So what exactly is it made of? Boba pearls are made of tapioca starch that comes from the cassava root, so compassionate customers can rest easy knowing that gelatin is not used in the making of these tiny balls of deliciousness.
The pearls in bubble tea, also known as tapioca pearls, are made from tapioca starch, an extract of the South American cassava plant. To make the pearls, boiling water is added to the starch and kneaded to form a dough-like texture.
The "fish eggs" are, in fact, boba tea blueberry-flavoured pearls that release a sweet, tart explosion.
Tapioca pearls, also known as tapioca balls, are edible translucent spheres produced from tapioca, a starch made from the cassava root. They originated as a cheaper alternative to sago in Southeast Asian cuisine.
One of the more traditional bubble tea toppings is a pudding-like custard. Though tasty, this is one ingredient vegans should avoid, as it almost always contains eggs.
The boba in bubble tea is often vegan, as tapioca pearls are completely plant-based, and popping pearls are usually made of nothing more than water, sugar, fruit juice and Alginic acid (found in algae), again, making it plant-based. Once again though, you should always ask to make sure.
Boba pearls
The boba itself in boba tea, also known as bubble or tapioca balls, are usually made out cassava starch. These pearls can be made out of a lot of other foods, some shops make there boba from scratch to ensure freshness. People say they are made out of fish eggs, but that is a total lie.
The pearl pearlfish
Rather than a spherical shape, the growth is spread over the shell's surface in the unmistakable shape of a fish. Pearlfish are small, ocean-dwelling fish, often found in tropical waters. These translucent animals are known to swim inside clams and oysters to hide from predators.
Tapioca is made from the starch extracted from the root of the cassava plant, while sago is made from the starch extracted from the pith of the sago palm tree. In the United States, tapioca pudding is a popular dessert made from tapioca starch, sugar, and milk.
What Is Tobiko? Tobiko is the Japanese term for fish eggs (roe) harvested from flying fish (of the family Exocoetidae), such as the Japanese flying fish (Cheilopogon agoo).
While there are some health benefits to consuming the green tea in some bubble team mixtures, most forms of boba tea also contain high levels of sugar. The amount of sugar you drink along with your boba tea can pose potential risks.
And now for the luxury ingredient, nature's original popping boba, fish eggs. Salmon roe is delicious over rice. It's the mushiest version of caviar, and if you've never had it, it's basically like lumpy membranous water balloons filled with thick salty fluid that deflate in your mouth.
Bubble tea is served in see-through cups with a fat straw so that - as you sip - the tapioca balls (also known as “pearls” or “boba”) come shooting up and can be chewed as you swallow down the delicious liquid.
Tapioca in and of itself is vegan. It's derived from a plant, and the processing methods are animal free. But if you buy pre-packaged tapioca pudding, for example, it could be made with dairy milk or eggs and is therefore not vegan. The same goes with bubble tea.
The short answer is yes. The majority of bubble tea products are halal. The main concern with bubble tea is generally the Tapioca balls or pearls or the popping bobas which resemble other Gelatin products, such as sweets and jelly.
Small tapioca pearls are sometimes called “fish eggs” or “frog eggs” due to their tiny, round appearance but don't worry — they are not eggs of any animal. They are vegan and made from the root of a plant!
When making boba balls, you take tapioca starch, add boiling water, and knead them until they reach a dough-like consistency. Once the tapioca is shaped into little balls, it is added into boiling water (with brown sugar added to it), and cooked for ~30 minutes until it's ready.
Tapioca itself is vegan. Both the ingredients that go into it (cassava root) and the processing methods that create it are free of animal products.
Pearls are made by marine oysters and freshwater mussels as a natural defence against an irritant such as a parasite entering their shell or damage to their fragile body. The oyster or mussel slowly secretes layers of aragonite and conchiolin, materials that also make up its shell.
To be conducive for pearl production, the water needs to be clean, rich in nutrients, and at a suitable temperature. If you notice marks on your pearls, especially those from freshwater, they're actually fish bites! This just tells you these were grown in a thriving habitat.
No, pearls aren't vegan. Oysters and other mollusks only produce pearls as a response to a stressful environment, and it's speciesist to torment and kill an animal just because we think the end result is beautiful.
Boba goes by a number of names, but in order to call it vegan, it must not contain milk or any other animal products. Luckily, most boba pearls are made of entirely plant-based ingredients.
But what is boba — is it fish eggs? Boba is the name used to describe the tapioca pearls that are used to flavor bubble tea. They are made from tapioca starch (which is made from cassava root) and have nothing to do with fish eggs at all. Boba is a vegetable product and is suitable for vegans.
All of our toppings are vegan friendly, except for the egg custard, aloe vera and mousse. Our pearls do not contain gelatin either (even though they look like it), they are made from tapioca instead.