Baskin-Robbins Is Adding Its Own Spin To New Bubble Tea Drink

Tiger milk can mean different things to different food cultures. In Latin America, for example, "leche de tigre" is a citrusy marinade used to "cook" raw seafood in a Peruvian ceviche, per Saveur. On the other side of the planet in Asia, however, "tiger milk" is a descriptor for a popular bubble tea iteration first concocted in Taiwan.

Just as the milk of a tiger was not used to make ceviche, no real "tea" is used to make tiger milk tea, also known as brown sugar boba tea. Instead, as reported by Eater, the drink is made from tapioca balls, or boba, that are cooked in a caramelized brown sugar over an extended period of time; this syrup is then poured into a cup of cold milk. Notably, this version removes the tea that's typically found in milk tea.

If you hear this description and think this bubble tea is less of a beverage and more a dessert, you'd probably be closer to what its founders appear to have envisioned, since Tiger Sugar — the Taiwanese company that popularized this brown sugar version — calls their famously sweet concoction "the world's first drink dessert."

It should also come as no surprise that tiger milk tea comes in a highly coveted ice cream bar version, too, which all leads us to Baskin-Robbins' newest offering: Tiger Milk Bubble Tea.

The standout, Instagram-friendly drink from Taiwan is now the inspiration for American ice cream maker Baskin-Robbins' latest limited-time offering: Tiger Milk Bubble Tea, which it's calling an "homage" to Taiwan's globally popular milk tea.

The new Baskin-Robbins offering doesn't come in an ice cream flavor. It's a beverage, featuring a look that's instantly recognizable to anyone who's ever had tiger milk tea: a brown sugar syrup drizzle pattern of "tiger stripes" visible down the sides of the cup, filled with brown sugar bubbles and cold milk.

But Baskin-Robbins makes the drink its own, and adds a decadent spin, too, by adding black tea, plus a scoop of vanilla ice cream on top. The drink is, as the company says in its press release to Tasting Table, an example of Baskin-Robbins' new slogan "Seize the Yay," which invites fans to savor life's moments, and to celebrate them as they happen.

The company says its new Tiger Milk Bubble Tea is available for a limited time only this spring and summer at Baskin-Robbins locations nationwide.