Guam is well-known for its clear seawater, white-sand beaches, and world-class hotels. However, Guam cuisine has evolved over the years to reflect its diversity, becoming a mixture of American, Filipino, and other Asian cultures. No wonder, knowing it’s US territory located near the Asian continent.
Given that heat and humidity in Guam can be pretty intense, drinking cold beverages will help you catch a breath. Logically, water and beer are in demand in Guam but so is tea, especially one kind – bubbly tea, so characteristic for Guam.
Before we proceed with this story, let’s mention that people in the rest of the world agree with Guamanians because two tea days are ranked as second and third in the Betway list which is based on searched Instagramhashtags and Google search history related to food and drink days. Tea Day (#2) scored 20,469, while Iced Tea Day (#3) scored 14,304.
One can easily get “addicted” on this drink once tasted it in Guam. If someone asks you while on this island if you would like bubble tea, the first thought might be – how tea can be sparkling and who the hell drinks that? And then you find out it’s fruit tea. Also, you see it can be with milk, which they make as tea, or thick as a smoothie because they grind ice cubes with fruit. You can choose the type of fruit to your taste.
When you try it, your first reaction will be: aw, well, this is fantastic, especially those balls that rest at the bottom of the glass. These are black tapioca pearls that are native to Asia (where they are called sago or boba). Now, in order to spread the story all over the world and explain to people how good this drink is, we’ll give a recipe for making the most basic bubbly tea. For extra smirk – come to Guam…
How to Make Boba
If you have an Asian store close by, buy black tapioca balls. All Asiatic stores generally have them.
- Ingredients (recipe serves 4 people): 100 g of boba (tapioca pearls), 500 ml of water
- For the sweet syrup: 200 g sugar, 250 ml water
- Tea Ingredients: use the tea you like (green tea, white tea, fruit tea, etc.)
- Water to pour the tea over
- How much tea so much fruit juice or frozen fruit, milk
- Ice cubes
Preparation:
- Boil water and sugar syrup first. Typically, a 1:1 ratio is used but somewhere out of 2 parts of water 1 part of sugar. Put sugar and water in a saucepan and cook only until the sugar has completely dissolved (simple syrup) and set aside to allow the syrup to cool completely.
- Pour water into another pan until it boils. When it boils, add the boba balls (boba balls can be purchased in different colors, but black give the best contrast in the glass) and cook them for about 15 minutes. Turn off the hotplate, cover and let it stand for 15 minutes. Process them and place them in chilled syrup. Store this in a refrigerator in a closed jar. Boba balls prepared in this way can be refrigerated for about 7 days. If they stay longer, they will harden and are no longer for use.
- Make the tea you like. Recommendation: green and white green tea flavored with orange that has caffeine in it. Leave it to cool.
- Sweeten the chilled tea with honey or a sweetener, but not much because you will use boba with syrup that’s also sweet. Mix the same amount of tea with fruit juice or grind frozen fruit with chilled tea. Determine the density yourself. Pour the cooled tea into the jug and add ice cubes and orange rings (if you used orange tea and orange juice). Pour boba with syrup into a glass (two tablespoons is enough per person) and pour over with the chilled tea into which you have cut down the fruit from which you use the tea.
