Tiger Milk Tea Boba (3-ingredients)

Tiger Milk Tea Boba, also known as Taiwanese Brown Sugar Milk Tea, is a super popular beverage in many Asian countries thanks to its creamy, deep toffee-like flavor. Like most bubble tea boba recipes, it's not difficult to recreate at home- cheaper too! Plus, it's done in under 20 minutes and requires only 3 ingredients!

Jump to:

• Why Make This
• Ingredients
• Variations & Substitutes
• Step-by-Step Instructions
• Where to Buy
• How to Store
• Expert Tips
• Recipes FAQs
• Recipes That Go Well With Milk Tea
• Tiger Milk Tea
• 💬 Comments

Why Make This

1. Taiwanese Tiger Milk Tea Boba, also known as Brown Sugar Boba Tea, is delicious!
2. It's easy to make: 3 simple ingredients + easy steps + under 20 minutes
3. And much cheaper to DIY at home- all those trips to boba shops add up in cost!

Ingredients

• Whole Milk: The creamy texture of the milk goes so well with the butterscotch notes of the brown sugar syrup that you really don't even need the tapioca pearls. I highly recommend using full-fat milk and none of that watery, tasteless skimmed stuff! (The original version, by Tiger Sugar, is made with organic milk FYI.) If you can't get fresh milk, don't fret- I sometimes use UHT milk (which is why I categorized it as a "pantry recipe!")
• Brown sugar: you need to melt this into a thick syrup that will slowly coat the glass (and not slide down like water off a duck's back!) Substitutes: I sometimes use Gula Melaka, jaggery or a DIY dark brown sugar (from white sugar and molasses.)
• Brown sugar tapioca pearls: Black tapioca pearls are a staple of Taiwanese Milk Tea/ Bubble Tea (also known as Taiwanese Zhen Zhu Gai Cai.) The ones for tiger milk tea are slightly special as the tapioca balls are soaked in brown sugar syrup. They taste like butterscotch! (For a South East Asian twist, substitute with Gula Melaka Syrup.) It's really easy to make homemade tapioca pearls, like the ones in my photo. However, if you're in a hurry, buy pre-made tapioca pearls from the Asian grocery store. (I recommend quick cool pearls.)

For a full-list of ingredients, scroll down to the recipe card.

Variations & Substitutes

• Dairy-free Brown Sugar Boba drink: if vegan, substitute regular milk with a vegan milk. The beauty of this Taiwanese drink is in how well the richness of whole milk goes with the caramel syrup, so you want the creamiest plant-based milk you can find. Good options would be cashew milk, oat milk or coconut milk. Preferably, don't use almond milk which is quite sweet- the brown sugar syrup is more than sweet enough!
• Iced Milk Tea: To get a cold brown sugar pearl milk tea, you simply use cold milk straight out of the fridge. Alternatively, you can add cubes of ice. Use bigger cubes to slow down melting and prevent your tea from becoming too diluted.
• Caffeinated Black Tiger Tea recipe: Even though this is called "tiger milk tea", the original (by the boba shop Tiger Sugar) doesn't have any actual tea inside! As this popular drink became more common, variations which used black tea bags started popping up. Alternatively, try this Jasmine Milk Tea Boba.
• Green Tiger Milk Tea: use green tea instead of black.
• Healthier version: use maple syrup that has been thickened by boiling or mixing with a cornstarch slurry (then heated). The name of this drink comes from the "tiger stripes" that the brown sugar syrup makes on the sides of the glass, so you need your syrup thick. If not, they'll run down and disappear before you even add the milk! (That's why you can't substitute the brown sugar syrup with Manuka Honey- honey loses its goodness when boiled!)

Step-by-Step Instructions

Cooking the pearls

Cooking the syrup

Assembling the drink

1. Hold a tall glass horizontally and place the syrup coated boba near the rim/ top of the glass. Slowly straighten the glass to allow the pearls to slide down, and create "tiger stripes."
2. Allow the syrup to rest for 2 minutes before adding the milk- this helps the stripes to harden a little so they don't just disappear into the milk!
3. After the 2 minutes are up, pour the cold milk into the glass.
4. For iced tea (optional): you can add ice cubes but it may dilute the Tiger Milk Tea.

IMPORTANT: if using freshly made syrup, your glass needs to be heat-proof! If not, wait till the caramel is cool before applying it to the cup.

Note: Make sure all the walls of the glass are covered with streaks of syrup to get a pretty effect.

Where to Buy

Milk and brown sugar are obviously available almost everywhere but you will usually need to go to the Asian supermarket (or online) for the tapioca starch pearls.

Fun fact: This drink is so popular you can even buy a bubble tea kit with all the brown sugar tea ingredients! (Note: affiliate link)

How to Store

Although this drink can be kept in the refrigerator overnight, it won't taste good. The streaks will dissolve into the milk after about 10 minutes and your boba will get hard.

Recommendation: make it right before you want to drink it!

Expert Tips

Tip #1: If you don't have brown sugar, you can DIY your own brown sugar using white sugar and molasses.

Tip #2: Cook the pearls right before making the drink- they taste best freshly cooked. Don't be tempted to prepare the drinks in advance as they'll harden and become starchy.

Tip #3: Use a tall glass so you can get the full effect of the beautiful brown stripes! Alternatively, for "Mud Flip Tea," use an air-tight container (such as a Mason Jar) so that you can flip the tea to create the caramel streaks.

Tip #4: You'll need a special thick straw for all those boba pearls!

Recipes FAQs

Recipes That Go Well With Milk Tea

Enjoyed this Taiwanese Tiger Milk Tea recipe? Please leave a 5-star 🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟rating in the recipe card below & if you REALLY liked this delicious drink, a comment would make my week! Thank you and have a great day!

Hope you like this Brown Sugar Milk Tea recipe as much as I do! If you have, a comment or share on social media would make my day! 🙂