How much caffeine is in Bubble Milk Tea?

Each 16 oz (473 ml) with pearls serving contains approximately 45 mg of caffeine. For comparison, a standard 8 oz cup of brewed drip coffee contains around 95 mg. Actual content varies with dose, water temperature, and contact time.

What temperature should I use for Bubble Milk Tea?

Target 95°C (203°F). Below this range the cup tends toward sourness and thinness from under-extraction; above it, bitterness rises faster than sweetness.

How long should Bubble Milk Tea be extracted?

Extract for 4:00 using Steep, Shake and Serve over Pearls, at a ratio of 25g/L tea, plus 60g cooked pearls, prepared at Broken Leaf. Time and ratio move together: a heavier dose generally wants a shorter contact time.

Why does my Bubble Milk Tea taste bitter?

Bitterness almost always indicates over-extraction. Shorten the contact time, lower the water temperature slightly, or use less leaf. Change one variable at a time so you can tell which one was responsible.

Who should avoid Bubble Milk Tea?

High in sugar from both the drink and the pearls; sweetness levels are usually adjustable when ordering. The pearls are a choking risk for young children and should not be drunk through a straw unsupervised. Contains dairy or non-dairy creamer depending on the shop. This is general educational information, not medical advice — consult a qualified healthcare professional about your own circumstances.

Reviewed Aug 2026

Orthodox Black Tea · Taiwan, 1980s

Bubble Milk Tea

Name: How to Brew Bubble Milk Tea
Prep time: 2 min
Cook time: 4 min
Total time: 4 min
Yield: 16 oz (473 ml) with pearls
Cuisine: Taiwan, 1980s
Ingredients: 25g/L tea, plus 60g cooked pearls of Bubble Milk Tea; Filtered water heated to 95°C (203°F)

珍珠奶茶

Sweet milk tea over chewy tapioca pearls, shaken and served cold.

Strongly brewed black tea shaken with milk and sugar, poured over cooked tapioca pearls. The pearls are the point — cooked to a deliberate chew, sweetened separately, and drunk through a wide straw alongside the tea rather than after it.

Sensory profile

Comparative scale

sweetnessVery high

acidityLow

bitternessLow

bodyHigh

aromaHigh

You should taste

How it unfolds

Aroma → Palate → Finish

AromaBefore and as you sip

Malty Tea

clear aroma

PalateWhile it is in the mouth

pronounced sweetness

FinishAfter you swallow

No distinct note recorded here — the finish reads as clear rather than carrying a nameable character of its own.

clear body

Where it sits

Stronger than 149 of the 345 other drinks in the catalogue, and weaker than 189.

That is 45 mg in a 16 oz (473 ml) with pearls serving — a concentration of 9.5 mg per 100 ml. The scale above ranks whole servings, and servings differ in size, so a larger drink can sit further right while being weaker cup for cup.

CupCura editorial estimate. No public food database has measured this preparation, so this figure is our own and is not independently sourced.

What people say

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Gear for this drink

Fellow Ode Brew Grinder Gen 2

Direct-drive motor with 64mm stainless steel flat burrs engineered specifically for pour-over, drip, and cold brew clarity.

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Orthodox Black Tea

Bubble Milk Tea

Sensory profile

You should taste

How it unfolds

Where it sits

What people say

Fellow Ode Brew Grinder Gen 2

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