Category: Instructional Contents

This video provides detailed instructions for brewing the perfect cup of milk tea, using precise techniques and tips to achieve the best flavor and texture. Whether you’re preparing a classic milk tea or a bubble tea variation, this guide will help you master the art of milk tea preparation.

Learning Objectives:

• Students will learn how to brew a strong tea concentrate suitable for bubble tea.
• Students will understand the importance of proper tea-to-water ratios, steeping times, and temperatures for different types of tea.
• Students will develop the skills to create a visually appealing and well-balanced bubble tea.

Step-by-Step Guides:

1. Prepare the Tea Concentrate:
   • Measure Tea Leaves:
     • For black tea: Use 6.5 grams of tea leaves.
     • For jasmine tea: Use 6 grams of tea leaves.
     • For oolong tea: Use 6 grams of tea leaves.
   • Heat Water:
     • For black and oolong tea: Heat water to 180°F (82°C).
     • For jasmine tea: Heat water to 165°F (74°C).
   • Steep the Tea:
     • Pour 100 grams of hot water over the tea leaves.
     • Steep black and oolong tea for 8 minutes.
     • Steep jasmine tea for 4 minutes.
   • Strain and Cool:
     • Strain out the tea leaves.
     • Pour in 80 grams of cold water to cool the tea and dilute the concentrate slightly.
     • The resulting tea concentrate should measure about 160 grams (~3/4 cup).
2. Cook the Tapioca Pearls:
   • Boil Water:
     • Bring a large pot of water to a rolling boil. Use at least 5-6 cups of water per cup of tapioca pearls.
   • Add Tapioca Pearls:
     • Slowly add the tapioca pearls to the boiling water, stirring gently to prevent sticking.
     • Wait until the pearls float to the surface (about 2-3 minutes).
   • Simmer the Pearls:
     • Reduce the heat to medium and let the pearls simmer for 20-30 minutes, stirring occasionally.
   • Rest the Pearls:
     • After cooking, turn off the heat and let the pearls sit in the hot water for an additional 15-20 minutes.
   • Drain and Rinse:
     • Drain the pearls and rinse them under cold water. Optional: Toss the pearls in simple syrup to add sweetness.
3. Mix the Bubble Tea:
   • Ingredients:
     • ¾ cup tea concentrate
     • ½ cup milk (choose a milk where the cream flavor isn’t too strong)
     • 40 grams simple syrup (adjust for desired sweetness)
     • Cooked tapioca pearls
     • Ice
   • Combine Ingredients:
     • Pour the simple syrup into the milk and stir well.
     • Add cooked tapioca pearls to the bottom of a glass.
     • Add ice to the glass.
     • Pour in the milk and syrup mixture.
     • Gently pour the tea concentrate on top to create a layered effect.
4. Optional: Shaking for Texture:
   • For a frothier texture, shake the entire mixture in a cocktail shaker before serving.
5. Serve and Enjoy:
   • Stir the drink well before consuming to blend the flavors.
   • Serve with a wide straw to enjoy the tapioca pearls, and enjoy your perfectly balanced and refreshing bubble tea.

Tips for Brewing the Perfect Bubble Tea:

• Tea Strength: Adjust the tea-to-water ratio, steeping time, and temperature to fine-tune the flavor of your tea concentrate.
• Pearl Texture: Ensure the tapioca pearls are cooked to the desired level of chewiness.
• Presentation: If visual appeal is important, avoid shaking the drink and instead gently layer the ingredients for a striking gradient effect.

Instructions:

1. Read the Guide: Students should thoroughly read the guide to understand each step involved in brewing the perfect bubble tea, including the preparation of tea concentrate and cooking tapioca pearls.
2. Practice Brewing: Encourage students to practice brewing bubble tea on their own, following the detailed steps provided in the guide to ensure they achieve the desired flavor and texture.
3. Reflect and Experiment: After brewing, students should reflect on the process and experiment with different variations, adjusting ingredients and techniques to create their own custom bubble tea recipes.

Readings/Videos/Podcasts:

This infographic offers a visual guide to the essential equipment and supplies needed to open and operate a successful bubble tea shop. It covers key machines, tools, and supplies required for brewing tea, cooking tapioca pearls, mixing ingredients, and serving bubble tea. This guide will help students and aspiring entrepreneurs understand the importance of each piece of equipment and how it contributes to the overall bubble tea experience.

Learning Objectives:

• Students will identify and understand the function of essential bubble tea equipment.
• Students will learn how to select and use the right equipment to ensure consistency and quality in bubble tea preparation.

Content Overview:

1. Sealer Machine:
   • Description: This iconic machine seals bubble tea cups with plastic film, creating a fun experience for customers. It is essential for maintaining the freshness of the drink and preventing spills. The sealer must match the cup material (PP, PET, or paper) to ensure proper sealing.
2. Shaker Machine:
   • Description: The shaker machine automates the process of mixing tea, milk, sweeteners, and ice, ensuring a smooth and well-blended drink. It’s a time-saving tool that guarantees consistency in flavor.
3. Fructose Dispenser:
   • Description: An automatic fructose dispenser measures and dispenses the exact amount of sweetener into each drink, ensuring consistent sweetness levels and reducing training time for staff.
4. Blender:
   • Description: A high-power blender is used to create blended or frozen bubble tea drinks. Blenders with sound enclosures are recommended to reduce noise in the shop while maintaining power to blend ice and fruit.
5. Automatic Tea Brewer:
   • Description: This machine simplifies the tea brewing process by allowing you to preset different brewing times and temperatures for various types of tea, ensuring consistency and quality in every cup.
6. Automatic Tapioca Pearl Cooker:
   • Description: This cooker automates the process of boiling and stirring tapioca pearls, ensuring they are cooked evenly and preventing them from sticking or burning. This is essential for maintaining the desired chewy texture.
7. Bubble Tea Supplies:
   • Description: Includes clear or custom-printed cups, fat straws, plastic shaker cups, and sealer film. These supplies are vital for serving and enjoying bubble tea, with custom options enhancing brand identity.
8. Insulated Tea Dispensers:
   • Description: These dispensers keep brewed tea at the ideal temperature until it’s served, ensuring the tea remains fresh and flavorful. They are available in different sizes, with 5L dispensers recommended for optimal freshness.
9. Utensils and Tools:
   • Description: Essential tools include metal stirrers, measuring cups, plastic scoops for powders, syrup pumps, tapioca pearl scoops, and scales. These utensils are critical for accurate preparation and portion control in bubble tea-making.

Instructions:

Reading Bubble Tea Equipment and Supplies List, Bubble Tea Supplies List

1. Study the Infographic: Students should review the infographic to become familiar with each piece of equipment and its role in the bubble tea-making process.
2. Identify Equipment: Encourage students to identify and understand the equipment they may need for a bubble tea shop, whether starting out or expanding.
3. Apply Knowledge: As students practice making bubble tea, they need to draw a infographic as a reference to ensure they are using the equipment correctly and efficiently.

Infographic example:

This section provides an in-depth exploration of the essential ingredients used in bubble tea, detailing their roles and importance in creating the perfect beverage. Students will learn about the different types of tea, sweeteners, tapioca pearls, milk options, and flavorings, and how each ingredient contributes to the overall flavor, texture, and quality of bubble tea.

Learning Objectives:

• Students will identify and describe the best teas for milk tea and understand their impact on flavor.
• Students will differentiate between global milk tea varieties and appreciate their cultural significance.
• Students will explore various bubble tea toppings and their role in enhancing texture and flavor.
• Students will distinguish between flavoring options and learn to combine them for a balanced bubble tea.

Content Overview:

1. Types of Tea:
   • Best Teas for Milk Tea:
     • Assam: Known for its full body and malty, spicy notes, Assam is a popular choice for milk tea.
     • Ceylon: A smooth and aromatic black tea from Sri Lanka, well-suited for blending with milk.
     • Nilgiri: A lighter black tea with notes of honey and stone fruit, offering a balanced flavor when combined with milk.
     • English Breakfast: A classic blend of black teas designed to pair well with milk and sweetener.
     • Irish Breakfast: A strong, full-bodied tea perfect for robust milk tea blends like Hokkaido milk tea.
     • Vietnamese Golden Tips: A lesser-known but high-quality black tea with notes of caramel and burnt sugar, ideal for milk tea.
     • Flavored Black Teas: Earl Grey, Masala Chai, and Vanilla Velvet are great options for adding extra flavor to your milk tea.
     • Matcha: Culinary grade matcha is perfect for making matcha tea lattes, offering a bold, grassy flavor that pairs well with milk.
     • Rooibos: For a caffeine-free option, Rooibos teas like Vanilla Rooibos or Rooibos Chai provide a hearty base for milk tea.
   • Varieties:
     • Classic British Milk Tea: In the UK, milk tea is typically made by brewing strong black tea, such as English Breakfast or Assam, and adding a splash of milk. It’s a staple in British tea culture and can be sweetened with sugar or enjoyed with just milk.
     • Hokkaido Milk Tea: Originating from Japan, this milk tea is made using a robust black tea base like Assam, combined with rich Hokkaido milk and often sweetened with honey or caramel.
     • Okinawa Milk Tea: Also from Japan, this variety uses black tea blended with Okinawa brown sugar (kokuto), which imparts a complex, nuanced sweetness.
     • Boba (Bubble Tea): Originally from Taiwan, this popular variation is often made with milk and black tea, served with chewy tapioca pearls. Boba comes in a wide range of flavors, from fruity to floral, and is typically served iced.
     • Hong Kong Milk Tea: Made with strong black tea and either evaporated milk or sweetened condensed milk, this tea is known for its rich, creamy texture and is a staple of Hong Kong’s tea culture.
     • Masala Chai: A spiced milk tea from India, Masala Chai combines black tea with traditional Indian spices and steamed milk, offering a flavorful and aromatic experience.
     • Thai Tea: A sweet and spicy milk tea from Thailand, often served iced and flavored with ingredients like star anise, tamarind, and sweetened condensed milk.
     • Tea Lattes: Tea lattes, like matcha lattes and chai lattes, are becoming increasingly popular. These drinks are made by blending tea with steamed, frothed milk, similar to a coffee latte.
     • Milk Oolong: While not technically a milk tea, Milk Oolong is a special variety of oolong tea that has a naturally creamy, buttery flavor, making it a unique and luxurious option for tea lovers.
2. Toppings:
   • Aloe Vera:
     • Description: Extracted from aloe vera plants, this topping is highly refreshing and slightly bitter, making it an excellent addition to fruity bubble teas, especially during the summer.
   • Aiyu Jelly:
     • Description: Known as ice flower jelly, aiyu jelly is primarily made of water and is famous for its cooling properties. It pairs perfectly with citrus or honey-flavored bubble teas.
   • Pearl:
     • Description: The traditional boba pearls are chewy and fun, enhancing the flavor profile of the drink while adding a playful texture.
   • Mini Pearl:
     • Description: A smaller version of the classic boba pearl, mini pearls provide the same chewy experience but in smaller sizes and larger quantities, ensuring a taste of pearls in every sip.
   • Lychee Jelly:
     • Description: This topping captures the sweet, floral essence of lychee fruit. Its chewy texture and tropical flavor make it a popular choice for enhancing both the appearance and taste of bubble tea.
   • Pudding:
     • Description: With a creamy, custard-like texture, pudding adds a sweet and caramelized flavor to bubble tea. Its golden color provides a beautiful contrast to the drink’s liquid texture.
   • Red Bean:
     • Description: Offering a nutty, earthy flavor, red beans are slightly sweet and have a tender texture. They pair particularly well with classic milk tea or matcha-based bubble teas.
   • Creama:
     • Description: A cheese foam topping with a creamy, airy texture. The sweetness of creama is balanced by a hint of saltiness, making it an ideal topping for any bubble tea.
   • Ice Cream:
     • Description: Adding ice cream to bubble tea makes the drink sweeter and creamier as it melts. It’s a great complement to cold bubble teas, offering a richer texture and enhanced flavor.
3. Flavors:
   • Cream Flavored Powders:
     • It varies in quality (A, B, and C grades) with “A” grade offering better taste, texture, and a more natural fruit flavor due to a higher percentage of real fruit juice. Lower grades (B & C) contain more creamer and sweetener, which can result in an artificial taste. It’s recommended to compare powders side by side to identify the best quality.
   • Tea Flavored Powders:
     • It replicates traditional tea flavors without the need for brewing, suitable for making black or green milk tea, and can be combined with cream powders. Infused tea powders like lavender and rose are also popular.
   • Gourmet Coffee Powders:
     • It provides easy preparation for iced coffee drinks, including flavors like cafe latte and french vanilla.
   • Juice Flavored Syrups:
     • They are concentrated syrups made from real fruit juices, often containing fruit pieces, used to infuse teas or make blended bubble teas, offering a fresh, fruity flavor.

Instructions:

1. Read the Material:
   • Students should carefully read through the entire content to understand the roles of each ingredient in bubble tea.
     • What is Milk Tea? History, Types, and How to Brew
     • 10 Popular Bubble Tea Toppings and Add-ons
     • Bubble Tea Components
2. Highlight Key Points: Encourage students to highlight or take notes on ingredients they are particularly interested in or unfamiliar with.
3. Reflect and Experiment: After reading, students should consider how they might combine these ingredients in their bubble tea recipes and think about potential new flavor combinations.

Readings/Videos/Podcasts:

Boba Milk Tea by Jasmine Pak and Tasty Team

Classic Milk Tea By Andrew Chau, Bin Chen, and Richard Parks

How To Make Milk Tea: 5 Different Recipes by Matt Caron

Learning Objectives:

• Understand the historical background of bubble tea.
• Recognize the cultural significance and global impact of bubble tea.
• Appreciate the value of learning bubble tea-making skills.

These two videos tutorial provides an engaging introduction to the world of bubble tea, covering its origins, cultural significance, and global popularity. Students will learn about the history of bubble tea, how it became a beloved beverage across different cultures, and why mastering this skill is both fun and valuable.

Instructions:

1. Watch the Video: Students should watch the entire video to gain a foundational understanding of bubble tea.
2. Take Notes: Encourage students to take notes on key historical events and cultural points mentioned in the video.
3. Reflect: After watching, students can reflect on why bubble tea might be popular in their own communities and consider the relevance of this skill in today’s world.

Readings/Videos/Podcasts:

All the Ways to Make Bubble Tea, Taiwan’s Pearl-fect Drink By Julia Janicki and Daisy Chung