Introduction to

Bubble Tea
&
Bobarista
Training 101
 What Is It And
Who Is It For?

The boba tea training refers to the process

of learning how to make bubble tea. This
can include learning about the history and
origin of bubble tea, the different types of
teas and ingredients used in boba tea, how
to properly prepare and cook the tapioca
pearls, and how to blend and serve boba
tea.

Boba tea training may be provided by

boba tea shops, culinary schools, or other
institutions specialising in teaching the art
of making boba tea.

The training can range from a few hours of

hands-on instruction to a comprehensive
course that covers all aspects of boba tea
making.

Here at Pearl Lemon Boba, we provide

material like this guide, hands-on learning
AND pre recorded videos from our team.
INTRODUCTION BOBARISTA
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TO BOBA TRAINING 101
 What We Will
Cover
Boba and milk tea history and origin:
what it's made of and when it all
started
Necessary equipment and more
Boba, milk tea and fruit tea recipe
creation and execution

INTRODUCTION BOBARISTA
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TO BOBA TRAINING 101
 Some Tips
Choose the right tea: Use high-
quality black or green tea as the
base for your boba tea.
Sweeten to taste: Add sugar or
simple syrup to taste, considering
the sweetness of any other
ingredients you might be using.
Use the best ingredients: Use the
best ingredients to maintain the
perfect taste and texture.
Cook the tapioca pearls correctly:
Boil the tapioca pearls in water until
they are soft and chewy, drain them,
add some brown sugar or honey
before adding them to your drink.

INTRODUCTION BOBARISTA
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TO BOBA TRAINING 101
 Tips
Continued...

Blend well: Shake

thoroughly or use an
automatic shaker to
ensure your boba teas
are smooth and
consistent.
Serve with wide straws:
Wide straws make it
easier to suck up the
tapioca pearls and
enjoy the full boba tea
experience.

INTRODUCTION BOBARISTA
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TO BOBA TRAINING 101
 History and
Origin
Boba tea, or bubble tea, is a
Taiwanese tea-based drink that
originated in the 1980s.
It typically consists
of tea, milk, and
sugar served with
chewy tapioca balls
that are commonly
referred to as
"pearls".
Boba tea became
popular in Taiwan and has
since spread to many other
countries, becoming a beloved
beverage worldwide.

INTRODUCTION BOBARISTA
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TO BOBA TRAINING 101
 Types of Boba
Tea

Boba tea can be divided into several main

types based on the base ingredients and
flavours used.

Milk Tea - This is the classic bubble tea and

is made with tea, milk, and sugar. The tea is
typically black tea, but other types of tea,
such as green tea, oolong or Thai tea, can
be used as well.

INTRODUCTION BOBARISTA
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TO BOBA TRAINING 101
Fruit Tea - This type of bubble tea is made
with tea, fruit juice, and sugar. The fruit
juice can be any type of fresh fruit juice,
such as mango, strawberry, or lychee.

Smoothie Boba - This type of boba tea is

a thicker, more smoothie-like version of
boba tea, made with tea, milk, fruit, and
ice.

Slush Boba - This type of boba tea is a

frozen, slushy version of boba tea, made
with tea, fruit juice, and ice.

Yogurt Boba - This type of boba tea is

made with tea, yogurt, and fruit, and is
often served as a creamy, refreshing
drink.

Coffee Boba - This type of boba tea is

made with coffee, milk, and brown
sugar, and is a popular alternative to
traditional boba tea for those who prefer
coffee.

INTRODUCTION BOBARISTA
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TO BOBA TRAINING 101
 Cocktail Boba - This is the adult only
bubble tea category. Boba Beer or pair
with your favorites cocktail that's not so
popular but a great way to separate
yourself from the competition.

These are some of the most popular

types of boba tea, but there are many
variations and flavours to explore, so
feel free to experiment and create your
own unique boba tea blends.

INTRODUCTION BOBARISTA
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TO BOBA TRAINING 101
 Machinery
All machinery you will need to run a
successful bubble tea shop

Sealing paper

Sealing
machine

INTRODUCTION BOBARISTA
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TO BOBA TRAINING 101
Insulated tea Rice/Tapioca
container cooker

Ice maker Blender

INTRODUCTION BOBARISTA
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TO BOBA TRAINING 101
 Equipment &
Consumables

Shakers Measuring jiggers

Powder spoon Whisker

INTRODUCTION BOBARISTA
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Stainless net 2 stainless tea cage

Caramelised
sugar ring Tapioca sieve

INTRODUCTION BOBARISTA
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TO BOBA TRAINING 101
 Small sieve Powder container

Liquid dispenser Syrup pumps

INTRODUCTION BOBARISTA
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TO BOBA TRAINING 101
Syrup measuring Cups (500 ml - 700ml)
cup

Lids Big fat boba

straws

INTRODUCTION BOBARISTA
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TO BOBA TRAINING 101
Stainless steel
straws

Boba bags

INTRODUCTION BOBARISTA
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TO BOBA TRAINING 101
 Menu
You want to make it as easy for your customer to
go through your menu and make their bubble tea
as they like it.

And you also want to make it easy for your staff

to help your customer create their bubble tea and
ensure they leave with a drink they love.

Allow them to choose and make anything they

want.

INTRODUCTION BOBARISTA
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TO BOBA TRAINING 101
 1. Choose the size of your cup
2. Choose the temperature (Ice - Hot -
Crushed)
3. Choose the level of sweetness
4. You could give them the choice of tea
if you wish to or you are using more
than what we advice to use, if not just
mention that you have a
decaffeinated option
5. Choose your flavour
6. Choose your toppings

Let them know that they can mix and

add as much toppings as they want for
an extra cost.

INTRODUCTION BOBARISTA
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TO BOBA TRAINING 101
 Ingredients
Classic ingredients that you will need to
make your own boba menu.
a. Powder

Brown Sugar Cookies &

Taro
Milk Tea cream

Matcha Coconut Vanilla

Honey dew Strawberry Creamer

INTRODUCTION BOBARISTA
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TO BOBA TRAINING 101
b. Syrups

Passion White Mango

fruit peach

Green Lemon Strawberry

apple

Lychee Dragon fuit

INTRODUCTION BOBARISTA
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TO BOBA TRAINING 101
c. Toppings

Tapioca Blueberry Lychee

Pearl Juice balls Juice balls

Passion fruit Green Apple Strawberry

Juice balls Juice balls Coconut Jelly

Lychee Mango Original

Coconut Jelly Coconut Jelly Coconut jelly

INTRODUCTION BOBARISTA
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 Recipe
Our own recipe develop from years of
expertise

Milk Tea
500 ml cup :
30% of Black Assam Tea (175 ml)
1.5 spoons of flavour (20g)
1 spoon of creamer (13g)
Sweetness (50% = 25g - 100% = 50g)
80% ice (around 250g)
1 level topping scoop (50-70g)

700 ml cup :
40% of Black Assam Tea (235ml)
2.5 spoons of flavour (35g)
2 spoons of creamer (20g)
Sweetness (50% = 25g - 100% = 50g)
100% ice (around 300g)
1 level topping scoop (50-70g)

We like to add brown sugar or

chocolate sauce on the cup directly to
give an incredible aesthetic to most of
our milk tea.
We love it and our customers love it.
INTRODUCTION BOBARISTA
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TO BOBA TRAINING 101
Fruit Tea
500 ml cup :
30% of Jasmin Green Tea (175ml)
4 pumps of syrup (40ml)
Sweetness (50% = 25g - 100% = 50g)
80% ice (around 250g)
1 level topping scoop (50-70g)

700 ml cup :
40% of Jasmin Green Tea (235ml)
6 pumps of syrup (60ml)
Sweetness (50% = 25g - 100% = 50g)
100% ice (around 300g)
1 level topping scoop (50-70g)

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 Cooking tapioca
Pearls
The tapioca we use is the simplest, most
effective and most efficient one we found after
trying everything.

We prioritise quality, and we found that 3 hours

is the maximum you can keep the tapioca after
cooking them to keep a perfect taste and
texture.

You can keep them longer and see by yourself if

you find them find enough to serve them.

INTRODUCTION BOBARISTA
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TO BOBA TRAINING 101
Preparation :
Turn on your rice cooker and boil some water
Add the tapioca to the boiling water for 3
minutes
The tapioca looks now like small brown light
balls, giving it a stir
Turn off the cooker and leave the tapioca in
hot water for 2 more minutes
Sieve the tapioca that now looks like small
back balls
Put them back in the rice cooker bowl and
add some brown sugar
You now have a bath off tapioca perfectly
cooked

INTRODUCTION BOBARISTA
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TO BOBA TRAINING 101
 Making Tapioca
Pearls from
Scratch
Combine the ingredients: In a mixing bowl,
combine 1 cup of tapioca flour, 1/4 cup of
brown sugar, and 1/2 cup of boiling water.
Stir until the mixture forms a dough.

Knead the dough: Turn the dough out onto a

lightly floured surface and knead for 2-3
minutes, or until smooth.

Roll into balls: Divide the dough into small

balls, about the size of a marble.

Cook the boba pearls: Bring a pot of water to

a boil, and then add the boba pearls to the
water. Cook for 20-25 minutes, or until they
float to the surface of the water.

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TO BOBA TRAINING 101
 Continued...

Drain and rinse: Drain the boba pearls and

rinse them with cold water to stop the
cooking process.

Add sugar syrup: In a small saucepan,

combine equal parts sugar and water and
heat until the sugar has dissolved. Add the
cooked boba pearls to the sugar syrup and
let them soak for at least 30 minutes to an
hour.

Serve: Add the boba pearls to your boba tea

and serve. The boba pearls can be stored in
the sugar syrup in the refrigerator for later
use.

INTRODUCTION BOBARISTA
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TO BOBA TRAINING 101
 How to Brew
the the Tea ?
The base to creating your tea beverage.

Our loose teas are sourced from Taiwan, grown

processed and dried with respect to the
environment.
To make it easy we suggest everyone to start
with 2 different tea and one decaffeinated tea
option.

INTRODUCTION BOBARISTA
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TO BOBA TRAINING 101
 Our suggestions are:
Black Assam Tea for Milk Tea
Assam Black Tea is named after
the region in India where it is
produced.
Manufactured specifically from the
Camellia Sinensis var. Assamica,
our Assam Black Tea is often sold
as a breakfast tea and possesses a
unique aroma.
It is known for its full bodied and
malty flavour and strong bright
colour.
As well as Fresh Assam Black Tea,
it is also the most common base
for bubble tea suitable for both
milk and fruit teas.
Jasmin Green Tea for Fruit
Tea
Jasmine green tea is made
from a base of green tea with
added Jasmine flowers to
enhance the taste and smell.
With its sweet and delicate
flavour, this aromatic tea is
said to calm and relax the
mood with the combined health
benefits of green tea.
A very sophisticated tea blend,
nothing worse that the Fresh
one, ideal for a delicate and
personable bubble tea cup.

INTRODUCTION BOBARISTA
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TO BOBA TRAINING 101
Decaf tea or Pea Butterfly Tea
You can get some decaf tea bags to make it
easy as that is no usually something you sell
a lot and pre-batch some to keep in the
fridge.

Or get some blue tea (pea butterfly tea) for

all the health benefits and the blue colour
that will just make your drinks look better.

You can obviously add any other tea as you

grow and if your customer ask for it, it’s just
that from our experience in our own shop
and helping different bubble tea owner to
grow their shop, we found it easiest and less
confusing like that.

INTRODUCTION BOBARISTA
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TO BOBA TRAINING 101
Here is a little course on different tea to use
and how to use them to create really
interesting drinks and upgrade you bubble
tea menu.

INTRODUCTION BOBARISTA
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TO BOBA TRAINING 101
 Categories of Tea
Types of tea can be categorized in ascending order of
how oxidized or manipulated they are. Oxidation is a
chemical reaction that happens when tea leaves are
exposed to oxygen, which cause changes in
appearance (browning) and flavor (deepening).

White Tea is the rawest, most minimally

handled. It is not oxidized whatsoever, so the
flavor profiles are light, delicate, and sweet.
Examples: Silver Needle, White Peony
How to mix: We don’t add anything to white
teas and just drink them as teas. They’re
pretty subtle and elegant.

INTRODUCTION BOBARISTA
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TO BOBA TRAINING 101
 Categories of Tea

Green Tea has all the grassy, tannic, bright-green

goodness of a recently picked plant. It’s generally not as
caffeinated as black tea—although that can change
dramatically depending on where it is from and how it is
processed—and is known for its medicinal applications
and health benefits. Green tea is loaded with
antioxidants, for example.
Examples: Matcha, Dragonwell, Gyokuro, Sencha,
Jasmine, Hojicha, Biluochun
How to mix: Green teas are great mixers—they have
enough flavor to stand out but not to overpower. In a lot
of the drinks in this book, we combine green tea with
fruit. If you want to mix a green tea with alcohol, we
recommend a light beer like Heineken or Michelob, soju,
or shochu.

INTRODUCTION BOBARISTA
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TO BOBA TRAINING 101
 Categories of Tea

Oolong Tea is a semi-oxidized tea. It’s almost like a

cross between a black and a green tea. Its taste can
vary widely on a spectrum between those two
categories.

Examples: Iron Goddess, Frozen Summit, Wuyi

Mountain Teas, Big Red Robe, Milk Oolong

How to mix: Oolong is very versatile, like green tea.

You can use stronger alcohol like Baileys, Kahlúa, or
“rum, and the tea still stands up.

INTRODUCTION BOBARISTA
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TO BOBA TRAINING 101
 Categories of Tea

Black Tea is the most oxidized of all teas. Oxidation

makes the leaves withered and pungent. The flavors in
brewed black tea are very pronounced. It tends to be
the most tannic of all teas. Black teas are also the
most omnipresent teas in the West. (Think Lipton’s
English Breakfast.)

Examples: Assam, Darjeeling, English Breakfast,

Ceylon, Yunnan Black Tea

How to mix: Black tea is tough to work with as a mixer

because it has such a strong, tannic flavor. It tends to
overpower delicately flavored liquors. You can use
very little of it, and mix it with something that will
dilute and add texture, like a sturdy, fatty organic
milk or milk substitute.

INTRODUCTION BOBARISTA
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TO BOBA TRAINING 101
 Categories of Tea

Pu-erh Tea is a fermented tea that tends to have a

smoother, sweeter taste than black tea, although
when it is brewed, it can have a similar dark liquor.
Like wine, pu-erh has the reputation of “the older, the
better,” although we haven’t found this always to be
the case. (We find flavor tends to drop after about 75
years.) There are also “raw” and “ripe” pu-erhs. While
they are both fermented, raw pu-erhs “tend to be
cleaner in flavor; ripe ones are fermented wet and can
have a mustier flavor.

How to mix: Pu-erh can work with hard alcohol,

especially smokier spirits like scotch “and mezcal, or
anything spicy. A pu-erh old-fashioned by the fire on a
misty San Francisco night is just lovely.

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 HERBAL “TEA” does not come from the
Camellia sinensis, aka tea plant. Rather—
surprise!—it is made from herbs, other
plants, or even dried fruits. It is often
caffeine-free, and while it can be delicious, it
tastes nothing like true tea. Sometimes
they’re called “tisanes”

or “infusions” because “herbal teas” has

gotten such a lame reputation, but we like
lots of them and use them pretty heavily in
this book. (Plus, we’re from San Francisco, so
we tend to like our herbals a lot.)”

INTRODUCTION BOBARISTA
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 Upgrade your
boba menu
That’s a good way to make sure to be ahead of your
competition and be seen as an expert in the domain.

Use regular, semi-skimmed or skimmed milk instead

of creamer.
Use milk alternatives (oat - almond - coconut -soya)
Coffee Boba (hot or iced)
Crushed Boba
Fizzy Boba
Smoothie Boba
Protein Boba
Affogato Boba
Boba ice cream
Beer Boba
Cocktail Boba
You have the choice and we created video on how you
can make all those options to upgrade your menu.

Dessert
waffle or bubble waffle (any add-ons on top)
Crepe or pancake
Cakes
Asian snacks
Candy

INTRODUCTION BOBARISTA
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 FAQS
What is boba made of?

Boba is made of tapioca pearls, which are

small, chewy balls made from tapioca starch.

Is boba tea healthy?

In most places, bubble tea can be high in

calories and sugar, so it's best to consume it
in moderation. Some bubble tea drinks also
contain high amounts of artificial ingredients
and preservatives, so it's important to read
the labels and choose healthier options when
possible.

At Pearl Lemon Boba we do our best to use

less transformed ingredients as possible.
From vegetarian and vegan friendly
products, fresh tea, fresh fruits, and quality
cane or tiger brown sugar ... Our goal is to
make bubble tea as healthy as possible.

INTRODUCTION BOBARISTA
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TO BOBA TRAINING 101
 FAQS
Continued...
What are the benefits of
boba?
Boba is a source of
carbohydrates and energy
and can provide a quick
boost of energy.
Additionally, some boba tea
drinks contain antioxidants
and other nutrients,
depending on the
ingredients used.

How long does boba last?

Boba can last up to several

hours in a sugar syrup, but it's
best to consume in the 3
hours after cooking if
possible for the best texture
and taste.

INTRODUCTION BOBARISTA
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TO BOBA TRAINING 101
 FAQS
Continued...
Can boba be frozen?

Yes, boba can be frozen and then thawed for later

use, but the texture may be altered and may
become chewy or rubbery.

What is the best type of tea for boba tea?

The best type of tea for boba tea depends on

personal preference, but black tea is the most
commonly used tea in bubble tea drinks. Other
popular teas for bubble tea include green tea,
oolong tea, and jasmine tea.

INTRODUCTION BOBARISTA
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TO BOBA TRAINING 101