Passion Fruit Boba

Passion Fruit Boba is a fun and tropical twist on your favorite bubble tea drink! It's a creamy and refreshing passion fruit milk tea with chewy tapioca pearls that's perfect for summertime.

Jump to:

• 🧋 What is Passion Fruit?
• 🧂 Ingredients
• 🔪 How To Make Passion Fruit Boba
• 💭 Top Tips
• 🥡 Storing & Make Ahead
• 📖 Recipe FAQs
• 🍽 Looking For More Asian Flavors?
• 📋 Recipe
• 💬 Reviews

🧋 What is Passion Fruit?

Passion fruit is a tropical fruit native to South America, particularly in Brazil. But they can now be grown all over the world and are especially popular in Australia, Hawaii (where it's known as liliko'i), and Indonesia.

These small round fruits have a tough outer rind and a seed-filled pulp. Although the rinds come in various colors like purple and yellow, the juicy interior is bright orange. It's one of my absolute favorites fruits because they're very tart and delicious. I like to describe the taste as a cross between a mango and an orange!

And What Is Boba?

Boba, also known as bubble tea, is a popular drink made of sweetened iced tea and tapioca pearls. The pearls are made from tapioca starch to give it a chewy, bouncy texture. Caramel or brown sugar is usually added to give it a black color with light flavoring.

There are endless flavor variations for these drinks, with fruit bubble teas being one of the most popular. Passion fruit boba is a prime example! Some of my additional favorites are Classic Milk Tea Boba and Lychee Bubble Tea. But in this drink, the tropical fruit provides a very tart flavor, resulting in a delicious sweet and sour iced tea. It's the perfect drink to keep you fresh and hydrated on hot summer days!

Why You'll Love It

• 7 ingredients: You only need a handful of ingredients to make this easy boba drink. Most of them are pantry pulls too!
• Healthier: Boba shops often use powdered milk and artificial syrups to flavor their bubble tea. Making the drinks at home puts you in control of the sweetness and ingredients.
• Refreshing: This recipe is sweet, sour, cold, milky, and delicious. It's everything you're looking for when it's hot out!

🧂 Ingredients

• Boba (tapioca pearls): You can find a variety of pre-made boba online or at your local Asian supermarket. I recommend getting the vacuum-sealed bags of boba as opposed to the frozen ones. I get the Bolle brand from H-Mart, which can also be found on Amazon. But shipped tapioca balls can become powdery during delivery so I recommend purchasing them in-person if you can.
  • TIP: Avoid "quick cook", "instant", or "5 minute" pearls. They have a hardening quality in the starch that causes them to lose their chewiness after mere minutes.
• Syrup: I like using a combination of honey, brown sugar, and white sugar for a slight honey-caramel flavor.
• Tea: You can use either black or green tea in this bubble tea. I like black assam tea for its deep bitter quality, which can help balance out the sweetness in bubble teas. But green tea is more mild, which allows the fruit flavor to be more prominent.
• Passion fruit: For convenience, I use frozen seedless purée. Look for high-quality ones that's 100% passion fruit. If you've got leftover puree, use them in Passion Fruit Bars!
• Half and half: Super smooth and creamy - it's my favorite dairy creamer to use in boba.

Where Can I Find Passion Fruit?

I get my frozen seedless passion fruit purée from Whole Foods. I simply microwave it or let it thaw in the fridge until it's liquid. Not only is it super easy, but it's already seedless and 100% passion fruit.

Other brands of frozen pulp, like Goya, can be found in Latin, Asian, or Caribbean markets. I would not recommend using juice as it can have additional flavoring (like pear) or be too thin in consistency.

If using fresh passion fruit, cut a ripe, wrinkly one in half and scoop the seeds into a food processor. Lightly pulse a couple times to pull the pulp away from the seeds. Pour into a strainer on top of a bowl, and use the back of a spoon to press on the seeds to extract the pulp. You'll need about 5-6 fruit for ½ cup juice.

Substitutions & Variations

• Replace half and half with your favorite creamer. Nut, soy, or oat milk are popular choices.
• For more passion fruit flavor, use half regular boba, half passion fruit popping boba. They're juice-filled balls that pop with syrup when you chew them. Super fun!
• You don't need to stick to just one fruit. Mango, guava, or orange juice would taste great with passion fruit. Even lemonade would be tasty!
• For a dairy-free bubble tea, use coconut milk as your creamer. Both have tropical flavors so they'd taste great together.

🔪 How To Make Passion Fruit Boba

⬇️ Please scroll down to the recipe card to see full ingredient amounts and instructions.

STEP ONE: Start by cooking the boba. Bring a pot of water to a boil and add the tapioca pearls. Cook, covered, for 30 minutes while stirring every few minutes.

STEP TWO: After the initial 30 minutes, turn off the heat and let the boba sit, covered and undisturbed, for another 30 minutes.

STEP THREE: When the boba is ready, drain in a colander and rinse with cold water.

STEP FOUR: While the boba is cooking, work on the other components. Steep the tea bags in hot water for about 5 minutes. Then discard the bags and let the tea cool completely.

STEP FIVE: Make the syrup by heating water, white sugar, brown sugar, and honey in a pot over medium heat. Reduce for 4-5 minutes until all the sugars are dissolved.

STEP SIX: Add the drained boba into the syrup bath. Let sit for 30 minutes so it can soak up the flavor.

STEP SEVEN: If using frozen puree, microwave in 15 second intervals until liquid. Measure out ½ cup puree.

STEP EIGHT: Assemble your drinks. Get the passion fruit puree, tea, boba in syrup, half and half, and ice ready. Divide between two glasses and serve cold.

💭 Top Tips

• Since the passion fruit purée is very acidic, it can cause the milk to curdle. To prevent this, add the milk to the glass first. Then very slowly pour in the purée, while stirring, to gradually combine the two.
• Consume cooked boba within 4-6 hours. They don't store well and will harden as they cool. I recommend only making as much boba as needed.
• Make sure you have a proper boba straw! I like these reusable straws from Amazon.
• If making bubble tea for a large crowd or party, keep the cooked boba and syrup bath warm in a slow cooker. It's fun to have a boba bar with several fruit and toppings!

🥡 Storing & Make Ahead

Storing: Store each component separately and assemble right before consuming.

• I don't recommend storing cooked tapioca pearls since they'll harden in the fridge. Instead, consume them day-of and make them fresh each time.
• Both the brewed tea and passion fruit purée can be stored in separate jars with a tight-fitting lid. Keep in the fridge for up to 5 days.
• If you've used up the boba but have leftover brown sugar-honey syrup, you can use it any drink or cocktails. Store in a jar in the fridge for up to 7 days.

Make Ahead: I recommend making the boba day-of since it's best when it's warm and freshly made. But you can brew the tea, make syrup, and thaw the passion fruit puree up to 3 days in advance.

📖 Recipe FAQs

🍽 Looking For More Asian Flavors?

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