Starbucks Boba (Coffee Popping Pearls & Coffee)
Our Starbucks boba recipe will teach you how to make an imitation of Starbucks coffee and your very own popping bubbles using black coffee. The result is a deliciously textured and flavoured drink imitating the soon-to-be-released Starbucks Boba.
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Servings: 1 serving
Calories: 493kcal
Ingredients
For the Coffee Popping Pearls
- 150 g black coffee (Starbucks House Blend)
- 5 g sodium alginate (food grade)
- 1 l (1 kg) distilled water
- 50 ml (50 g) drinking water
- 6 g calcium lactate
- 2 cups clean drinking water for rinsing
For the Starbucks boba
- 2 cups ice
- 1 cup Starbucks cold brew
- ¾ cup milk
- 3 tbsps flavoured syrup of your choice
- 4 tbsps simple syrup
- ¼ teaspoon xanthan gum
- Whipped cream (optional)
Instructions
For the coffee popping pearls
- Dissolve the calcium lactate in 1 kg of distilled water. Allow for 4 hours of rest time or overnight. Strain.
- Combine sodium alginate with drinking water. Stir until thickened and smooth. Then whisk in the 150 grams of cold brew or black coffee. Refrigerate the coffee mixture for up to two hours.
- Drop the coffee mixture into the calcium lactate solution, drop by drop, with a dropper or a syringe. Allow it to rest for 10 minutes. Rinse the coffee popping pearls in the clean drinking water before setting them aside. They are now ready to use in Starbucks boba.
For the Starbucks boba
- Make 1 shot of espresso, or brew 1 cup of coffee using your preferred method. You can also use store-bought or instant coffee. Chill the coffee or espresso in the refrigerator for 1 hour. If using espresso, add enough water to make the entire amount of liquid measure 1 cup.
- Add the ice, milk, syrup, flavoured syrup, xanthan gum, and coffee into the blender. Blend on high speed until the mixture is smooth with no large chunks of ice.
- In a tall glass, add the coffee popping pearls. Pour the blended coffee on top of it. Top with whipped cream, if desired. Add a boba straw or a spoon and serve cold. Enjoy!
Video
Notes
- Ensure the 150 grams of black coffee or cold brew does not include calcium. This might affect the spherification process. To be safe, use store-bought bottles of cold brew and check the ingredients on the back to make sure there is no calcium in the coffee.
- The whipped cream is optional. However, it is how Starbucks tops most of their ice-blended drinks. But feel free to omit it if you prefer.
- These coffee-popping bubbles are entirely vegan (and kosher and halal) as sodium alginate, and calcium lactate are not animal products. Additionally, you can also make the drink with non-dairy milk.
- For the Starbucks Boba ingredients, we found the combination above to be the best copycat version. However, feel free to choose what base coffee flavour you prefer. In our video recipe, we chose to use Starbucks Caramel Latte as our base for the drink.
Nutrition
Calories: 493kcalCarbohydrates: 108gProtein: 6gFat: 6gSaturated Fat: 3gCholesterol: 22mgSodium: 251mgPotassium: 652mgFiber: 1gSugar: 103gVitamin A: 296IUCalcium: 369mgIron: 3mg
Calories have been calculated using an online calculator. Nutritional information offered on Honest Food Talks is for general information purposes and are only rough estimations.
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