Iced Coffee Boba

Author: Jee Choe

Make delicious and easy iced coffee with boba at home with my step-by-step directions.

5 from 4 votes

Prep Time 2

Cook Time 10

Total Time 12

Course Drinks

Yield serving (16 ounces)

Boil water and brown sugar in a saucepan. Add tapioca balls.
Combine brown sugar and water in a saucepan and bring to a boil. When you see big bubbles (2-4 minutes), add tapioca balls. Cook for another 8 minutes on medium-high heat. Cool slightly, until tapioca balls aren't too hot to eat, though they should still be very warm.

Put warm tapioca balls in brown sugar syrup into a cup. Add ice, then the cooled down coffee. Top with half & half.
Boba should be very warm but not too hot to eat. Coffee should be room temperature or cooler. Do not use hot coffee.
Serve immediately and stir before drinking. Use an extra wide straw to drink.

Use 3 tablespoons of ground coffee and 1 cup of water to brew 3/4 cup of strong coffee. You can use 2 tablespoons of ground coffee and 1 cup of water if you want it to be a little less strong.
Tapioca balls that have cooled down just a bit so that they're not too hot to eat but still very warm, have the perfect boba consistency where they're soft and chewy.
The brown sugar and water creates a brown sugar syrup, that sweetens the drink and the tapioca balls. Adding brown sugar to just the coffee didn't give the drink enough depth of flavor so I use this method so it's tastier.
If you don't have a drip coffee machine, you can replace the coffee in this recipe with cold brew coffee. You can also use coffee made in a French press that has been cooled down.
Tapioca balls can't be made too much ahead of time since they'll harden after 4 hours. They're best when you cook and cool them a little, and then serve the drink right away.
Boba drinks are all served with a wide straw so you get some of the boba with each sip of the drink. Regular straws are not wide enough and the boba will be stuck at the bottom of the glass.
Chew the tapioca balls instead of swallowing them whole.