Chocolate Milk Tea

Save yourself a trip and make delicious and creamy Chocolate Milk Tea Boba in the comfort of your own home! With homemade chocolate milk, robust black tea, and chewy tapioca pearls, this refreshing drink will satisfy both your bubble tea and chocolate cravings!

• Affordable: If you're boba-obsessed like me, you know those drinks add up. Save time and money by making homemade Chocolate Milk Tea with just 7 simple ingredients!
• Fully customizable: Homemade bubble tea drinks give you the opportunity to make it exactly the way you like! You have full control over the ingredients and flavor, allowing you to experiment and have fun in the kitchen!
• Quality ingredients: Some boba cafés use powdered milk, artificial sweeteners, or preservatives to make their drinks. This Chocolate Milk Tea Boba uses better ingredients for a fresher and healthier drink.

• Boba (tapioca pearls): Visit your local Asian supermarket to find them in vacuum bags usually in the tea or drink aisle. They come in a variety of sizes, flavors, and cook time - I get the brand Bolle.
  TIP: Avoid "quick cook", "instant", or "5 minute" pearls. They have a hardening quality in the starch that prevents them from getting perfectly chewy. You can check the instructions on the back of the bag to double check - there should be a 20-30 minute cooking time.
• Tea: For this Chocolate Milk Tea, I recommend using black Assam tea. It's bold and robust with a malty taste, which tastes great with chocolate. Ceylon tea is also popularly used in milk teas.
• Chocolate: Use any type of chocolate chips or bars to make your chocolate milk. Semi-sweet, milk, or dark chocolate are easy to find and you can adjust the final sweetness in the drink with the syrup.
• White sugar, brown sugar, and honey: For the homemade syrup bath to flavor the pearls. You can use just 1 or 2 of these, but I like the depth and flavor of using all 3.
• Half and half: Half heavy cream and half whole milk. It's my favorite in all bubble tea drinks because it's rich and creamy. But feel free to use any type of milk you'd like.

• To save time and convenience, you could use 5-minute pearls or instant frozen boba. But they do harden within minutes so consume your drink within 1-2 hours.
• Feel free to substitute with any tea you'd like. Earl Grey, Chai, Rooibos, or Jasmine tea would pair great with chocolate.
• Instead of chocolate chips or bars, you could use 2-3 tablespoon cocoa powder instead. Hot chocolate or cocoa mix would also work, but be aware that it's pre-sweetened.
• Half and half provides the creamiest milk tea, but feel free to substitute with whole milk, oat milk, or almond milk.
• To make dairy-free Chocolate Milk Tea Boba, substitute with vegan chocolate chips and oat milk. For a vegan version, omit the honey and use more white or brown sugar instead.
• Add fun flavorings to your iced Chocolate Milk Tea!
  • Hazelnut: Use 2-3 tablespoon Nutella in place of the chocolate chips or add hazelnut syrup.
  • Mint: Add a ¼ teaspoon peppermint extract to each drink or use a peppermint tea.
  • Oreo: Remove the cream filling from 3-5 Oreo cookies, then bend the cookie parts with half and half until smooth. Strain and steep with chocolate chips.

STEP ONE: First, bring a small pot of water to a boil and add the tapioca pearls. Stir for 1 minute to prevent sticking, then turn the heat down to a rolling simmer. Cover with a lid and let cook for 30 minutes, stirring every 5 minutes.

STEP TWO: After the initial 30 minutes, remove from heat and let sit covered for another 30 minutes.

STEP THREE: Next, strain the boba and rinse briefly with cold water.

STEP FOUR: While the boba is cooking, steep your tea by adding the tea bags to boiling water. Remove the bags after 3-4 minutes and let cool completely.

STEP FIVE: To make the chocolate milk, add half and half and chocolate to a saucepan. Heat over medium-low, stirring frequently, until completely smooth. Let cool completely.

STEP SIX: Next, make the sugar syrup. Add white sugar, brown sugar, honey, and water to a small pan. Heat over medium to medium-low heat for 5-7 minutes, until sugars are completely dissolved and lightly reduced, stirring often.

STEP SEVEN: Add the drained pearls to the warm syrup and let sit for 30 minutes, covered with a lid. Option to keep warm over low heat so the boba stays soft.

STEP EIGHT: Get ready to assemble your Chocolate Milk Tea! Divide the tapioca pearls, black tea, and chocolate milk between two tall glasses. Sweeten to your liking and finish with ice cubes.

• Brew tea at the right temperature. The water temperature directly affects the flavor, aroma, and quality of the tea. For black tea, the water should be around 200°F to 212°F (90°C to 100°C).
• Warm boba is best. Cold temperatures are the enemy to tapioca pearls - they harden and stiffen as they cool. Keep them warm in the syrup bath until you're ready to assemble the beverages. And for the best texture, consume your bubble tea within 4-6 hours.
• Sweeten to taste. The sweetness level of the chocolate milk will depend on the type of chocolate you're using. Milk chocolate is the sweetest, followed by semi-sweet and then dark chocolate. Experiment with how much sugar syrup to reach your preferred sweetness level in your Chocolate Milk Tea Boba.
• Use a jumbo straw that will fit the tapioca pearls. I like these reusable straws from Amazon.
• Don't mind the solids. Once you add ice into the Chocolate Milk Tea, you may see chocolate particles or sediments. No need to worry, it doesn't affect the flavor at all. It's usually due to undissolved chocolate or if you're using chocolate that has more additives or stabilizers.