This Lychee Bubble Tea is refreshing and one of the easiest bubble tea drinks to make. Lychee bubble tea, also known as lychee boba tea or lychee milk tea, is a delightful beverage that blends the flavors of lychee fruit with the fun and chewy texture of tapioca pearls. This Lychee Bubble Tea recipe uses fresh or canned lychees making it accessible. This Simple Homemade Lychee Bubble Tea is well worth making and I hope you try it!
Growing up in America, eating lychees was a rare experience. It is saved for *special* occasions since lychees are an expensive, imported fruit. Currently, in the summer I saw it was sold for about $3.00/lb with a small bunch of lychees can cost up to $9. Canned lychees in syrup costs about $3-4 a can. The cost of all the ingredients may end up being the price of lychee bubble tea at a boba shop! I love making this at home because it doesn't use lychee syrup and uses real, whole fruit! She's a baddie and she's boujee - she's lychee bubble tea.
What is Lychee?
Lychee, called trái vải in Vietnamese, is a tropical fruit native to Southeast Asia that has been enjoyed for centuries in various forms, including fresh, dried, and canned. In northern Vietnamese it is pronounced "tr-ai vai", Southern Vietnamese it is pronounced "ch-ai yai". To eat a lychee, you need to peel off the exterior skin. If you've ever peeled the skin off a grape and eaten the insides, lychees are eaten in a similar manner. There is a big, dark-brown seed in the center - do not eat it. I wouldn't recommend popping a lychee in your mouth and starting to chew. Lychees have their own unique flavor that is fruity, sweet, and delicious.
Lychee Bubble Tea
Lychee boba tea is believed to have originated in Taiwan as a creative twist on traditional Taiwanese bubble tea. Its popularity has made a big splash all over the world. Given the popularity of incorporating various flavors into bubble tea, it's not surprising that someone would have the idea to infuse lychee's unique taste into the drink.
While the exact timeline and location of the first lychee bubble tea creation remain uncertain, it's likely that this variation emerged as part of the ongoing innovation and experimentation that characterizes the bubble tea industry. As the popularity of bubble tea spread globally, different fruit flavors, including lychee, were incorporated into the beverage, offering customers a wider range of options to enjoy.
Whether it was a creative twist from a bubble tea shop owner or a response to customer demand for new and exciting flavors, lychee bubble tea has certainly carved its own niche within the diverse world of bubble tea, offering a refreshing and tropical twist to a beloved drink.
Recently, my kids tried lychee boba tea and keep asking for it. They love boba teas and they are quickly becoming obsessed with the different flavors. The good news is you don't need to travel to Taiwan or anywhere far to get the REAL taste of lychees!
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❤️Why You'll love this recipe
- This recipe is made with fresh or canned lychees.
- Homemade bubble tea allows you to customize the sweetness and other aspects of the drink to suit your taste preferences. You can adjust the amount of simple syrup, use different types of tea, or even choose different types of milk or milk alternatives.
- You can add additional toppings to your liking
- You can make this with or without using tea.
🥄Equipment and tools
- Blender. I use Blendtec
🛒Recipe Ingredients
Ingredient Notes:
- Ice
- 10-15 peeled and de-seeded lychees
- Cooked boba pearls
- Lychee jelly (optional)
- Sugar
- Tea is optional (oolong, green tea, black tea)
- Water
See the recipe card below for a full list of ingredients and measurements.
↔Substitutions & Variations
- In place of canned lychees, you can use fresh lychees
- You can customize this recipe by adjusting the sweetness level by adding additional sugar or simple syrup.
- You can also add popping boba and your favorite flavors of jellies.
👩🏫 How to Make Lychee Bubble Tea
Step 1: Steep your tea (optional.) Skip if you don't want to use tea.
Step 2: Add ice to the blender.
Step 3: Add peeled and deseeded lychees to the blender
Step 4: Add sugar.
Step 5: Add tea or water
Step 6: Blend on high or smoothie setting until well blended.
Step 7: Assemble the drink. Add cooked boba pearls first.
Step 8: Add lychee jellies. (optional)
Step 10: Pour lychee blend over the top and enjoy!
Expert Tips
- Frozen lychee would blend easier
- Canned lychees can be substituted for fresh lychees. Be sure to adjust the sugar content because canned lychees are preserved in syrup and make the drink sweeter.
- For the best experience get boba straws to drink lychee boba tea with.
- If you want more lychee flavor, instead of using black boba pearls swap them out for lychee flavored boba pearls.
- Add lychee boba popping pearls for additional flavor and fun.
🙋♀️Recipes FAQ
Lychee has a sweet, tropical flavor that reminds me of grapes with a similar juicy texture, but has its own unique aroma, also.
Boba that is already infused with lychee flavor can be purchased.
Fresh, frozen, or canned lychees, ice, sugar. Boba pearls are made of tapioca starch. You can also add optional ingredients such as jellies, tea, milk, or other toppings and fruit combinations.
They're the same drink, just called different names. Both are drinks made in various ways and can have tapioca pearls, called boba or bubbles.
❄️Storage and reheating instructions
Lychee bubble tea is best consumed within the same day. Boba pearls will harden and no longer be edible if stored in a fridge or freezer.
Did you try this recipe?
Leave a ⭐️ review below and tag @teerangathome on Instagram!
📖Recipe
Simple Homemade Lychee Bubble Tea Recipe
Equipment
- 1 blender
Ingredients
- 1 cup ice
- 10-15 lychees peeled and de-seeded
- 1 cup cooked boba pearls ((optional))
- 1 cup lychee jellies ((optional))
- 1-2 tbsp sugar
- 1 packet tea ((optional))
- 3 oz water (if using tea omit)
Instructions
- Steep tea of choice (optional)
- To blender add 1 cup of ice.
- Then add 10-15 peeled and de-seeded lychees.
- Add 1-2 tablespoonsful of sugar.
- Add 3 ounces of tea or 3 ounces of water if not using tea
- Blend on high, stop blender when mixture is well blended.
- Assemble lychee bubble tea by adding boba pearls to a cup. This step is optional if you do not want boba pearls.
- Then add lychee jellies. Skip this step if you don't want lychee jellies.
- Then add lychee slush to the cup.
- It's time to enjoy!
Holly
Hello, what are lychee jellies? I know there is a lychee jelly sold in a jar or are you talking about lychee jelly beans?
Trang Vo
Hi there! I'm referring to the jellies that are sold in the jar! They look similar to the ones sold here on Amazon: https://amzn.to/4cPGTRE (affiliate). My local Asian grocery store has them in their boba tea section!