Testing Cheap vs Expensive Boba Tea Kits (unexpected results!) 

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Homemade boba nerd here. Not rinsing the cooked boba in cold water immediately after removing them from the warm soak definitely affected the texture. Boba has to be warm to be soft, and a blast of cold then makes it chewy. Science! If you want chewier boba, soak them in an ice water bath after the cooking/resting process is done. The longer they soak in ice water, the firmer they will get. This is why they get hard in the fridge! This is also the wonderful thing about homemade boba, you can experiment with different cooking times and techniques to get the perfect texture you love. To reuse the boba after it's hardened up in the fridge, you just need to add a little water and reheat it to make it soft again, Pop it in the microwave for 20-30 seconds or until the syrup starts to bubble, and that softens it up again. If you forget, just fish out the boba from your drink into a little bowl and do it, it's not too late. Also, brown sugar is way, way better than white sugar for the sugar syrup, IMO. You can also add a little honey or molasses for additional flavor. I cook my sugar syrup down so that it's more concentrated, that also keeps longer in the fridge. And if you can get okinawa roasted brown sugar, it's even better. And! Making homemade boba is not difficult! It's just brown sugar, tapioca flour, and water, with a few steps to form the dough properly. You can also use any tea you prefer (good quality black tea is the way to go, IMO, but YMMV).

KATELYN WHAT ABOUT THE FUEL NEEDED TO GET TO YOUR BOBA SHOP?!? If that is taken into consideration, is it still cheaper than the "cheap" 3 pack?

So, as someone who worked in a boba tea shop, the reason you might like the instant boba pearls more is because they have SOAKED in simple syrup while being delivered and everything. That makes them sweeter than the ones you prepared yourself. Not to mention they could have made brown sugar simple syrup, or used jelly instead of boba (which is similar, but can stay refrigerated or sit in a closed container for multiple days). Ok love you, byyyyeeeee

You can buy a bag of super cheap tapioca balls in Asian supermarkets. Steep your favorite tea for 5 minutes and then add ice and to cold brew for a couple hours. This makes it strong and not bitter. Make a lot of tea, enough for the week, and keep it in a pitcher in the fridge. Add a bit of sweetened condensed milk and some milk. Plus your balls of course. Super easy and cheap. The sweetened condensed milk really adds something nice.

As a fellow lazy boba lover, I found you can buy a big pack of dry boba balls at most Asian grocery stores. You can make it all yourself like with the expensive kit. It takes like 15min and way cheaper than all of them.

Just in case you didn't know, you can also make your own boba using tapioca starch, and it is quite quick! You then get to use you favorite teas or coffees for the drink portion, and soak the pearls in your preferred syrup flavors! We make it often at home, because I am too lazy to drive to go bring some home 😅

As someone who used to work in a cafe that made its own boba tea, I can tell you you can buy bulk bags of dried tapioca pearls that you can boil in batches and keep sealed for months in an air tight container. Allowing you to then make your own tea flavours every day. It also stores well cooked for about a week. So you’d be looking at $100 for a years worth of boba. You also make the syrup to soak and reheat the boba is by saving the boiling water from cooking the boba and mixing that with brown sugar. Recommended to keep the cooked boba in this brown sugar goo syrup when storing. Storing it in thick syrup instead of thin milky tea stops the pearls going mushy and dissolving

as someone who has been perfecting homemade boba for a few months now, here is my advice go to your local asian supermarket and get the boba that comes in the shrink wrapped packages (i get the stuff in the bright red bag, its $5 for 2 pounds and makes 20-25 drinks worth of boba) boil a cup or so of it for 5 mins, then drain most of the water and add about a cup of brown sugar. cook for a few more minutes until you get a good syrup get some cheap but not awful tea, and brew a large pot of it slightly stronger than the package recommends put your tea and your boba/syrup in separate containers and refrigerate to make a drink, just put some boba in the bottom of a glass and microwave it for about 30 sec to soften the pearls. then, add your ice, milk, and pre-chilled tea. it's super easy with limited prep, and i've found the pearls last a little over a week in the fridge. and, if you can find everything for the same price i paid, it works out to $0.72 a cup ($0.06/oz)

5:30 scissors. cut straw. voila.

The pointy straw is actually important for keeping a portion of the straw off the bottom of the glass, both for allowing the boba to slip into the opening without you holding the straw up, and for keeping you from getting suction to the bottom of the glass.

Some notes for boba: using a brown sugar syrup rather than a simple syrup will give you those caramely toasty notes that people like in boba, you should rinse in cold water after taking it out of the hot water to stop it cooking and give it a good qq texture that boba is known for! Good luck on your home boba journey : )

from someone who works at a boba shop -- the second brand is basically how we make boba for real. It takes about an hour to cook where I work (30 mins boiling, 30 mins simmering). We make a brown sugar syrup, which is what gives boba the brown sugar flavor. You didn't add brown sugar so it wont have that flavor lol 😂 also, boba can definitely not last multiple days. At my store, we have to throw it out after 4 hours, though I think the specific time depends on the brand.

i think buying the boba in the lil bags (about $3 usd) and making the tea yourself (this varies GREATLY in price depending on taste) and finding a good recipe of how to make the syrup might end up being cheaper and easier than some kits, while also using ingredients you already have around the house. The amount of work is, imo, somewhere between the cheap and the expensive kit, but with the added benefit of customization and pre prep. You can prepare the tea in advance so it's nice and cold, but you can make how much actual boba you want per cup since the ones that come in the bag only take 5 minutes to boil so there's no time commitment

You have no idea how much I love this episode!! I’m sure others have said this before, but as a former No barista I’ve got a few tips for the expensive boba kit!! First off, absolutely so NOT save the boba for the next day (hard and yucky)!! The cheap kit’s tea probably tastes better because most milk tea in boba shops is made using milk powder/powder creamer. “Fresh Milk” tends to be the one made with liquid milk. I’d recommend using the powdered dairy creamer instead of half-n-half! For the boba pearls: use brown sugar syrup!! The brown sugar is very important for the flavor of the tea. Typically for our tea sweetener we use a regular simple syrup, but the pearls were always soaked in brown sugar syrup. Lastly for the teas, the temperature and steep time makes a difference! Thai tea and black tea can be steeped hotter for longer, but green tea needs to be 135 and 5 minutes max! My boba chain did Thai tea at 212 for 25 minutes and black tea at 212 for 10/15 if I remember right. Have fun using the rest of your kits!!

Making homemade boba is the best. I definitely would love to see you guys make your own boba at home and try different recipes. There's even recipes for homemade popping pearls.

You can bulk make the tapioca pearls ahead of time, let the pearls sit in some brown sugar syrup and place them in a zip lock bag and throw them in the freezer, lay it flat, that way it’s thin enough to break apart or freeze them in mini individual servings (best kept in a sealed tight container). Afterwards you can then boil/microwave the amount you need and it’s just as good as how you made it the first time 💖💖💖 (commenting this again because this hack has helped me get my boba fix quicker)

I am going to take this moment of being early to request that y’all do a will it Rice Krispie episode with your magic broccoli

As a British person, and a tea addict (although that kind of goes as said), I have never seen tea bags that big before and now I desperately need them

as someone who used to work at a boba shop: - the main deference is that the instant is BROWN SUGAR boba vs normal tapioca causing a major difference in taste - you can buy large quantities of tapioca from your local asian store for a lot cheaper and mass brew tea for usage - we always threw out boba after a few hours it gets gross quickly - brown sugar boba gets incredibly difficult to make at home due to stickiness tbh

Great video guys! I’ve worked at multiple boba shops and have been a tea steeper at home for many years and it’s awesome to see you two getting into it! Here’s some information that I think you guys would benefit from- High quality boba & tea at home is definitely a hobby, and not a convenience 😅 if you’re looking for fun, fast, easy boba at home then the instant packs are great! BUT there is definitely a lot of potential in high quality boba supplies. This kit may have cut some corners, and the things that got cut seemed to be the things that you two value in boba-brown sugar, and milk tea taste. Most boba shops soak their boba in a brown sugar mixture after cooking, which leads to that classic taste, which this kit didn’t include. A lot of boba shops use a non-dairy powder creamer for their milk teas, which, when added to high quality fresh brewed black tea creates that classic milk tea taste. The instant milk tea is most likely non-dairy creamer mixed with concentrated black tea, which is why it had that classic taste. You can get non-dairy creamer on Amazon from a company called Tea Zone, and this is the same stuff used by boba shops. (Not all boba shops, but a lot of boba shops.) When you steep good quality tea at home (like from the kit) and add in the non-dairy creamer, you are replicating the process that high-quality shops use to make their milk tea! I think this kit was just simplifying some things to make it easier for the first-time at home boba maker, but these upgrades (potentially with the same supplies from the kit) might give you a way better experience! ALSO it would make a great video if y’all made boba from scratch, it’s definitely challenging and I’d love to give you some advice if you’d like to consider going with that route 😂 me and my partner got in a fight and almost rage quit the first time we made handmade boba from scratch, but we’re basically pros now haha. I hope this information helps, I love boba and tea and I’d love to see you guys give the high quality process another shot!!!

Now you know why 1) bubble tea is expensive and 2) why they don't have boba at 7 in the morning lol. 😂 (Also, I love that you said the expensive one didn't taste like sugar when you made a simple syrup with like half the sugar, of course it's not gonna soak anything up when you didn't add any 😭)

I wonder if you warm up the boba from the "expensive" kit before putting it in your tea the next day, if that would help the hardness of it. Anything that starchy generally stiffens when cold but becomes chewy again if warmed up

I love the microwave boba! I keep that brand/kit on hand for when I want immediate boba lol. Tips: it microwaves just fine. I make the tea part first and dump it over the ice to cool it down. I also add way more liquid than the 6oz or whatever it says. It's pretty concentrated and I think it's better with 12oz+ of liquid. Then I toss the boba in the microwave with an edge torn off the packet to let steam out. Everybody's microwave is different so figure out what's best. IMPORTANT: stir the drink as you poor the boba in. That way the boba doesn't clump together. And don't heat up the boba and then let it cool down in the packet or it'll clump (or even continue cooking).

the process to make the boba in the "expensive" kit is almost identical to the way boba shops make it (or at least it was for the place that i worked at). the biggest difference is the solution the pearls sit in after they're cooked. in the kit, they have them sit in simple syrup, whereas most other tea places, especially those that market brown sugar boba, will soak it in, well, brown sugar. you can experiment with different solutions to soak them in too which will affect the flavor. honey is another common one!

Trader Joe's also sells frozen boba. You need to provide your own tea but the boba is fantastic. I just microwave that packet of boba .

the more expensive boba requires more prep work :( you have to use actaul sugar, honey and molasses for the true brown sugar boba flavor. it also helps to keep it warm

I worked in a boba shop (technically two boba shops) for a year and the way I cooked boba was similar to this but there are a few things that you guys could do to make the bulk tapioca pearls turn out better than the instant ones! Firstly, I would make brown sugar syrup rather than just simple syrup and it definitely needs to be thicker. I would also just buy small reusable tea steepers, they come in all sorts of cute shapes and sizes. Filling these up will get you a pretty accurate amount of tea needed for one serving. I also recommend playing around with different boba tea flavors, like taro, red bean, coconut etc. You can find the powders online in bulk and they're surprisingly good even though they typically don't have tea. Pro tip: try coconut powder or flavoring with earl grey/black tea and brown sugar syrup, its literally the best boba creation to exist.

Drinking boba right now 😂. I buy the pearls dried in bulk and boil them myself. I get the "ready in 5 minutes" ones so it's about the same as the kits. Use honey or syrup to keep them good for a few hours, and add to your fav. tea!

THICK-IT BOBA TEA

i was today year's old when i learned evan & katelyn are tea addicts! it's quite the fun addiction to have - until your cabinets are screaming for relief and drawers are packed full of different teas.

My hot tip is the same as many of the comments; get the dried vacuum sealed boba either online or at a local asian market. Its cheap and cooks a lot like pasta but you boil till they float. Also I've definitely had success storing leftover cooked boba in the fridge in maple syrup!

the instant boba can be found in costco with more flavors and 10 servings but its only around 10 dollars (I don't remember exactly). the flavors were milk tea (4) taro (2) passion fruit (2 also comes with its own differently flavored boba) and creme brulee (2)

I too have a boba addiction (but thankfully I live about 5-10min away from like 10 locations 😅 With the fancier kit, you probably didn’t get the brown sugar taste because boba wasn’t specifically brown sugar boba (I bet if you made a simple syrup using brown sugar it would’ve made a difference). If you’re ever in Portland, OR, you gotta try Toast La Tea. They make their boba from scratch and sauté their boba in brown sugar so there’s crispy sugar bits in your drink. 1000% the best brown sugar boba I’ve ever had 🤤

My mom used to own a frozen yogurt shop and she did Boba tea. Once you know how it is done it’s pretty easy and not too bad. I’m just sitting here yelling at the screen trying to tell you how it’s done. 😂

As someone who lives in China, I know that most of the boba tea places here use instant powders to make the boba so that is probably the more familiar taste to you. Making boba or milk tea with the actual, loose leaf tea is consider the posh way of doing things here because it's quality tea instead of ground up leftovers and tea dust (stuff that usually goes into tea bags you buy in the supermarket).

As someone who works in a boba shop, I love this ! I wish I could get the boba ready sooner than 10AM, but the second kit is much more accurate time-wise. :)

We live in a remote area of Japan, and there's no bubble tea shop nearby. We turned to the "instant" version you tried, and like it quite a lot. It's also available at our supermarket. Cheap way to keep our kids happy :)

I tried making boba at home before and I failed miserably.... I think there's a learning curve. If you practice enough times with tapioca starch I think it'll be much more worth it than buying pre-made boba. You can customize the flavors and sugar however you want!!!!! I've tried the dry boba that you boil and it didn't taste great, and I've also tried a canned drink with boba in it and the texture was weird. Generally I'd say your best bet for boba at home is learning to make it with tapioca starch and then you can put it into any tea or coffee you want!

you should test more boba kits to find the perfect one based on like taste and price!! this was such a good video

If you have a Sams Club near you, they sell frozen boba in little packages like the instant version, just on their own without the milk tea powder packets. They come in cases of 12. The best part is you get to choose your tea and customize your sweetness level. Much cheeper than the expensive set but just as customizable.

However, if you are driving 20 minutes each way to get your Boba, wouldn't that make it MORE expensive than the cheaper one?

Why are y’all complaining about the sugar taste not being strong enough AFTER YOU SPLIT THE AMOUNT NEEDED IN HALF!😂

You guys should make cute little custom tapioca pearls from scratch. They are a process but they are so fun and cute and they seem right up your alley

you can freeze boba after making a large batch ! it reheats in the microwave very well. we make it and freeze in portions in a icecube tray ! also, use brown sugar syrup instead of plain simple syrup:)

Im a little depressed right now and im not gonna lie i straight up just started crying half way through this video and idek why.

What my friends do is that they make a whole batch of milk tea and drink it through out the week. Some people have a water pitcher, some have a lemonade pitcher, some have milk tea pitchers

(4:48) I agree! I think that the pointy straws help with slurping up the boba because they're a bit more spoon-like, rather than contacting the bottom of the cup where only liquid gets slurped up like with the non-pointy straws. Fun video! Thanks for making it!

I am in love with Even's black nail polish.

evan w painted nails makes me happy

The Evan black and white quote bits re: balls really got me on this one. I also like boba a lot and understand your pain, Katelyn. I'm glad to know that the instant version is Pretty Good!

We all know Katelyn finished filming and immediately ordered a dozen more boxes 😄

My kids and I love the flavored tea's with the popping boba's. We've started ordering the balls from amazon and just using our own flavored beverage, it's been fantastic so far!

Love this video so cute to see Katelyn geek out over something she really likes. This video gave such good vibes 💖💖💖

Omg I love boba and just like every other video you guys make I got so excited

I loved this! The item comparison, then price comparisons and adjustments, this was fun to watch!

Katelyn and I drink our boba with such force and demand. I love that. Show 'em how!

Now I need to see you make the boba itself. Making the dough and rolling each individual ball

THANK GOODNESS!!! I’m not crazy! 11am is way too late! What if I want to start my day with a lil boba? What then?! I’m here with you

I genuinely never skip your ads, and this is the only channel I can say that about. Even when I have no need for the product, it feels disrespectful not to slow down and enjoy the art and effort that goes into each one!

I highly reccommend trying the leftover boba in a hot tea, ( I use chai) it gives them a little refresh

You could also test out the popping boba! i've seen big tubs and wonder if it would freeze or refrigerate well

This was really fun and from what I'm reading in the comments, your exploration with Boba is not over and that is exciting :D

The editing in this video was super fun, great job!

My son and I absolutely love the instant Boba tea kit! And yes, we also like it more than our local boba store. I add a little nore milk instead of ice and it's just sooo good! The brown sugar boba balls are so good and chewy!!

Oooooo I like this style/format of editing!!! It's funky and funnn. It feels 90s for some reason? Maybe early aughts? I like it 👌🏽

J Way boba is my absolute favorite. So easy and affordable.

Your ad stories keep getting better. I love it.

I loved this one. The whole video was very entertaining because I could tell you had fun with this one and Katelyn was very into the process. Also I perk up when the 'commercial' came on because you guys make the advertising so much fun. Thanks! I wish we could get some reviews of the factor meals from you guys. Ones you like etc.

Bought the instant one on your recommendation after i saw they had Taro. Taro boba is my favorite! A year ago we did a big move across states from a much "hipper" area to one that isn't but is cheaper. No boba place near me...there are like 3 within 30m drive has Taro. Anyway both the Taro and original milk tea versions were good so glad I ordered it!

I'd love to see you guys making boba drinks from scratch, if you're down. Thanks for sharing.

The way I get the ‘toasty brown shugar flavour’ -> when boba fully cooked I just strain them but not rinse them and in a jar combine them with brown sugar

You guys make the best commercials! Worth watching through! 5:21

Thank you for this episode! I love boba tea, but I live in the middle of nowhere, so I normally can only get it when I go into the city every few months. Now I know what actually good kits I can make at home! (I've tried other brands, and they were either poor quality tea, or bad texture pearls)

I just get vacuum sealed boba (like from the expensive kit) from the Asian market, boil oh for a bit, throw some brown sugar on top, and add instant milk tea like from the cheap one in it!

As someone who has made the quick boba at home, I found a good way to microwave the packet is to put the packet into a mug, since they usually tell you to cut a corner out of the packet. If its the frozen type, I also carefully mix it in the packet halfway through the cooking time. I really loved this video though and I'm glad Katelyn did the math for us. I'll just continue to support my local boba shop 😅

You definitely need to make a video on making home made boba!

SO GLAD you uploaded a new vid!! 🤗

Not only are your content and personalities really refreshing, but I love your editing! It’s so goofy and it’s cool to see how it’s evolved over time to develop your own unique style :)

I will note that the kits seem like a great way to handle portion control! I bought some a while back and when I'm out, I ALWAYS feel pulled to order a large(fries, boba, whatever). But when I was enjoying the kit, the small was plenty.

I'm in LOVE with jay way boba packets. Ive been buying it for years. Cosco sells a giant back of i believe 2-3 each of brown sugar, carmel, mango (with NOT popping pearls but still fruity!), and Taro. I believe it's like 14 bucks too!

This was exactly the video I needed right now. Am also in my boba era. I discovered that I could find a selection of bubble tea supplies in an oriental shop nearby so have been experimenting with making my own for the last month. It's very fun.

Try boba bam in the frozen section!! It comes in many flavors and hands down the best kit I’ve tried

I love making my own bubble tea, you get to make it just how you like it, and its cheaper! You also don't have to drive somewhere, which makes it 100x better.

I have started going to my local aldi and getting there frozen boba kits. They arent the best but they are like 6 bucks for 4 servings (so pretty cheap) and definitely hit the spot if your craving it

I got a pack of that cheap kit brand from Costco in assorted flavors- it was fine. Decent, not great, but the ease of having it in your pantry to make whenever you want was nice. So it had perks, and worked for what it is (one flavor was way too sweet for me, but personal preference). But I also like just buying dried boba and keeping it in the pantry, then making what I need each time, and my own teas and stuff to go with it. Little more work, but not crazy. Also I bought a set of rainbow metal boba-sized straws, for when I do.

I've found microwavable brown sugar tapioca pearls/boba at my local asian store and they actually come out the perfect texture! They're easy to make in single serving amounts and you can brew some loose leaf tea while microwaving the boba. Also I completely understand your annoyance with boba places not opening till 11am. I often want it in the morning, like as a treat to sip on while running errands on my day off or driving a long distance to spend the day at my friend's house.

13:40 LMFAOOOOO evan tweaking cause he inhaled too much tea had me weak

I love the j way boba! We dilute it with a lil extra milk/water (it’s cheaper at Costco/ in bigger sizes on Amazon)

Ive been hooked on boba since 2004 😂😂 was so happy when i found it at my local grocery store in the freezer section, just heat up a pack and put it in a glass of cold milk. So easy and so good!!

Hi Katelyn so you can buy the milk tea powder online from Japan . I also recommend using brown sugar for simple syrup if you make it from scratch

3:40 The drumming in the background captures the mood perfectly 🤣

I LOVED this large Matcha Iced Milk Tea with popping green apple boba that a cafe near me had but they stopped selling it and its super unfortunate XD

The Jway instant boba is really good! I'm not a big milk tea person, but they have a green tea fruity boba. It's quite sweet on its own so I usually stick a green tea bag in there and that cuts it a bit. They also have a taro milk tea one, but it can get very sweet as well. I don't really follow the directions on those to the T 😅 I microwave the boba packets on a plate in the microwave for about 40 seconds, and put the balls in after I mix in the packet of tea flavoring. Then a handful of ice cubes, and fill the rest of the cup with milk or water. We also like to add caramel syrup to the regular brown sugar boba. Very excited to hear your thoughts on them! :)

I’ve never had boba, is this a sign? Can’t wait to watch this chaos!

Hi guys ! I super recommend the Trader Joe’s boba kit if you live near one or even close enough to one! But it doesn’t come with milk tea just so you know. It tastes just like tiger sugar if you just use milk

I don't even like boba, I just enjoy your content

I use a similar kit that I get at my local walmart & have found my favorite to be the vanilla latte because it's coffee instead of tea. I am Italian so that is my justification. So good though

I bought a huge bag of tapioca pearls at a Asian food market and keep them in the freezer till i want a Boba. I love Boba with Thai iced tea😋❤

I can get behind this. Boba tea has been my favorite drink since i first learned about it back in 2014