Love Vivi Bubble Tea? Here’s How To Make Bubble Tea At Home For A Lot Cheaper

Whether you call it bubble tea or boba tea, it’s delicious and addicting! Want to learn how to make bubble tea at home for a fraction of the price of one Vivi bubble tea? Keep reading to learn how to prepare your own drink for whenever you have a craving.

Bubble tea is a fun and playful drink! It comes in many different varieties, but a milk tea with sweet black tapioca pearls floating around the bottom like little bits of candy is my all-time favorite.

If you’re anything like me, you try to have a bubble tea whenever you can get your hands on one. However, these days we are staying at home a whole lot more, making it harder to get out there and grab a tea!

Also, it costs money. But I have a solution for you! Bubble tea can be an expensive habit, but if you make it at home you can save a ton of money while still indulging in the sweet treat drink!

This post is all about how to make bubble tea at home for a lot cheaper.

But first, we need to address the big question…

What is the difference between boba tea and bubble tea?

They are more or less the same thing! It seems to be that people on the west coast refer to the drink as boba tea, while east coasters mostly call it bubble tea. Some people even refer to it as milk tea, pearl tea, pearl milk tea, or milk tea with pearls. You could even call it tapioca tea, though this is less common. (They also make other varieties of fruit teas, bursting bobas, and fruit jellies, but we won’t get into that in this post!)

The black tapioca pearls are sometimes called boba or pearls, hence the name.

Bubbles on the other hand, sometimes refer to the tapioca pearls, and other times refer to the bubbles that form since the drink is often made by vigorous shaking.

Bottom line? Use whichever name you want, a rose by any other name would smell as sweet, right? Since I am an east coaster, I’ll stick with bubble tea. (Plus, Vivi Bubble Tea, my favorite spot to go for my drink, calls it bubble tea!)

Put Together Your Own Bubble Tea Kit

A large bubble tea from Vivi with pearls would cost about $7. There are ready-made kits that you can buy which include looseleaf tea or tea mixes, large straws, and black tapioca pearls. These usually cost between $35 – $40, which makes it not worth buying and making on your own!

But if you put together your own DIY kit, it can be really cheap! I purchase my ingredients and supplies from a company called Nuts.com. This company is a family run, reliable US brand that sells more than their name suggests. You can find nuts, dried fruit, powders for drinks (such as tea powders and smoothie powders), chocolate, snacks, coffee, tea, cooking and baking items, and food gifts.

Let’s Examine The Cost

Here are the prices at this time on Nuts.com (subject to change):

How many drinks you can make from these amounts depends on your personal preferences. In general, I find that I can make about 8 drinks with one bag of mix and one bag of tapioca pearls. Since you get 26 straws in a package, that’s only about 8 cents a straw! Sooooo… Time to do some math.

$.08 (straw) + $.75 (pearls) + $1.00 (mix) = $1.83 standard cost per drink

Nuts.com only offers free shipping if your order is above $59. Assuming you aren’t looking to purchase $60 worth of bubble tea supplies (or are you?), and straws aren’t sold individually, then based on the actual dollar amount that you are paying, the math looks like…

$22.96 (order total) / 8 (servings) = $2.87 actual cost per drink

So about $3 at home versus $7 at Vivi… That’s a little more than two drinks at home for the price of ONE at Vivi!!! It’s totally worth it.

How To Prepare The Pearls

Start by adding about 4 cups of water to a small pot. Bring this to a boil on medium-high heat.

Once the water reaches boiling, add 1 cup of tapioca pearls. Stir gently so that they don’t stick together.

Turn the heat down to medium-low and place the lid on the pot. Let the pearls simmer and cook for about 30-35 minutes, stirring frequently throughout.

While the pearls are cooking, in a second small pot, melt and stir together 1/2 cup of brown sugar and 4 Tbs. of water over low heat. Set aside.

Pearls are done cooking when they turn to a dark brown/black color and are very soft and chewy in texture. When the pearls are done cooking, rinse and strain them to remove the excess starch.

After rinsing, mix the pearls with the brown sugar syrup. Let the hot pearls rest in the syrup for about 30 more minutes. Once they are cool to the touch, they are ready to be used!

To store any extra pearls, place individual servings in a freezer baggie, squeezing out as much air as possible, and place them in the freezer. Next time when you are ready to use them, just heat them up for a few minutes in some boiling water and they are ready to go!

How To Assemble Your Drink

There are many ways to prepare a bubble tea. I love using powders (beware of the high sugar content), but you can also use any brewed tea and sweetener that you like! I also like to swap out regular milk for almond or oat milk for a dairy-free version!

Here are three ways to mix it all together:

• If you prefer a frothier version, then add ice, mix, and milk or water to a blender and blend until smooth.
• You can start with a little hot water to dissolve the mix. Then add cold water and stir well. Pour over ice.
• If you have a shaker (a large mason jar works, too!), you can add milk or water, mix, and ice, and shake vigorously for about 20 seconds.

This post was all about how to make bubble tea at home for a lot cheaper.

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