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Bubble Shakes: Five Flavours with Tapioca Pearls

Recipe by The Cozy Bowl Kitchen

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  • Total Time25 minutes
  • Yield2 tall shakes 1x

Thick fruit milkshakes with chewy syrup-soaked tapioca pearls in the bottom. One base method and five flavours: strawberry, mango, pineapple, pomegranate and bubblegum.

Ingredients

Scale

For the tapioca pearls

  • 60 g dried quick-cook tapioca pearls (boba)
  • 1.5 litres water, for boiling

For the sugar syrup

  • 60 g caster sugar
  • 60 ml water

For the shake base

  • 300 ml whole milk, well chilled
  • 4 generous scoops vanilla ice cream, about 250 g
  • 2 tbsp sugar syrup, from above, plus more to taste
  • 1 small pinch fine sea salt

Choose one flavour

  • Strawberry: 150 g frozen strawberries
  • Mango: 150 g frozen mango chunks, plus a splash more milk
  • Pineapple: 150 g frozen pineapple chunks and a squeeze of lime
  • Pomegranate: 100 ml pomegranate juice and 80 g frozen mixed berries
  • Bubblegum: 2 tbsp bubblegum syrup and 1 drop pink food colouring, no fruit

To serve

  • Wide boba straws
  • Whipped cream and sprinkles (optional)

Instructions

  1. Make the syrup first. Warm the caster sugar and 60 ml water in a small pan over a low heat, stirring until the sugar has completely dissolved. Take off the heat and set aside.
  2. Bring the 1.5 litres of water to a rolling boil in a large pan. You need plenty of water, as the pearls swell considerably and will clump in a small pan.
  3. Tip in the tapioca pearls and stir immediately, then stir again after 30 seconds. They will sink and then float to the surface.
  4. Boil for the time on the packet, usually 5 minutes for quick-cook pearls.
  5. Take the pan off the heat, cover with a lid, and leave to rest for a further 5 minutes. This is what cooks the very centre of the pearls.
  6. Test a pearl. It should be chewy all the way through with no hard white dot in the middle. If there is, cover and rest for another 3 minutes.
  7. Drain the pearls and rinse briefly under cold water, then tip them straight into the warm sugar syrup. Leave to soak for 10 minutes. Do not skip this, or they will taste of nothing.
  8. Meanwhile, put two tall glasses in the freezer to chill.
  9. Put the chilled milk in the blender first, then the ice cream, then your chosen frozen fruit or flavouring on top. Add 2 tbsp of the sugar syrup and the pinch of salt.
  10. Blitz for 30 to 40 seconds, until thick and smooth. Stop as soon as it is smooth, as longer blending warms and thins the shake. Taste and add a little more syrup if needed.
  11. Spoon the soaked pearls and a little of their syrup into the base of each chilled glass.
  12. Pour the shake over the pearls, top with whipped cream and sprinkles if you like, add a wide boba straw and serve immediately.

Notes

Cooking the pearls, the two rules: Use at least eight times the volume of water, and always rest them covered off the heat for 5 minutes after boiling. A small pan gives you a gluey clump, and skipping the rest leaves a hard white centre.

The mistake to avoid: Never put the pearls in the blender. The blades chop them up. They go in the base of the glass and you draw them up through a wide straw.

Always syrup-soak the pearls: Freshly boiled tapioca is completely bland. Ten minutes in warm sugar syrup is the difference between shop-quality boba and disappointing rubbery blobs.

Storing cooked pearls: Keep them at room temperature in their syrup, covered, and use within about 4 hours. Do not refrigerate cooked tapioca; it goes hard and crunchy and cannot be brought back.

Use frozen fruit, not fresh plus ice: Frozen fruit chills and thickens at the same time. Fresh fruit plus ice waters the shake down.

Variations: Use ready-made popping boba instead of tapioca and skip the cooking entirely, which drops the total time to 5 minutes. Reduce the milk to 100 ml per shake and add an extra scoop of ice cream for a thicker shake. Blend two flavours separately and pour from opposite sides for a split shake.

Equipment: A large saucepan, a small saucepan, a sieve, a blender, tall glasses and wide boba straws. A standard straw will not pass a tapioca pearl.

Please note: Whole tapioca pearls are a choking risk for young children. Serve with a spoon rather than a straw for younger drinkers, or leave the pearls out.

Allergen note: Always check the label of every ingredient you use, as recipes and allergen information can change. People with food allergies or intolerances must also consider cross-contamination.

Take particular care with the milk and ice cream (milk, and often egg), flavoured syrups and food colourings (may contain sulphites and other additives), and popping boba (may contain sulphites). Plant-based alternatives may contain soya, nuts or gluten. Allergen information must be confirmed by The Cozy Bowl before it is relied upon.

This is a home recipe inspired by a dish or flavour available at The Cozy Bowl. It is not the restaurant’s exact commercial recipe.

Find it online: https://thecozybowl.co.uk/bubble-shakes-recipe/