Our wintermelon milk tea recipe makes a sweet and refreshing yet subtly earthy drink. It's a popular bubble tea flavour in Asia during the summer months because wax gourd has cooling properties in traditional Chinese medicine.
Essentially a combination of milk tea and fruit syrup, our homemade wintermelon boba is perfect for combating the summer heat and trying something new.
Our recipe uses fresh fruit and less sugar than boba shops to keep it healthy.
Jump to:
Wintermelon Milk Tea Ingredients
For our wintermelon milk tea recipe, you'll need tea, milk, sugar and wintermelon.
The tea base will determine the consistency of the taste. We recommend using jasmine but oolong works just as well with this fruity flavour. Similarly to preparing oolong milk tea and jasmine milk tea, we recommend following a simple steeping framework to improve the flavour of your wintermelon milk tea.
If you want an extra caramel-like sweetness, we recommend using brown sugar syrup in your bubble tea.
If you've previously tried our strawberry boba recipe, chances are you will find our recipe easy to follow.
Winter melon
When cooked, winter melon or wax gourd has a starchy and earthy flavour similar to taro and sweet potato. It also has a distinct sweetness that is refreshing, unlike any other ingredients. This is also why it works well as bubble tea flavour. Raw winter melon tastes similar to raw potatoes, so we highly recommend you take the time to cook it thoroughly.
To make it into syrup for drinks, peel, chop, and cook the winter melon with brown sugar and rock sugar.
When looking for one at your nearby Asian supermarket, the fruit will either be whole or pre-cut slices.
If they are pre-cut, make sure to pick out ones with firm, clean, and whitish flesh. The more yellow the flesh appears, the less fresh it is. However, do note that pre-cut slices will not remain fresh as long. You should keep them in the refrigerator and use them in 3 to 4 days.
When buying whole ones, pick out ones that feel firm, heavy, and dense. You can also tell whether the fruit is ripe by tapping on its underbelly. If it gives out a deep hollow sound when tapped, it is ripe and full of juice.
Wintermelon Milk Tea Recipe
Ingredients
Winterlon Syrup
- 750 g winter melon
- 1 cup brown sugar
- 4 tablespoon rock sugar
Wintermelon Milk Tea
- 3-4 tablespoon wintermelon syrup as prepared above
- 3-4 tablespoon milk
- 1 bag jasmine tea
- 200 ml hot water
- 2-3 tablespoon tapioca pearls optional
- 1-2 tablespoon sugar or brown sugar syrup, optional
- ice optional
Cooking Instructions
For Wintermelon Tea Syrup
- Start by washing and peeling the fruit. Deseed the fruit and cut it into small pieces, enough to be cooked quickly. Make sure not to discard the seeds. Just set them aside. Get a large pot and add the cubed fruit into it.
- Sprinkle brown sugar on the fruit as you turn on low heat and let it sit for an hour or so. After a while, you will start noticing a liquid layer at the bottom of the pot. The liquid from the melon is collected in this way. Don't get rid of the liquid. Instead, place the pot over medium heat afterwards.
- Add the rock sugar to the pot when the liquid starts to boil. As an option, add the seeds we previously set aside to intensify the taste of the melon.
- Reduce the heat from medium to low, and cool the infusion for 90 minutes as you want the fruit to turn transparent. After it does, remove the pot from heat and let it cool. Extract the winter melon syrup from the fruit with a linen cloth or mesh strainer.
For Milk Tea
- Steep the jasmine tea in hot water for 5 minutes. Once done, mix the optional sugar in and set the hot drink aside to cool down. While steeping tea, you can cook instant tapioca pearls if you prefer.
- Pour the chilled tea and syrup into a glass cup with ice cubes. Then add milk. Serve your wintermelon milk tea chilled.
Recipe Notes
- If you don't have rock sugar, you can replace it with white sugar to make your syrup.
- Our recipe above will result in a low-to-medium sweet winter melon syrup and will not turn out brown compared to the ones used in boba shops. We like ours less sweet. If you want to mimic the ones used in shops, we recommend adding more light brown sugar or dark brown sugar.
- Adding the seeds will enhance the melon's subtle earthy tones.
- You can also make the taste even more exciting by adding tapioca pearls and turning it into a boba drink.
Nutrition
Calories have been calculated using an online calculator. Nutritional information offered on Honest Food Talks is for general information purposes and is only a rough estimate.
Wintermelon Bubble Tea Cooking Tips
You can make the syrup in advance. Your homemade wintermelon syrup will last up to 2 weeks in the fridge. However, we recommend you use it within a week for the best taste.
Instead of a warm beverage, you can also use the watermelon syrup to make an ice-cold beverage, making it all the more refreshing for the coming summers.
To keep your drink refreshing and light, you can also skip the milk and make wintermelon tea using jasmine or green tea leaves.
Syrup Vs. Milk Tea Powder
Buying wintermelon milk tea powder milk is generally considered a cheaper and lower-quality option because it has preservatives added to make it last longer. In comparison, winter melon syrup is fresher, with a strong and thick concentrate that infuses well with boba drinks. Some syrups even contain pieces of real fruit. They are also favoured because they provide a more refreshing taste, enhancing the overall flavour of the beverage.
This is not to say that flavoured powder does not get the job done just as well. Rather, powders come in varying qualities. Premium Grade "A" powders are flavorful and have a strong taste as real fruits are used to create that flavour. However, low-quality powders have a higher percentage of creamers and sweeteners added to enhance the flavour instead of bringing out the natural fruit taste.
Many prefer to use the powder as it is more convenient and easier to store.
Additional Toppings
The most popular wintermelon milk tea topping is definitely plain tapioca pearls. However, here's a full list of our favourite combinations that you can have fun and experiment with.
- Sago
- Ice cream
- Chia seeds
- Crushed oats
- Mung bean
- Honey boba
- Red bean paste
- Whipped cream
- Sweet potato balls
- Taro balls
- Mango popping boba
- Strawberry popping boba
- Green tea tapioca pearls
- Brown sugar tapioca pearls
Popular Variations
This chilled beverage is generally preferred by those who are looking for a refresher on a hot day. The drink is light and soothes the senses from the unforgivable heat. Naturally, it makes sense that there are multiple variations of the drink available in the market. These are some you can experiment with at home too.
- Latte boba drink with whipped cream
- With rock salted cheese foam
- Green jasmine tea base
Is It Healthy?
Wintermelon milk tea is considered a healthy option among boba drinks due to the medicinal properties of the melon. The fruit is rich in vitamins and antioxidants, which can help reduce gastrointestinal distress, maintain weight, and reduce stress. It also lowers overall cholesterol levels in the body.
Winter melon syrup is still widely used in traditional medicine. It is used in the form of hot soup or drinks for relief from high blood pressure. A study by the International Journal of Pharmaceutical Sciences and Research found wintermelon powder or extract to have anti-diabetic potential. The study states that it has helped control blood glucose levels.
Of course, adding milk and/or artificial sweeteners to wintermelon milk tea would negate its health benefits. As a high-sugar diet is generally unhealthy, we recommend reducing the sugar content if you would like to enjoy this beverage regularly.
Despite Chinese traditional medicine health claims, wintermelon milk tea is one of the more unique drink flavours you could try. It may not be the first thing that comes to mind when you think of boba. However, once you try a few variations of it, chances are you will end up with a new favourite. Whether you take it hot or cold, the distinct taste of winter melon is going to keep you coming for more.
If you're looking to try more exciting recipes that are easy to follow, check out our Instagram @honestfoodtalks.
Seema
Always order it when I go to gongcha! Love how I can make it now!
Bel
Love this boba flavor so much!
Alisa
The mellow sweetness is my fav about this drink. Made this for my husband and he loved it too!
Roseann
simply perfff
Biley
Made this for my daughter and she's been asking me to make more ever since
Joycelyn
This is my favorite drink to get!