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It’s sweet, it’s chewy, it’s indulgent – and it’s a tea. Seems like boba tea has everything a tea drinker could wish for. If all teas are healthy and low in calories, is boba tea the same? Should you drink it every day? How many calories are in boba tea?

Let’s find out.

What is boba tea?

Boba or bubble tea is a popular Taiwanese drink invented about 40 years ago. It’s mostly served iced and comes in hundreds of flavors. Other names for boba tea are pearl tea, bubble tea or pearl milk tea.

What are the ingredients in boba tea?

Boba tea is usually made with milk, tea, sweetener and boba pearls. Tea may or may not be an actual ingredient. Original boba tea was very simple. It was made with black tea, milk, syrup, and tapioca pearls. But today, there’s no wrong or right way to make a perfect boba tea. And neither will all boba teas have tapioca pearls. In fact, they may not even contain milk.

But they must contain a chewy ingredient such as:

• Tapioca pearls
• Popping tapioca pearls
• Jellies
• Cookies

Honey or simple syrup, black sugar, and stevia are often used for sweetening boba. The best milk for boba tea is a full fat cow’s milk, but you can find boba with condensed milk, almond milk, coconut milk, or fruit juices. Boba can have different toppings too, such as whipped cream or fresh fruits.

And tea leaves? They are mostly used for original or tea flavored boba teas. Boba milk tea without tea will still be called a tea. 

Boba tea is delicious, but all these ingredients will add to the total calorie content.

Let’s see how many calories are in a typical boba tea and how to make it healthier.

How many calories are in boba tea?

A cup of tea with no condiments, made from pure unsweetened tea leaves or herbs, will have 1-5 calories. More or less, depending on the type and how you make it. That’s one reason unsweetened tea is such an amazing alternative for sugary drinks. Replacing only 2 sugary drinks a day with pure tea could easily mean reducing your daily calorie intake by 100-500 calories, even more.

But what about boba tea?

As there are thousands of combinations, it’s difficult to know how many calories are in your boba tea. However, it will be much more than in a regular cup of unsweetened tea.

Calories will come from:  

1.  Chewy ingredients

Tapioca pearls have 220 calories per 100 grams. One study showed that boba pearls will provide around 80 calories and jelly over 200 [1]. And that’s only in one serving of bubble tea.    

2. Milk

Then, there’s milk. You can make boba with as little as a few spoons of milk to over a cup. For example, brown sugar boba tea contains milk only. One cup of whole milk will have around 150 calories.

3. Sweetener

And finally, there’s a sweetener. 1 spoon of sugar will have over 30 calories. A study from Pepperdine University showed that one 12 oz. serving may have almost 60 grams of sugar, similar to other sugary drinks [2].    

For example, a large serving of brown sugar boba is likely to have over 400 calories, sometimes over 700. That’s 1/3 of a daily calorie intake for an average adult.

So, what would happen if you enjoyed one 400 calories boba tea every day changing nothing in your diet or including extra exercise? You would increase your yearly calorie intake by 146 000 calories – this means gaining up to 56 lb in only one year.

Being calorie rich is not always a bad thing, and it doesn’t mean you can’t reward yourself with an indulgent drink from time to time.

But if you want to enjoy it often, you could make it yourself and opt for healthier ingredients.

How to drink a healthier boba?

If you want a healthier drink, you could:

• Use high-quality loose leaf tea
  
• Choose skimmed or unsweetened plant-based milk
  
• Choose a make smaller servings
• Use stevia instead of sugar or honey
• Avoid toppings
• Add less tapioca pearls or replace them with other lower calorie ingredients

Sources:

[1] https://pha.berkeley.edu/2017/12/03/whats-in-your-boba/

[2] https://www.researchgate.net/publication/299494793_Calories_and_sugars_in_boba_milk_tea_Implications_for_obesity_risk_in_Asian_Pacific_Islanders