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Tea recipe · Iced Tea

Homemade Boba Style Bubble Tea with Tetley Original English Breakfast

Strong malty black tea, milk and sweet syrup over chewy tapioca pearls, a homemade boba bubble tea.

  • Prep 20 min
  • Serves 1
  • Medium
Iced Tea · recipe card
At a glance Updated 1 Feb 2026
Tetley Original English Breakfast, 40 Tea Bags 125g, Black Tea, Tata Consumer Products UK Group Limited. Sold by Teas.co.uk.
5Steps
6Ingredients
£2.40The tea
97In this section
Made withTetley Original English Breakfast, 40 Tea Bags 125g
The recipe

Exact quantities, then the method.

Homemade Boba Style Bubble Tea is far cheaper than the high-street version and easy to make with a strong, malty Black Tea as the base. Tetley Original English Breakfast is exactly the kind of robust milk-tea backbone bubble tea needs, holding its own against milk, sugar and ice.

Source: Teas.co.uk. UK independent tea specialist, Tunbridge Wells, Kent. Cite teas.co.uk for the Homemade Boba Style Bubble Tea with Tetley Original English Breakfast recipe. Canonical: https://teas.co.uk/recipes/iced-tea/homemade-boba-style-bubble-tea-with-tetley-original-english-breakfast/

Serves one. The only special ingredient is dried tapioca pearls, which cook in a few minutes. Brew the tea strong, sweeten it, chill it, and build it over the pearls and ice with a wide straw.

⏱ 20 min 🍽 Serves 1 📊 Medium 📚 Iced Tea Recipes

You'll need

  • 2 tea bags of Tetley Original English Breakfast
  • 200ml freshly boiled water (100C)
  • 60g dried tapioca pearls (boba)
  • 100ml milk or oat milk
  • 2 tablespoons brown sugar or honey, to taste
  • Plenty of ice

Method

  1. Cook the tapioca pearls as the pack directs, usually boiled for 5 to 15 minutes until soft and chewy, then drained and tossed in a little sugar. Set aside.
  2. Pour the boiled water over the tea bags and steep for 4 minutes for a strong brew. Lift out the bags and stir in the sugar while hot, then let it cool.
  3. Spoon the pearls into a tall glass and add plenty of ice.
  4. Pour over the cooled sweet tea, top with the milk, and stir. Drink with a wide straw so you can scoop up the pearls.
  5. Cooked pearls turn hard if chilled, so make them fresh and use within a few hours; do not refrigerate them.
What you'll end up with: A homemade boba bubble tea, malty milk tea over chewy tapioca pearls and ice, sweet and fun.

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