Want to elevate your afternoon tea party menu? This alcohol-free Earl Grey tea tonic boba is super easy to make, pretty, and tastes absolutely delicious.
What is a tea tonic?
Tea tonic is a drink made with icy cold tonic and brewed tea. The idea originated from coffee tonic; a refreshing drink made with a shot of espresso poured over cold tonic. To get a two layered look, make sure the tonic is fresh and icy cold and always pour tea straight onto the ice.
Tea tonic usually contains a caffeinated tea, so make sure to use a decaf tea for a caffeine-free drink.
What is the best tea for making tea tonic boba?
You can use any tea you want to make this drink. Earl grey is a wonderful classic choice that pairs extremely well with tonic and grape flavoured boba pearls. You can also use other types of black tea, both flavoured and pure. Stronger pure of flavoured green teas, dark oolongs, ripe pu'erh and flavoured shou mei white teas are all great choices. Choose teas you usually enjoy drinking.
Tonic is already sweet enough, and this drink doesn't need any additional sweeteners. However, always brew the tea properly to avoid extreme bitterness or murkiness.
Some great teas to try:
- Assam black tea
- Mango flavoured black tea
- Coconut flavoured black tea
- Peach flavoured green tea
- Red robe oolong tea
Why adding popping boba?
Popping boba is a boba tea ingredient filled with fruit juices. When you bite into it, popping boba will burst, adding another delicious fruity note to tea tonic. These boba pearls are used for making fruit bobas rather than milk boba teas. They come in a whole range of flavours, such as peach, pineapple, lychee, grapes, mango etc. Popping boba doesn't need to be cooked or washed and you can simply add them to any juice or drink.
Ingredients for making Tea Tonic Boba
Tonic: choose any tonic you want, as long as it's freshly opened. Avoid using flat tonics. Alternatively, you can use a flavoured carbonated water too.
Tea: make a stronger brew using 1 heaped teaspoon of tea leaves, and steep for 3-5 minutes, depending on the tea type. If you want to extract more flavour, add more tea leaves instead of steeping them longer.
Popping boba: They are usually available in smaller containers, enough for making three drinks. If you are using regular unflavoured black or green tea, choose your favourite flavour. If you are using flavoured teas, try to match the popping boba flavour with the flavour of tea. Grape flavoured pearls pair extremelly well with earl grey tea. Add popping boba before adding ice.
Ice: add lots of ice into tonic before adding tea. Set aside for a couple of minutes until your tonic is icy cold. While waiting, brew the tea to save time.
Earl Grey Tea Tonic Boba
Equipment
- Kettle
- Serving glass
Ingredients
- 120 ml tonic or 1/3 glass
- 120 ml brewed tea or 1/3 glass
- 3 tablespoons of grape popping boba
- 1 heaped teaspoon Earl Grey tea or tea of your choice
- 150 ml water for making tea
- ice
Instructions
- Bring fresh water to a boil.
- Pour 120 ml of cold tonic into a serving glass.
- Add popping boba and lots of ice. Set aside.
- Steep 1 heaped teaspoon of tea leaves in freshly boiled water for 3-5 minutes.
- If needed, add more ice into a serving glass with tonic and popping boba. Slowly pour freshly boiled tea directly onto ice.
- Serve immediately. Add boba straw or a long-handled teaspoon.