Boba vs Tapioca - What is the difference?

You’ve probably heard of boba and bubble tea. If so, you’ve probably tried to learn what they are and how to make them. When trying to learn about boba, you will come across tapioca, and this is where the confusion begins.

What is the difference between boba and tapioca? Simply put, tapioca is a starch. It is used to make boba balls. Tapioca crystals are similar to boba balls. One thing that sets the two apart is that the boba is sweetened with brown sugar syrup. Brown sugar can also be added when making the boba balls. 

Read this article to finally understand what is boba, what is tapioca and how they are similar and different. He knows how boba and tapioca crystals are made to understand the difference between the two.

What is tapioca?

Tapioca is a starch derived from the cassava root. It was domesticated thousands of years ago in Brazil and then spread to other parts of South America.

To make tapioca, the cassava root is ground. The starchy liquid that comes out of the crushed tapioca ends up drying and what remains is the tapioca powder.

Tapioca starch is widely used in many Asian and African countries. It is used in confectionery and as a thickening agent for soups and sauces.

There are two things to know about tapioca starch:

• It does not have much nutritional value.
• It is gluten free.

Tapioca is simply starch, which means it is pure carbohydrate. There are negligible amounts of protein and fiber in tapioca starch.

Being a source of carbohydrates, tapioca provides a lot of energy but zero nutrients. Its energy-boosting property is the reason cassava roots were widely used by civilizations, including the Aztec and Inca.

Although tapioca has common uses in baking, as a gluten-free substitute in bread and dessert recipes, it has become popular in recent years for making boba.

The latter is also known as bubble tea. It consists of sweetened tapioca pearls, brewed tea, milk, syrups, ice, condensed milk, etc.

What are tapioca pearls and how are they made?

Tapioca pearls, also called tapioca balls, are transparent bubbles/balls made with tapioca starch and water. They can be sweetened or flavored. On their own, however, plain tapioca pearls don’t have much flavor.

Tapioca pearls are also smaller in size. Small-sized tapioca pearls are used to make tapioca pudding.

To make simple tapioca pearls that you can later add sweetness or other flavors to, you will need two ingredients: tapioca starch and water.

Add the tapioca starch to the boiling water. There are no measurements. Add as much starch as you need to get a “dough” texture.

Once ready, start kneading the dough. Form thin logs of dough and start cutting them into small equal pieces. Form the pieces into balls.

You now have tapioca crystals. To cook them, boil the tapioca crystals for 5 to 8 minutes.

Tapioca crystals are chewy and tasteless , so you have to flavor them.

Store the tapioca balls in a simple syrup (water plus sugar) and use within 8-10 days.

It is important to keep the tapioca crystals in syrup to prevent them from drying out, as well as to sweeten them. 

Use the tapioca crystals to prepare your favorite tea drink.

Types of tapioca balls

Plain tapioca balls are translucent and don’t have much flavor.

There are different varieties of tapioca crystals. There are flavored tapioca balls and minis.

Boba pearls can be considered a variety of tapioca crystals, as they are technically the same as tapioca crystals but with added brown sugar (as syrup or added into the boba ball dough).

What is the fool?

Boba is essentially a type of tapioca crystal. Boba pearls are made with three ingredients

• tapioca starch
• Brown sugar
• Water

The very name “boba” is confusing. Some people use it to refer to tapioca balls, while others use it to refer to a drink that has become popular in recent years: bubble tea.

Boba pearls are added to drinks containing brewed tea, milk, ice cubes and other additives to give the drink different flavors. 

Another misconception about boba is that some people think there is jelly in boba. Although the pearls have a chewy, rubbery texture, gelatin is not used to make boba pearls. 

Regular tapioca pearls also have a rubbery texture . Therefore, the unique texture is not provided by the gelatin, but by the tapioca starch.

Boba pearls have a marked brown color that they acquire after boiling them in water for about 20 minutes. This color comes from the brown sugar used to make the boba.

To achieve a deeper brown to black color, some people choose to add artificial colors when making the boba ball dough.

How to make boba from scratch

Making boba from scratch is not difficult. You can, of course, buy ready-made tapioca balls and cook them with brown sugar.

However, making boba pearls at home from scratch can be an enjoyable activity.

It may take a few tries and some practice to get it right. But eventually you will master the art of making your own boba pearls at home.

Considering the simplicity of the ingredient list, you should give it a try if you like bubble tea.

Ingredients for the boba

• 45g brown sugar
• tapioca starch
• 60 ml of water

Follow these steps to make the perfect boba balls:

1. Combine 60 ml of water with 45 grams of brown sugar in a hot pan.
2. Leave the heat on until the sugar dissolves and turns into a syrup.
3. Turn off the heat and start adding the tapioca starch. Start with a smaller amount and mix well to prevent the starch from forming lumps.
4. Turn the heat on until the starch and syrup combination begins to thicken.
5. Add more starch to form a dough and remove from heat.
6. Start kneading the dough and add tapioca starch as needed. Add starch to the work area so it doesn’t stick.
7. Once the dough is formed, divide it into sections and start working. If you’re not working with the dough, wrap it in plastic wrap to keep it from drying out.
8. Begin to form the boba balls. Shape logs 7 mm thick and cut them into small equal pieces.
9. Begin to shape the pieces into balls.
   1. Pro Tip: Try shaping 3 boba crystals at a time by placing three pieces in the palm of your hand and working into balls with the other hand. In this way, you will speed up the tedious process of crystal formation using 3 times less time.
10. Add the boba balls to the boiling water. Leave them for 20 minutes while keeping the pot covered. Stir to prevent sticking.
11. Once you’ve removed the boba balls from the boiling water, let them steep before using them to make a drink.

For a simple but delicious boba drink , pour milk, whipped cream, and ice over the pearls in the bottom of the glass. You can add brown sugar syrup to increase the sweetness.

Is boba good for you?

Boba is often enjoyed not for its nutritional value (as there isn’t much of it), but for the experience it provides.

The sweet and chewy boba crystals are fun to get through the huge straw.

The only thing you’ll get from the boba is the carbs from the tapioca starch and the sugar that gives the crystals their sweetness. Without the added sugar, the boba tastes like nothing. 

Boba crystals are added to the drink to provide a textural contrast, making bubble tea fun to drink.

While a few drinks of bubble tea now and then won’t hurt, keep in mind that you shouldn’t overdo it.

Summary: The difference between boba and tapioca

So what is the difference between boba and tapioca? The difference between the two is difficult to explain, since people use these terms to refer to different things.

To avoid misunderstanding, it’s important to know that tapioca is a starch used to make tapioca crystals, including sugared boba balls. Tapioca crystals are similar in appearance to boba balls.

However, the boba balls are usually brown in color, due to the brown sugar that is added when making the boba crystals or after cooking the tapioca crystals and adding brown sugar syrup to them.

Boba, on the other hand, makes things more confusing, as people use this term to refer to both the crystals themselves and the popular bubble tea drink.

Although the texture of boba and regular tapioca crystals is the same, boba crystals are sweet due to the added brown sugar.

Related questions

What does tapioca boba taste like?

Tapioca boba, if unsweetened, is tasteless.

It can be sweetened by adding brown sugar while making the boba crystals, or by cooking the tapioca crystals and then keeping them in syrup or adding honey.