By Misty I.

June 19, 2019

I’ve loved lemonade since my favorite song was “My Sharona.”

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Recently my son had a lemonade stand project in his class. His wonderful teachers Ms. Shimizu and Ms.Nitahara-Moses provided the basics but asked students to get creative and bring in add-ons if they wanted.

Jesse was excited and invited me to brainstorm with him. We went back and forth…strawberries? Blueberries? Lemonade slush? All were too common. Then it hit me….duh…BOBA lemonade! His face lit up and he immediately agreed. At about the same moment that’s when my stomach sank. Hmmm…I don’t exactly know how to make boba, nor do I know where I can buy boba pearls. Annnnd where do I get those darn boba straws? Oh boy.

Turns out it’s easier than I thought. I bought a package of boba at Kīlauea Market. They actually have an extensive boba pearl selection. I went with the OG large black looking boba. Teapresso was nice enough to donate straws to Jesse and we got the rest from Ben Franklin Crafts.

Boba Pearls

Ingredients:

1 package (2.2lbs.) black tapioca large boba pearls
Water (about 20? Cups)
Sugar or honey

Method:

The package states to boil 10 cups of water for every 1 cup of boba pearls. So I brought 20 cups of water (yes, 20!) to a boil. I added the 2 cups of boba pearls and simmered it for 8 minutes. I now think it’s translated into English wrong and I’ll boil the entire package – about 5 ½ cups total in 20 cups of water.

After 8 minutes of simmering, add the boba to a cold water bath for 30 seconds and drain in a colander. Transfer to a container and add sugar to your desire. For 5 ½ cups of pearls, I added about a ⅓ cup of sugar. The package says to consume the boba within 4 hours.

My son happily took the boba to school and said that everyone eagerly wanted to sample his group’s boba lemonade!

That’s it, only easy!