Jun 17

Jun 17 37 Cent Green Milk Tea

Cooking Journal, College Cravings, YFFIE

Written By: Gen Nguyen | Read full profile

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All it takes is tea and some kind of creamer. I don’t usually have black tea at home, else I would make the OG milk tea. Costco had a box of 100 green tea bags for $9.99 (about $0.10/bag). I used 3 bags, so it only cost me, theoretically, $0.30 so far. Water is free… well technically not but if you don’t trust tap like me, Costco has a case of 40 water bottles for $2.99 (no tax). Each bottle is about $0.07 and in this recipe, we used about 2 bottles (4 cups). So, I’m spending about $0.15 on water.

For creamer, I used half & half instead of milk because (1) it adds richness that milk doesn’t have and (2) I don’t like milk. But, you can add any kind of creamer you want: condensed milk, heavy cream, or coffee creamer. Condensed milk doesn’t really add to the creaminess that half & half and heavy cream offer and it increases the sugar content. Heavy cream is a little too thick (about 36% fat content) so it’ll be a little harder to drink. Imagine drinking melted ice cream. And Coffee creamer won’t give you the nice aesthetic layers for your insta story which is why I opted out ;)

Half & half is about $0.89 w/tax for a 16 fl oz carton. This recipe uses ½ cup (4 fl oz), so I spent, again theoretically, about $0.22 for creamer. In total, I spent about $0.67 to make two servings of milk tea, 0% sugar. But, we drink boba for the sugar! Hopefully not too much though.

Simple syrup is really easy to make. It’s 1:1 cup ratio of sugar to water. If you don’t cook or bake often and end up buying the smallest bag of sugar you can, it’s about $1.47 for 2 lbs. A 2 lbs bag of sugar has about 4 cups (about $0.37/cup). So, simple syrup costs $0.37 (syrup) + $0.02 (water) = $0.39. That’s one cup of simple syrup though. This recipe only calls for 3 tbs (1 cup = 16 tbs). So, theoretically, depending on how much you add, it only costs around $0.07!

You don’t need to make a simple syrup and instead add 3 tbs of sugar into your tea when you’re steeping it. The only problem with this is that you won’t be able to taste it to see if it’s to your liking. No matter how much sugar you add, the tea will still be bitter. TRUST ME. You can also add the sugar into the tea in the last step. But the sugar won’t dissolve that well because the temperature is too cold. The less energy (heat) in solution, the less sugar will dissolve. All because of these little things called “molecules.” Wow, chemistry! Simple syrup is sugar dissolved in water. Adding it at the end will slowly dilute the bitterness without losing its milkiness while increasing sweetness.

Let’s add everything together: $0.30 for tea bags, $0.15 for water, $0.22 for creamer, and $0.07 for sugar. Coming out to be $0.74 boba for two servings! Imagine if you drink 1 cups of boba everyday for a year but this time you make it on your own at 37 cents per cup.

That’s $135.05. Compared to $3.25 plus tax for a cup of green milk tea at your local bubble tea shop, totalling to be about $1,481.90! You’re saving about $1,346.85 when you make this drink at home (enough for a 256gb iPhone 11 Pro Max or a one-way ticket to S.Korea via Korean Air) and you are in control of how sweet it will be.

Make your own milk tea. It’s healthier, you know what’s going into your body, and it’s cheaper - by 90%.

Disclaimer: These measurements may not be exact. My household does not measure our ingredients and I really embody this. Everything should be made to taste because we all have different preferences. Add to taste!

↯ Ingredients