DIY Popping Boba

We’ve been really into loaded teas, especially the ones from The Zone Nutrition. I really like their Herbalife products and liftoff packets. Since we don’t allow the boys to drink caffeine, yet, they order the kids version of our favorites. Here is our take on a green tea with strawberry lemonade and strawberry popping boba.

Supplies

• Cups with wide straws

• Reusable straws (if you avoid stainless steel or for more color choices)

• Mini ice ball trays, scoop, and bin

• Sodium Alginate + Calcium Lactate Value Pack

Reverse Spherification

Popping boba is made through a technique called reverse spherification. In reverse spherification, a flavorful liquid is mixed with a flavorless calcium. Then, the liquid is dropped in a bath of sodium alginate and distilled water. As the flavorful liquid is dropped into the sodium alginate bath, the calcium reacts with the sodium alginate and encapsulates the flavorful liquid in a thin gel. This is what makes that poppable membrane around the liquid in boba.

FLAVORFUL LIQUID

• 1/2 cup rinsed fruit (approximately 4 strawberries)

• 1/4 cup green tea

• 1.5 Tbs granulated sugar

• 1/2 tsp calcium lactate

• 1/2 tsp tapioca flour

1. Blend the fruit, juice, and sugar together.

2. Mix in the calcium lactate and tapioca flour until fully dissolved.

SETTING BATH

• 1.5 tsp sodium alginate

• 32 ounces of cold, distilled water

1. Place distilled water in blender and turn on low.

2. Slowly mix in the sodium alginate and blend for 5 minutes to fully hydrate.

3. Pour the mixture into a bowl and allow the bubbles to dissipate (10 mins - 1 hour or overnight).

   • We put our mixture in the fridge and it was ready in 10 minutes.

FORMING THE SPHERES

1. Place strawberry mixture in alginate bath.

   • It took us a bit of trial and error and we tried both methods for forming the spheres (using a dropper and placing the liquid in the mixture by lowering it down on a spoon). We found the dropper easier to use. We weren’t able to completing get rid of the tails - they really did look like tadpoles at first. However, we found if you hold the dropper just above the surface and squeeze the liquid onto itself, it will form a mostly round shape. The tiny tails are not visible when in other liquids.

2. Make sure the spheres do not make contact in the bowl or they will form together.

3. Allow spheres to set for 2 minutes in alignate bath. Then rinse in fresh water.

STORING YOUR BOBA

• Store in a container of the same flavorful liquid or neutral flavored oil.

• We poured some of our strawberry mixture in a bowl and then added our boba to it after rinsing in the fresh water.

The boba was fun to work with. The shells are delicate, but it almost didn’t matter how big they got. They always found a way through the slots in the spoon. We stopped worrying about whether they’d make it through the straw. They slip through crevices like an octopus.

Overall, this was a cool science experiment and we had a lot of fun testing different methods and rations until we found the right one. Laughing at how elongated our first few attempts were was a lot of fun as well.