How to Make Taro Milk Tea

Taro Milk Tea with Black Tapioca Pearls (Bubbles) Kung Fu Tea Style

My girlfriend and I are huge fans of Kung Fu Tea — and their Taro Milk Tea in particular. Depending on the location, two drinks could cost anywhere from nine to fourteen dollars, which always left us craving more. Such an addiction is not sustainable.

Discovery through Trial and Error

It took about six attempts and consulting a couple of friends who have worked at various boba tea establishments to hack the perfect recipe. The recipes I found on the first page of Google were all different — water or heavy cream or sweetened condensed milk, boiled taro root or taro powder, sugar or simple syrup or black/green tea. It was information overload. I tried this recipe and this recipe and this recipe. I even tried a recipe from Snapchat. No combination tasted right.

My first attempt included fresh taro root. I had to call Whole Foods several times for the produce manager to inform me taro was in stock. Supposedly the larger the root is, the more starch it has, giving the drink a more round flavor. So I purchased a couple large ones, peeled and boiled them until they could be pierced with a fork. I added them into the drink using a blender but no matter how long I pureed, the texture was not right…