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- Countess of Cocaine (
purple_ivy) wrote in 
bubbleteafans,
New, a BT store, tapioca cooking tips needed
I'm from New Zealand, and stores that sell bubbble tea are rare, so I have to make mine at home, and so far it's been fairly successful.
I discovered Bubble Tea around July this year while staying with my older sister in Auckland City (I'm originally from there but have been living in a small town for the last 6 years). There is a great little shop on Queen Street, just down from Sky City Metro, on the same side as SCM. I think it may be called Milk Tea Shop or something, but I'm not 100% sure on that. It's the only bubble tea store I've found (they also sell ice cream and other things). They've go loads of flavours, very traditional Asian ones like red bean, taro, etc. My favourite is jasmine green tea. It's so good I could just...burst or something.
Anyway, since I live in a small town that's probably never ever heard of bubble tea, I have to make my own. I cannot locate any black tapioca pearls and I'm unsure about ordering over the internet, especially from any companies overseas. So I use the white ones instead, which doesn't add much to the look of the drink but they do they same thing in your mouth!
However, I have yet to perfect the art of cooking them :/
I got a bubble tea recipe off the 'net and the cooking instrctions are pretty good. 1 part tapioca to about 7 parts water, boil water, add tapioca, cook for 25 minutes, ones cooked let rest for 25 minutes. Trouble is the tapioca is never cooked properly and when you bite into them they're hard and...almost powdery inside. The outside is perfect, and some balls are cooked all the way through. I've tried increasing the cooking time and adding more water (boiling from kettle) at this point so they don't go slushy, but it just isn't working.
If you have any tips at all, whatsoever, I'd been so happy to read them! I miss my bubble tea and I want some with tapioca that is actually cooked!
Thanks ^_^