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Brown Sugar Pearl Milk

with No Delivery Fee

How to make Brown Sugar Pearl Milk at home.

By Genevieve Sia

A glass of Home-made Brown Sugar Pearl Milk. Photo: Genevieve Sia

Scrolling through the Food Panda application on your phone, your stomach growls as you scan the array of bubble tea options. You have been craving for brown sugar pearl milk, yet you can't bear to spend on delivery fees. Sighing, you wished you knew how to make the drink yourself.

Bubble tea has become a staple in the lives of many youths. Cheryl Teo, 15, who purchases the drink three times a week, says, "I enjoy it as the taste of milk tea and pearls complement each other perfectly."

Due to the ongoing pandemic, Singaporeans are staying home and ordering food deliveries. For the avid bubble tea fans, delivery fees add up extremely quickly.

When asked about the amount she spends on bubble tea weekly, Cheryl responds that having three drinks weekly can cost her up to $25. “During this COVID season, delivery fees are so high,” she says. She has paid more than $8 per drink compared to the usual cost of $4 per drink.

Are you craving bubble tea but unwilling to fork out extra for the delivery fees? Make it at home by following the steps below.

The recipe was provided by Wayne Zai, who has been working with LiHO for four years. He believes even beginners can successfully make this drink if they follow the recipe carefully.

Step 1: Prepare Your Ingredients.

Main ingredients needed for the project. Photo: Genevieve Sia

You only need four ingredients: 420ml of hot water, 150g of brown sugar, 100g of tapioca starch, and milk.

Ashleigh Paulus, 18, who has attempted to make the drink at home, says, "I spent about $10 to $12 and could easily make 10 cups of bubble tea with the ingredients I bought".

Step 2: Making the Pearl Dough.

Mixing tapioca starch and brown sugar together. Photo: Genevieve Sia

Pour 70ml of water and 50g of brown sugar together into a pan and cook on medium heat. When the sugar dissolves, pour in 100g of tapioca starch slowly and mix. It should look like the photo above.

Make sure to use the right ratio of ingredients. "As long as one step is wrong, the end result and taste will be distinctly different," says Mr Zai.

Step 3: Shaping the Pearls.

Excess starch flour being sifted from the pearls. Photo: Genevieve Sia

Flatten out the dough and cut it into squares with a knife. Then roll the squares into circular shapes and place them in some tapioca starch to prevent sticking. After sifting the excess starch flour, you can prepare the syrup.

Step 4: Cooking the Pearls

Pearls resting in an ice-water bath. Photo: Genevieve Sia

Cook the pearls in hot water for 15 minutes on low heat. Remember to use a shallow pot. My pearls, unfortunately, got flattened because of how deep my pot was.

Following that, immediately place the pearls into an ice-water bath for five minutes. Make sure to stir them gently to prevent them from sticking to one another.

Step 5: Making the Brown Sugar Syrup.

Pearls cooked with the brown sugar syrup. Photo: Genevieve Sia

Dissolve 100g of brown sugar into 350ml of hot water. The consistency should be thick and sticky.

"If the measurements are not accurate, it (the syrup) will become too diluted," says Mr Zai.

After completing the syrup, add the pearls into the mixture and stir them together.

Step 6: Assemble Your Drink.

Carefully scoop the pearls into a cup and lather them with sufficient syrup. Add milk and ice as a final touch, and voilà, the homemade drink is complete.

The final verdict from my family members who have tried the drink, is that it tastes exactly like the store-bought one. The pearls were chewy and the syrup tasted rich.

However, the whole process took me two hours to complete. I only succeeded in my third attempt as I did not follow the recipe perfectly during my first two tries.

Would you rather save money or time? This project is feasible and will get easier after several attempts. In the long run, you will also be saving much more. However, it might not be worth it to spend so much time making the drink each time you are thirsty.