How much boba is too much?
Is this even a valid question?
In my mind, you can never have too much boba!
As a Taiwanese American, my boba addiction was fate. Ever since I was in 5th grade, I’ve had a fascination with these little black tapioca balls. The only thing holding me back from constantly getting boba was the hefty cost ($4-$7 a cup of milk tea with pearls!), and also the lack of quality boba in Naperville (Dear Joy Yee’s, I wish you would stop overcooking your boba. I need my boba fix ASAP!).
As boba continues to become a millennial staple, many stores have been becoming more creative and adding it into various foods, some more bizarre than others. As an avid boba lover, here is a non-exhaustive list consisting of some of my favorite boba foods as well as some of the craziest ones I’ve heard of.
Boba + Breakfast Foods
This past summer on my Taiwan trip, I tried boba souffle pancakes. These are hands down the best pancakes I’ve ever had. Not only were they super fluffy, but they were also topped with an enormous mound of black gooey goodness. A sugary breakfast for sure, but the chewy tapioca complimented the fluffy bubble tea flavored pancakes and creamiest glaze perfectly. I will definitely go back to Belle Epoque for more pancakes.
I’ve also seen some pictures of boba toast, waffles, and even croissants. Although I haven’t had all of these boba breakfast foods, based on my boba pancake experience, boba made with enough syrup actually serves as a unique jam-like substitute. Boba pastries work perfectly if you’re looking for a breakfast treat!
Boba Pizza
This dish is one that I haven’t tried, but I’m actually very curious to try it and figure out how it works. Boba on pizza is such an odd combo: the boba looks kinda like olives, but are sweet rather than savory. I’m not sure how’d the pearls would taste after being in the oven for so long since the struggle with boba with is getting the perfect compromise between softness, firmness, and chewiness. The core must be soft throughout, but the pearls themselves can’t be falling apart. The best boba is also chewy but not too chewy and hard to consume. I really wonder how the intense heat affects the pearls: too much heat could possibly dry them out and make them hard as a rock.
Bubble Tea Popsicles
My favorite kind of popsicles ever! I found some I-MEI Pearl milk tea ice bars at Fresh International Market. Two-thirds of the popsicle is milk tea flavored and a third is milk flavored. There are also little pieces of “boba” in the milk tea flavored part! While the boba might not be the actual pearls, and more like a jelly, this is a better alternative than actually using pearls in the popsicles. Tapioca pearls tend to stiffen up once you set them out for too long, or put them in the fridge. The center hardens and eating them is no longer the fun squishy journey, but an annoying chore. With these popsicles, there are no boba struggles: your biggest worry is properly savoring this delicious treat!
To fans of brown sugar bubble tea, rejoice and continue reading! Your time has come!
Recently, on the Facebook group Subtle Asian Traits, brown sugar boba popsicles have become the rave. I’m dying to try them out, but they manufactured in Taiwan are ever-so elusive, only available in rare Asian grocery stores. Please, H-Mart or Fresh International, find these beauties and put them on sale, I’m begging you! Made with fresh milk, caramelized brown sugar, and real boba, these are the dream!
Bubble Tea, Boba, and…Hotpot?
Okay, to be fair, I was really grossed out at the thought of boba in hotpot at first. Hotpot typically is for meat, veggies, noodles, and fishcakes: it’s a meal and not sweet at all. Boba just didn’t seem to go at all. Digging deeper, I’d want to try some of the boba hotpots, depending on how it’s served. In some places, you actually don’t put boba with the typical hotpot items, which I thought you did. This hotpot is not a meal, but a dessert. Along with boba, these hotpots have things like taro and sweet potato balls, mochi, red bean, basically any of the toppings you can typically find typical Taiwanese desserts. And as long as you put a sweet hotpot soup base, possibly even milk tea, instead of something like tomato or veggie, the tapioca fits right into the sweet dish.
Side Note: there are also some bubble tea hotpot places that actually put boba with the typical hotpot foods, like a meal. All I can say is, try at your own risk. But as much as I love my boba, I’m not going to be sacrificing my precious hotpot meals for it.
The Story of the Bubble Tea Hotpot:
As you now realize, boba is not only just for milk tea. It is also extremely versatile and an applicable topping in all sorts of foods: from pizza to pancakes, to popsicles and even hotpot! The possibilities are endless! Don’t just limit yourself to adding tapioca in drinks, go out of your comfort zone and try the foods. Who knows, you might even end up liking the hotpot boba, but only if you give it a chance.
What boba foods are you going to try next?
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If you really like boba that much, I urge you to explore some cultural varieties as well. For example- Maharashtrian dishes like sabudana khichdi or sabudana vada (sabudana=boba). Warning though! This is not Indian food. It is Maharashtrian food. There is no “Indian” food. Too many different types of food to lump it into one category. The sabudana khichdi is a kind of dish where the Sabudana is soaked for a while, and is then fried with cumin seeds, salt, red chili powder, green chillies, diced potatoes and other optional ingredients such as fried peanuts. Sabudana Vada on the other hand, are sabudana fritters (they are heavenly though deep fried). There is a type of sabudana cracker too. The pearls are made into a thin sheet (along with some other stuff) & are finally deep fried in oil. One thing I will tell you is this- the Sabudana Khichdi is a bit chewy but satisfying.
Hi Ved! Thank you so much for the recommendations! Although my extremely (embarrassingly) low tolerance for spicy food prevents me from trying your recommendations, I still really appreciate them! I never knew that other cultures had incorporated boba into their dishes, so it was a huge revelation for me!
I wouldn’t say that they’re too spicy, so I encourage you to try it out. But if you don’t want to, that’s fine as well.
I love the opening! I think it’s super cute and the way the title flows with all the “B”‘s make is seem super lightweight and fun.
It was super interesting to hear your outlook on Boba and especially how that stems from your heritage. I have tried tapioca boba only once from Joy-yee and I was notttttt a huge fan unfortunately. But I had absolutely no idea there were so many different kinds of foods that incorporate Boba! I might have to rethink my decisions and try the flavor with a different food combo!
I love the way I was able to learn more about you in this blog but also more about the Taiwanese culture, as I didn’t know these were such a huge thing! I don’t necessarily have the most open mind when it comes to food so I’m not sure how I would feel about mixing the sweet and svory, but I guess everything is worth a try! Also, is there any specific reason you call them boba but also pearls? I have never heard that before but it definitely makes the food sound super appetizing! I hope that H-mart and other stores you mentioned end up stocking the foods you want to try so you can continue to embrace your culture 🙂 This is awesome! I think you did a great job with making it your own with unqiue voice and character! It was a lot of fun to read.
Hi Gabby! I would consider Joy Yee’s boba (Naperville only) to be pretty terrible, so I totally understand if you aren’t a fan of it. If you’re willing to try boba again, I would suggest Hello Jasmine in Chinatown since their boba is of better quality.
As for why I also call boba ‘pearls’, this stems from its Chinese translation. In Taiwan (and also other Chinese-speaking countries), we call boba ‘珍珠’, which also can also mean pearls in Chinese.