<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?><rss xmlns:dc="http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/" xmlns:content="http://purl.org/rss/1.0/modules/content/" xmlns:atom="http://www.w3.org/2005/Atom" version="2.0" xmlns:media="http://search.yahoo.com/mrss/"><channel><title><![CDATA[Boba Notebook]]></title><description><![CDATA[Thoughts, stories and ideas.]]></description><link>https://www.bobanotebook.com/</link><image><url>https://www.bobanotebook.com/favicon.png</url><title>Boba Notebook</title><link>https://www.bobanotebook.com/</link></image><generator>Ghost 2.9</generator><lastBuildDate>Mon, 03 Feb 2020 03:14:05 GMT</lastBuildDate><atom:link href="https://www.bobanotebook.com/rss/" rel="self" type="application/rss+xml"/><ttl>60</ttl><item><title><![CDATA[For better milk tea, use whole milk instead of half and half]]></title><description><![CDATA[Find out why you should brew your tea stronger and use whole milk.]]></description><link>https://api.bobanotebook.com/for-better-milk-tea-use-whole-milk-instead-of-half-and-half/</link><guid isPermaLink="false">Ghost__Post__5d3be555b009710d8b46164d</guid><dc:creator><![CDATA[Jeff Gao]]></dc:creator><pubDate>Sun, 28 Jul 2019 00:16:45 GMT</pubDate><media:content url="https://api.bobanotebook.com/content/images/2019/07/halfandhalf.png" medium="image"/><content:encoded><![CDATA[<img src="https://api.bobanotebook.com/content/images/2019/07/halfandhalf.png" alt="For better milk tea, use whole milk instead of half and half"/><p>Why does the latte from your local coffeeshop taste so different from your neighborhood diner coffee with cream? At their core, both are made with just ground coffee, water, and dairy. However, the latte is more rounded, a little sweeter, and its texture is light and frothy rather than smooth.</p><p>Many of these differences in taste are due to how espresso is prepared versus drip coffee, but the role of dairy also plays a big role in the variation between the two. Using a higher proportion of milk as in a latte contributes more sweetness than the smaller amount of cream you add to drip coffee. Additionally, the milk in a latte is steamed, which creates a foamy texture and affects the taste in other ways.</p><p>But it's not just coffee – differences in dairy choices should also affect tea. In this post, I'll talk a little bit about the science behind this (🤓🤓🤓), and experiment with using half and half versus whole milk in milk tea.</p><h3 id="what-is-half-and-half-anyways">What is half and half anyways?</h3><p>Milk is basically a bunch of different particles floating around in water. Of these particles, the primary ones are sugars (mostly in the form of lactose 😢), proteins, and fat, which is called butterfat.</p><p>Butterfat can be removed from milk, and it can also be added in. The proportion of butterfat by weight is what classifies it. For example, 2% milk is milk that has had a bunch of butterfat removed, and is 2% butterfat by weight. On the other end, heavy cream is milk that's had butterfat added, and is about 38% butterfat by weight.</p><p>What about the sugars and proteins? A cup of half and half (10-18% butterfat) will have roughly the same sugar and protein content as a cup of whole milk (3.5% butterfat).</p><p>Let's say you have whole milk and half and half with 14% butterfat (4x that of whole milk). If you measure out a cup of whole milk and ¼ of a cup of half and half, the two portions will have the same amount of butterfat. However, the whole milk will have ~4 times the amount of sugars and proteins. It's why you can't just add water to half and half and expect it to taste like milk.</p><h3 id="back-to-tea">Back to tea</h3><p>So let's take the following two milk teas:</p><!--kg-card-begin: markdown--><table>
<thead>
<tr>
<th/>
<th>Milk tea 1</th>
<th>Milk tea 2</th>
</tr>
</thead>
<tbody>
<tr>
<td><strong>Tea concentrate</strong></td>
<td>160g</td>
<td>160g</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><strong>Syrup</strong></td>
<td>30g</td>
<td>30g</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><strong>Water</strong></td>
<td><mark>0</mark></td>
<td><mark>90g</mark></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><strong>Dairy</strong></td>
<td><mark>120g milk</mark></td>
<td><mark>30g half and half (14% butterfat)</mark></td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>
<!--kg-card-end: markdown--><p>The two drinks will have the same proportions of tea, syrup, overall water content, and butterfat. However, the tea on the right will have far less milk sugar and milk protein.</p><p>How should this affect our tea? Let's take a look at the milk sugar component first. The first drink should be sweeter and fuck up my stomach worse because of the additional lactose.</p><p>The protein component is a bit more complicated. First of all, it should affect the body of the milk. For lack of better words, the proteins will give the first drink more of a milky texture, while the second drink should feel thinner (more watery). </p><p>Secondly, it should also affect the taste of the drink. Compounds called polyphenols are what cause bitter and astringent flavors in tea. These compounds usually bind to proteins in your saliva, which is what causes the dry feeling. However, when you mix tea with milk, they can also bind to casein proteins in milk instead. When this happens, bitter and astringent tastes are reduced. Note that bitterness and astringency are often desired in tea, so this isn't necessarily better, just different.</p><p>We should expect the first drink to be a bitter sweeter, a bit less astringent, and more full-bodied than the second.</p><h3 id="experimenting-with-milk-teas">Experimenting with milk teas</h3><p>Time to test the theory! I created two milk teas using the proportions above. The tea concentrate was made from 4 grams of tea for every 100 grams of water. I'm using Whole Foods brand milk and half and half (~13% butterfat according to the nutrition facts which are very imprecise) as a comparison, but these results could vary quite a bit based on brand.</p><!--kg-card-begin: image--><figure class="kg-card kg-image-card"><img src="https://api.bobanotebook.com/content/images/2019/07/milks-1.jpg" class="kg-image" alt="For better milk tea, use whole milk instead of half and half"/></figure><!--kg-card-end: image--><p>I also tested with my sister (who didn't know the science beforehand) to try to get a more neutral opinion.</p><!--kg-card-begin: image--><figure class="kg-card kg-image-card"><img src="https://api.bobanotebook.com/content/images/2019/07/megantesting-1.jpg" class="kg-image" alt="For better milk tea, use whole milk instead of half and half"/></figure><!--kg-card-end: image--><p>In the end, we both preferred the drink made with whole milk. It had a rounder flavor, was a bit sweeter, and tasted fuller instead of more watery. However, the tea itself was not as pronounced, probably due to the polyphenol effect mentioned above. When using whole milk, it might be worth using a slightly higher temperature or longer steep time to bring out the tea flavor more.</p><p>Another advantage of using recipes with milk is that it's easier to substitute alternative milks directly for milk instead of for half and half. Other things to test would be to see if milk-based drinks froth differently than half and half based ones when shaken. Bottom line for now though: use milk instead of half and half, and brew your tea stronger.</p><p><strong>See the recipe: </strong><a href="/milk-tea">milk tea guide</a><strong> </strong></p>]]></content:encoded></item><item><title><![CDATA[Let's get started!]]></title><description><![CDATA[Lots of boba to come!]]></description><link>https://api.bobanotebook.com/lets-get-started/</link><guid isPermaLink="false">Ghost__Post__5d3baed4b009710d8b4614c0</guid><dc:creator><![CDATA[Jeff Gao]]></dc:creator><pubDate>Sat, 27 Jul 2019 15:07:00 GMT</pubDate><media:content url="https://api.bobanotebook.com/content/images/2019/07/intro-2.png" medium="image"/><content:encoded><![CDATA[<img src="https://api.bobanotebook.com/content/images/2019/07/intro-2.png" alt="Let's get started!"/><p>Hey friends 👋</p><p>To kick off Boba Notebook, I’ll briefly introduce myself and give an overview of what I hope this site to be.</p><p>My name is Jeff (cue that one scene in 22 Jump Street), and I’m a 25-year-old Chinese-American living in Seattle. I like pop music, overusing parentheses and emoji, not peeing in the shower, and most importantly (at least in the context of this site) I LOVE anything to do with food and boba tea.</p><p>This site will be devoted to trying to nail down every aspect of making great boba tea through tons of experimentation. If you’ve visited Serious Eats or seen Bon Appetit’s new Making Perfect series, you already know the gist.</p><p>To start off, here are some of the things I hope to answer:</p><ul><li>What types of teas make good milk tea?</li><li>What type of milk is best?</li><li>What are the right ratios?</li><li>What’s the best container for boba tea?</li><li>And much more!</li></ul><p>In addition, I’ll have “Boba Guide” pages that detail my current best practices, and I’ll edit these pages based off the results of my experiments.</p><p>I'll try my best to make my pictures look good, but at the end of the day my focus is going to be on perfecting boba and not the eye candy. Hope you learn something, and enjoy!</p>]]></content:encoded></item><item><title><![CDATA[Milk tea]]></title><description><![CDATA[Learn how to make different types of milk tea.]]></description><link>https://api.bobanotebook.com/milk-tea/</link><guid isPermaLink="false">Ghost__Post__5d3baf97b009710d8b4614d2</guid><dc:creator><![CDATA[Jeff Gao]]></dc:creator><pubDate>Sat, 27 Jul 2019 05:37:00 GMT</pubDate><media:content url="https://api.bobanotebook.com/content/images/2019/07/bmtbcc.png" medium="image"/><content:encoded><![CDATA[<img src="https://api.bobanotebook.com/content/images/2019/07/bmtbcc.png" alt="Milk tea"/><p><em>This is still a work in progress! Enjoy this pretty picture and basic recipe for now.</em></p><h2 id="milk-tea">Milk tea</h2><h4 id="ingredients">Ingredients</h4><!--kg-card-begin: html--><dl>
<dd>¾ cup tea concentrate (see below)</dd>
<dd>½ cup milk</dd>
<dd>40 grams <a href="/syrup" target="_blank">simple syrup</a> (for 100% sweetness)</dd>
<dd>Ice</dd>
</dl><!--kg-card-end: html--><h4 id="directions">Directions</h4><ol><li>Pour the simple syrup into the milk and stir.</li><li>Add ice to a glass. Pour in the milk and syrup mixture, then gently pour the tea concentrate on top. Take a picture of the gradient you just made, then stir before drinking.</li></ol><h4 id="notes">Notes</h4><ul><li>Use a milk where the cream flavor isn't too strong. Most generic store brands are good, but some bougie milks will overpower the tea.</li><li>Instead of stirring your drink, you can also shake it in a cocktail shaker. This aerates the drink, gives the drink a frothier texture, decreases bitterness and astringency a tiny bit. The downside, of course, is that your drink is less Instagrammable since it won't have the gradient.</li></ul><h2 id="tea-concentrate">Tea concentrate</h2><p>The general technique for this is:</p><ol><li>Measure out your tea leaves.</li><li>Pour the appropriate amount of hot water to steep the tea. You want to use a very high ratio of tea to water because you want the tea flavor to be strong to stand up to milk and sugar, and because you'll later dilute your tea with cold water.</li><li>Strain out the tea leaves.</li><li>Cool down the tea by pouring in cold water. You want to do this so that your ice doesn't all melt right away when you make your milk tea.</li></ol><p>Since every tea is different, you may have to experiment with this to get the right flavor for your milk tea. When brewing your tea, you have 3 variables you can play with:</p><ul><li><strong>Temperature: </strong>Using hotter water tends to make the tea flavor stronger since more compounds are extracted. However, this may also increase bitterness and astringency (which is oftentimes desirable), since the compounds that cause these flavors are more soluble at higher temperatures. In general, black teas can hold up to higher temperatures, but green teas will quickly become bitter if the temperature is too high.</li><li><strong>Amount of tea:</strong> Using a higher ratio of tea to water will make your tea flavor more pronounced.</li><li><strong>Brewing time: </strong>When you steep your tea for longer, more tea compounds will be extracted. Like temperature, increasing brew time may also increase bitterness and astringency, since there will be more time for the compounds that cause these flavors to be drawn out.</li></ul><p>Here's the ratios/temperatures/times that I've been using. For each of these, I steep in 100g of hot water, and then pour in 80g of cold water at the end to cool the tea. Since the tea absorbs water, this will make about 160 grams (~3/4 cup) of tea concentrate, which is good for one 16 oz serving of boba.</p><!--kg-card-begin: html--><div class="overflow-container">
<table>
<tr>
<th>Type of tea</th>
<th>Temperature (F)</th>
<th>Steep time (minutes)</th>
<th>Tea (grams)</th>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><b>Black</b></td>
<td>180</td>
<td>8:00</td>
<td>6.5</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><b>Jasmine</b></td>
<td>165</td>
<td>4:00</td>
<td>6</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><b>Oolong</b></td>
<td>180</td>
<td>8:00</td>
<td>6</td>
</tr>
</table>
</div><!--kg-card-end: html-->]]></content:encoded></item><item><title><![CDATA[Syrups]]></title><description><![CDATA[Sweeten your drinks, your boba, and your life with these simple recipes!]]></description><link>https://api.bobanotebook.com/syrup/</link><guid isPermaLink="false">Ghost__Post__5d3bb07ab009710d8b4614e3</guid><dc:creator><![CDATA[Jeff Gao]]></dc:creator><pubDate>Sat, 27 Jul 2019 03:35:04 GMT</pubDate><media:content url="https://api.bobanotebook.com/content/images/2019/07/syrupb.png" medium="image"/><content:encoded><![CDATA[<img src="https://api.bobanotebook.com/content/images/2019/07/syrupb.png" alt="Syrups"/><p><em>This is still a work in progress! Enjoy this pretty picture and these basic recipes for now.</em></p><h2 id="what-kind-of-sugar-to-use">What kind of sugar to use</h2><p>I use turbinado sugar since it has a slight hint of molasses, which is <em>complex </em>and therefore better<em>. </em>You could just as easily use white sugar or something whacky like palm sugar, but I would stay away from brown sugars since I think the molasses flavor would overpower your tea. Be sure to measure by weight, since different brands of sugar have different granularities, and that makes it hard to get the sweetness level consistent when you measure by volume.</p><h2 id="simple-syrup">Simple syrup</h2><p>Used to sweeten drinks.</p><h4 id="ingredients-scale-up-or-down-as-needed-">Ingredients (scale up or down as needed)</h4><!--kg-card-begin: html--><dl>
<dd>70 grams sugar</dd>
<dd>80 grams water</dd>
</dl><!--kg-card-end: html--><h4 id="directions">Directions</h4><ol><li>Combine sugar and water in a small pot.</li><li>Heat the mixture on medium-low heat while stirring until the sugar is completely dissolved.</li><li>If you want to be extra and ensure consistency, add water until the total weight of the mixture is 150 grams (to replace water that evaporated).</li><li>Refrigerate for up to two weeks.</li></ol><h2 id="boba-syrup">Boba syrup</h2><p>There are a lot of ways to do this! A lot of boba shops use different mixtures of honey, brown sugar, and white sugar. I personally don't like boba syrups with brown sugar since I think the flavor easily overpowers the tea. Here's what I currently use:</p><h4 id="ingredients-scale-up-or-down-as-needed--1">Ingredients (scale up or down as needed)</h4><!--kg-card-begin: html--><dl>
<dd>70 grams sugar</dd>
<dd>40 grams honey</dd>
<dd>80 grams water</dd>
</dl><!--kg-card-end: html--><h4 id="directions-1">Directions</h4><ol><li>Combine sugar and water in a small pot.</li><li>Heat the mixture on medium-low heat while stirring until the sugar is completely dissolved.</li><li>Take the pot off the heat, and add in honey. Stir to combine until the honey is evenly dissolved.</li><li>If you want to be extra and ensure consistency, add water until the total weight of the mixture is 190 grams (to replace water that evaporated).</li><li>Refrigerate for up to two weeks.</li></ol>]]></content:encoded></item><item><title><![CDATA[Boba]]></title><description><![CDATA[The namesake of this blog — how to make good boba and what brands to use.]]></description><link>https://api.bobanotebook.com/boba/</link><guid isPermaLink="false">Ghost__Post__5d3bb071b009710d8b4614dd</guid><dc:creator><![CDATA[Jeff Gao]]></dc:creator><pubDate>Sat, 27 Jul 2019 03:34:00 GMT</pubDate><media:content url="https://api.bobanotebook.com/content/images/2019/07/bobabcc.png" medium="image"/><content:encoded><![CDATA[<img src="https://api.bobanotebook.com/content/images/2019/07/bobabcc.png" alt="Boba"/><p><em>This is still a work in progress! Enjoy this pretty picture and this basic recipe for now.</em></p><p>This is a tricky one because boba quality and preparation instructions are HIGHLY brand dependent. I'll start with some general instructions and then my notes on various brands.</p><h2 id="boba">Boba</h2><p>This should work for most non-instant boba brands. Don't bother with any boba that claims a 5-minute cook time.</p><h4 id="ingredients">Ingredients</h4><!--kg-card-begin: html--><dl>
<dd>1 cup uncooked boba (good for 2-3 servings)</dd>
<dd>6 cups water</dd>
<dd>½ cup <a href="/syrup" target="_blank">boba steeping syrup</a></dd>
</dl><!--kg-card-end: html--><h4 id="directions">Directions</h4><!--kg-card-begin: markdown--><ol>
<li>Sift the boba using a spider strainer (or anything that’ll let cracked chunks of boba fall through).
<ul>
<li>Basically, you want to get rid of excess starch that’ll make your boba too gooey, and you want to get rid of small pieces of boba since you want your boba to be consistent.</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li>Boil boba for 35 minutes.
<ul>
<li>The recommended ratio is at least 6 cups of water to 1 cup of boba, but if you sift enough, you can probably do 4 cups of water to 1 cup of boba.</li>
<li>At hot temperatures, boba is a lot softer. What you’re looking for at the end of the boiling period is that the boba is cooked all the way through - it should be soft and chewy from the outside to the inside (no chalky or crunchy parts).</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li>Turn off the heat and let the boba sit in the cooking water for 30 minutes.
<ul>
<li>This just helps the boba absorb more water.</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li>Rinse the boba using cold water.
<ul>
<li>I rinse by dumping out excess water, then filling the pot with water, stirring around, and straining. I do this a couple times. You basically want to rinse off excess starch from the boba so that it’s not too slimy on the outside.</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li>Steep the boba in syrup (see <a href="https://www.bobanotebook.com/syrup/">the syrup guide</a>) for at least 30 minutes. Give the boba a stir to make sure that it doesn't stick together.
<ul>
<li>You can let the boba sit for about two hours before the texture starts getting worse.</li>
</ul>
</li>
</ol>
<!--kg-card-end: markdown--><h2 id="boba-brands">Boba brands</h2><p>My top brand is <a href="https://fanaledrinks.com/collections/tapioca/products/tapioca-boba-fanale">Fanale</a>, but the downside is that you can only order cases of 40 pounds.</p><!--kg-card-begin: image--><figure class="kg-card kg-image-card kg-card-hascaption"><img src="https://api.bobanotebook.com/content/images/2019/07/5F833D48-378A-4C66-BA85-9ACC11258281-11585-000007D10E74CB99.png" class="kg-image" alt="Boba"><figcaption>Do you really need 6 bags this big?</figcaption></img></figure><!--kg-card-end: image--><p>My other favorite is from <a href="https://nuts.com/chocolatessweets/asian/bubble-tea/black-tapioca-pearls.html">Nuts.com</a>, but their boba is absurdly expensive for how much you get. I think these two brands win out because they're consistently chewy, don't taste super artificial, and are fairly big. In the packages that I've gotten, they also haven't crumbled much.</p><h4 id="other-brands-that-i-ve-tried">Other brands that I've tried</h4><ul><li><strong><a href="https://www.amazon.com/BOLLE-Boba-Bubble-Tapioca-Pearls/dp/B00JVAZ532">Bolle</a>: </strong>Pretty good flavor and chewiness, but the boba is smaller than other brands. You can also buy this is quantities that aren't ridiculous.</li><li><strong><a href="https://www.amazon.com/Tea-Zone-Tapioca-Bag-Pound/dp/B007LA06Y2/ref=sr_1_5?keywords=tea+zone+tapioca&qid=1564201349&s=gateway&sr=8-5">Tea Zone</a>: </strong>Good chewiness, but it has a weird aftertaste.</li></ul>]]></content:encoded></item><item><title><![CDATA[Matcha]]></title><description><![CDATA[I refuse to make matcha puns, but I love making matcha lattes!]]></description><link>https://api.bobanotebook.com/matcha/</link><guid isPermaLink="false">Ghost__Post__5d3bb119b009710d8b4614e8</guid><dc:creator><![CDATA[Jeff Gao]]></dc:creator><pubDate>Sat, 27 Jul 2019 01:24:00 GMT</pubDate><media:content url="https://api.bobanotebook.com/content/images/2019/07/matchab.png" medium="image"/><content:encoded><![CDATA[<img src="https://api.bobanotebook.com/content/images/2019/07/matchab.png" alt="Matcha"/><p><em>This is still a work in progress! Enjoy this pretty picture and basic recipe for now.</em></p><h2 id="matcha-iced-latte">Matcha iced latte</h2><h4 id="ingredients">Ingredients</h4><!--kg-card-begin: html--><dl>
<dd>4 grams matcha (latte grade, or ceremonial grade if you're bougie)</dd>
<dd>1¼ cups milk</dd>
<dd>80 grams cold water</dd>
<dd>40 grams <a href="/syrup" target="_blank">simple syrup</a> (for 100% sweetness)</dd>
<dd>Ice</dd>
</dl><!--kg-card-end: html--><h4 id="directions">Directions</h4><ol><li>Pour the simple syrup into the milk and stir.</li><li>In a small bowl, add the matcha powder and water. Stir with a matcha whisk to combine, scraping the sides so that all the matcha is incorporated.</li><li>Whisk the matcha back and forth until frothy (one day I'll post a video of how to do this).</li><li>Put ice into a glass. Pour in the milk and syrup mixture, and gently pour the matcha on top. Take a picture of your beautiful gradient, and then stir before drinking.</li></ol>]]></content:encoded></item></channel></rss>