Discover the Types of Boba Tea Drinks
Welcome to your guide to the wonderful world of boba tea! Below you'll find a comprehensive list of the most popular boba tea drinks, organized by category for easy browsing. Each drink has a brief description and can be expanded to learn more about its ingredients and characteristics.
🥛 Milk Tea Varieties
The classic boba tea experience - tea blended with milk or creamer for a creamy, indulgent drink.
Classic Black Milk Tea
The original bubble tea: a robust black tea (often Assam) blended with milk or non-dairy creamer and sugar. This creamy drink has a balanced sweet tea flavor and is typically served with black tapioca pearls at the bottom.
Jasmine Green Milk Tea
Jasmine-infused green tea as the base, giving a light floral taste. Mixed with milk or creamer and sweetener for a fragrant, herbal-sweet profile. Commonly comes with boba pearls, but aloe vera or coconut jelly are also popular toppings.
Matcha Milk Tea
Made with Japanese matcha (green tea powder) whisked into milk, plus sweetener. The result is a creamy green tea latte with a sweet, grassy flavor. Tapioca pearls are a common topping, and red bean or pudding are also great add-ons.
Taro Milk Tea
A classic purple drink made from taro root. Typically taro is added via a powder or puree, providing a sweet, starchy vanilla-like flavor. It's usually prepared with a green tea base, plus creamer and sugar. The vivid lavender color and creamy texture pair perfectly with chewy tapioca.
Brown Sugar Milk Tea
A modern favorite featuring a black tea milk tea made extra indulgent with brown sugar syrup. The drink is layered or "streaked" with dark brown sugar caramel along the sides of the cup. It has a smooth, toffee-like sweetness from the molasses in brown sugar.
Looking for More Milk Tea Varieties?
We've created a dedicated guide focused exclusively on milk tea variations. If you love creamy boba drinks, check out our in-depth article on milk tea varieties.
Explore our complete Boba Milk Tea guide🍓 Fruit Tea Varieties
Refreshing non-dairy bubble teas that combine brewed tea with fruit juices, purees, or syrups.
Mango Green Tea
Jasmine green tea shaken with mango puree or syrup and sugar. Tastes like a tropical iced tea with the sweetness of mango. This golden-orange drink is usually served with toppings like mango jelly, coconut jelly, or mango-flavored popping boba.
Passion Fruit Tea
A tart-sweet drink made with passion fruit syrup or juice and a tea base (often green tea). Passion fruit has an aromatic tanginess that balances with sweetener. Frequently paired with aiyu jelly or aloe vera bits instead of regular boba.
Lychee Tea
Made by adding lychee syrup or lychee juice to a brewed tea (commonly green or black tea). Lychee fruit imparts a mild melon-like sweetness with a floral aroma. This drink is usually lightly colored and very refreshing.
Strawberry Tea
Black or green tea blended with sweet strawberry syrup or puree (no milk in this version). It's essentially an iced strawberry-flavored tea, often bright red or pink. Real strawberry slices may be added.
🧊 Slushes and Smoothies
Blended ice drinks similar to a frozen smoothie or frappé, made with fruit, tea, milk, or a combination.
Mango Slush
A blended frozen drink using mango (fresh or syrup), ice, and usually a bit of green tea or water as a base. Often a dash of creamer or non-dairy milk is added for smoothness. This is like a mango smoothie with the consistency of a slurpee.
Matcha Smoothie
Matcha green tea powder blended with milk, a sweetener, and ice. The texture is creamy-frozen (like a Frappuccino). This amplifies matcha's ice-cream-like quality. Toppings such as red bean, boba, or a swirl of whipped cream complement the matcha smoothie.
Taro Slush
A frozen spin on taro milk tea. Taro powder and milk (or nondairy creamer) are blended with ice until smooth. The result is a purple, milkshake-like drink with taro's sweet, starchy flavor.
🧀 Cheese Foam Teas
A newer trend where tea is topped with a special whipped, creamy topping made from cream cheese, milk, and whipped cream.
Cheese Foam Black Tea
A chilled black tea topped with a thick layer of salted cream cheese foam. The foam adds a rich, slightly savory creaminess on top of the bold tea. No milk is added to the tea itself (the cream is all in the topping).
Cheese Foam Green Tea
Jasmine green tea or pure matcha tea can be used as the base, served cold with ice. A sweet cream cheese and milk foam is layered on top. The floral or vegetal notes of the tea contrast with the sweet-salty foam.
🍯 Specialty Drinks
Unique and creative variations that don't fit into the traditional categories.
Brown Sugar Fresh Milk (Tiger Milk)
A non-tea bubble tea that consists of fresh cold milk swirled with dark brown sugar syrup and loaded with warm tapioca pearls. The brown sugar caramelizes around the cup giving "tiger stripe" patterns. Notably, no tea is used – it's basically a milk dessert drink.
Yakult / Yogurt Bubble Tea
A sweet probiotic yogurt drink mixed with tea or fruit flavors. The result is a tart, creamy tea similar to a yogurt smoothie, usually served with bits of aloe, jelly, or popping boba.
Popular Toppings
Classic Toppings
- Tapioca Pearls (Boba): The classic chewy topping made from cassava starch
- Popping Boba: Juice-filled spheres that burst with flavor
- Grass Jelly: Herbal black jelly with a slightly bitter taste
- Aloe Vera: Fresh, jelly-like aloe pieces
Other Add-ins
- Pudding: Soft custard topping
- Red Bean: Sweet, creamy bean paste
- Fruit Jellies: Various flavors like lychee, mango, etc.
- Chia Seeds: Tiny, nutritious seeds that add texture
Feel free to mix and match these toppings with any of the drinks above to create your perfect boba tea experience!
