How Exactly Is Popping Boba Made?

Even if you've never tried it, you've probably heard someone in your life say that they're craving a fix of boba tea or bubble tea. Invented in Taiwan in the 80s and popularized globally in the 90s, boba are the dark, tiny, edible pearls that have taken the world by storm. It's become such a phenomenon that McDonald's restaurants in Germany sold the drinks in stores in the early 2010s. Though there are many kinds of boba, two of the most popular for bubble teas are black boba, which is made from tapioca, and popping boba, which is a little more complicated.

Popping boba is made from fruit juice, sodium alginate, and calcium chloride. The ingredients may sound a little science-y, but if you've never tried it, all you need to know is that it tastes like an explosion of sweet fruit juice in your mouth. That little drop of juice is captured in a pearl-shaped, gelatin-like casing through a process known as molecular gastronomy, or more specifically spherification. The fruit juice is blended with sodium alginate and then chilled for a few hours. After the calcium compound is mixed with water, the fruit juice blend is slowly dropped into the compound with a syringe or dropper. As the drops fall into the solution, they form popping boba pearls.

The black boba pearls you've probably seen in standard photos of bubble teas are very different from popping boba. Popping boba is fruity and filled with a little burst of liquid, while black boba is chewy and thick. Black boba is made with tapioca, from the cassava root, and mixed with starch and brown sugar to make it pearl-shaped. It can have a deep, almost bittersweet taste (similar to licorice), whereas popping boba is always bright and candy-like. Flavored tapioca boba exists, but it simply involves coating the traditional tapioca pearls in a fruity syrup and is nowhere near the same experience as biting into juicy popping boba pearls.

Popping boba can come in dozens of flavors, everything from the popular lychee and mango pearls to the lesser-known passionfruit and pineapple. Black boba is most typically found in heavier, milk-based drinks such as Brown Sugar Milk Bubble Tea or Panda Bubble Milk Tea, but you'll find popping boba in shaken fruit bubble teas. You may even remember loading popping boba pearls onto your frozen yogurt at self-serve shops, though you didn't know it was popping boba at the time. If you're new to the boba world, we have plenty of expert-approved boba tea drinks to start you on your bubble-bursting journey.