro is a root vegetable. The edible portion grows underground and looks somewhat like a potato.
How to Make Taro Milk Tea with Boba
Following are our step by step instructions for how to make taro milk tea with boba. This can be served as a hot brewed tea or a cold brewed tea, depending on your preference.
Here’s how to enjoy fresh taro tea at home.
Ingredients
Milk Tea
1 tablespoon black tea or Jasmine green tea
2 cups hot water
4 tablespoons taro powder
1/3 cup milk
Ice (optional)
Tapioca Pearls
½ cup uncooked tapioca pearls
5 cups water
Brown Sugar Syrup
2 tablespoons brown sugar
2 tablespoons water
Instructions for Purple Bubble Tea with Boba
Step 1: Prepare the brown sugar syrup, adding equal parts of brown sugar and water to a small saucepan. Heat over medium heat until the sugar has just dissolved.
Step 2: Cook the tapioca balls in the water. Once cooked, drain the boba and rinse under cold water. Transfer them to the brown sugar syrup.
Step 3: Steep the tea in 2 cups of hot water and the taro powder until just warm. Don’t boil the water, or else the tea will become bitter.
Step 4: Assemble the beverage using tall glasses. First add the boba syrup mixture. Then, add ice, the tea, and milk. Serve with a boba straw and enjoy.
Frequently Asked Questions
Following are frequently asked questions that relate to making taro milk tea. If you have a question that’s not answered here, feel free to drop it to us in the comments box below and we’ll be happy to answer it.
Is taro root the same as ube?
No, they are two distinct items. Although the two of them are generally. Easy to confuse, taro and ube both have an exterior brown bark.
The difference comes into play on the inside. Taro is light colored inside wit speckled dots, while taro is a purple color.
Does taro milk tea contain caffeine?
Yes, if you use black tea or jasmine green tea to make your taro milk tea, then it will contain caffeine.
Is taro milk tea healthy?
Whether your milk tea is healthy will depend on the ingredients used to make it, and especially how the tea is made as well as whether it includes a large amount of sugar.
Does taro milk tea have sugar?
Yes, it is generally made with sugar.
What flavor is purple boba tea?
It is a purple boba tea.
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Easy Taro Milk Tea with Boba
Equipment
- saucepan
- strainer
Ingredients
Milk Tea
- 1 tablespoon black tea or Jasmine green tea
- 2 cups hot water
- 4 tablespoons taro powder
- 1/3 cup milk
- Ice optional
Tapioca Pearls
- ½ cup uncooked tapioca pearls
- 5 cups water
Brown Sugar Syrup
- 2 tablespoons brown sugar
- 2 tablespoons water
Instructions
- Step 1: Prepare the brown sugar syrup, adding equal parts of brown sugar and water to a small saucepan. Heat over medium heat until the sugar has just dissolved.
- Step 2: Cook the tapioca balls in the water. Once cooked, drain the boba and rinse under cold water. Transfer them to the brown sugar syrup.
- Step 3: Steep the tea in 2 cups of hot water and the taro powder until just warm. Don’t boil the water, or else the tea will become bitter.
- Step 4: Assemble the taro milk tea using tall glasses. First add the boba syrup mixture. Then, add ice, the tea, and milk. Serve with a boba straw and enjoy.
Nutrition
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