Missing Te'Amo? Here's an Easy Recipe for Mango Bubble Tea.

I’m usually a frequent visitor to Te’Amo. It’s one of my favorite study spots on campus—I’ve spent a great number of afternoons memorizing Russian verbs and finishing essays while happily drinking Mango Green Tea with Bubbles.

So it came as no surprise that I quickly began to crave bubble tea while quarantining in Columbus, OH. And while lucky Chicago residents can still order boba deliveries via Grubhub, I realized that I would have to make my own bubble tea in order to satisfy my cravings. As such, attached below is my easy recipe for making mango bubble tea from home!

The Recipe (Serves 3-4)

Ingredients and Supplies—all of which are available via Amazon delivery:

• *2 Bags of Rishi Organic Jasmine Green Tea

• *Le Sirop de Monin Mango Syrup, added to taste

• 1 Cup WuFuYuan Tapioca Pearl (Black Sugar Flavor)

• Cane Sugar, also added to taste

• 3-4 Bubble Tea Straws

• *Feel free to substitute different teas and fruit syrups. Also feel free to add milk to your bubble tea. Mango bubble tea has always just been my favorite, so I ordered mango syrup first. However, the Le Sirop de Monin brand alone sells numerous fruit syrups via Amazon - from raspberry, peach, and strawberry, to more exotic flavors like blood orange and desert pear.

#1) Brew the iced tea. Boil a 32 oz. pitcher of hot water, and add 2 bags of Rishi Jasmine Green Tea. Let steep for 3 minutes. Add about 2 Tb of sugar, to taste. Let the tea cool for a few minutes, and then place in the fridge.

#2) Make the tapioca pearls. Start by boiling 10 cups of water in a large pot. Once the water comes to a boil, slowly add 1 cup of tapioca pearls and stir. Once the bubbles start floating to the surface, cover the pot and cook the bubbles for 2-3 minutes on medium heat. Next, turn off the stove and let the bubbles simmer for an additional 2-3 minutes (allowing the bubbles to soften, to preference).

Let the tapioca pearls cool. Remove the bubbles from the pot, and let them sit in cool water for about 20 seconds. Then place the bubbles in a dry bowl and add sugar.

#3) Mix the iced tea, bubbles, and mango syrup to taste. Enjoy!

The Finished Product

The Finished Product

The Finished Product

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Too Much Sugar, Not Enough Nice–Starbucks' Pumpkin Spice

When I hear the words “Pumpkin Spice Latte,” a few things come to mind. Among them are fall, Tumblr girls (think 2012’s equivalent of today’s VSCO girl), memes, and the term “basic.” After years of seeing pictures of people in scarves, surrounded by highly saturated foliage, holding out their lattes in that iconic white and green cup, I finally decided to swallow my pride and try the drink myself. After all, how could I judge a drink I had never tried? While I was at it, I thought it would only be sensible to try the rest of Starbucks’ autumnal drinks, in case the PSL didn’t strike my fancy (spoiler alert: it didn’t). Here is my ranking of the four drinks I tried.

The Procedure:

1. I ordered all four beverages with whipped cream, in order to keep as many variables constant as possible. Also, I like whipped cream.

2. I drank water in between each taste test to ensure my palate was neutral and uncontaminated.

The Results:

1. Pumpkin Cream Cold Brew — 7/10

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Ok, I decided to go from best to worst because I was feeling nice. This Cold Brew was actually really good. It smelled like cinnamon, and the pumpkin cream sweetened the coffee just enough so that it was enjoyable to drink, but not so much that it was sickly. The pumpkin flavor was extremely faint (a trend you will see throughout this ranking) but overall it was a highly palatable drink.

2. Caramel Apple Spice — 6.5/10 

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Second best was this warm drink. It has a slightly buttery consistency that is quite comforting; it brings to mind the coziness of coming home after a nice fall day of apple-picking. I mean, I’ve never been apple-picking, but that’s definitely accurate. I’m also fairly convinced this drink is just warmed up apple juice that has been thickened a bit, but it’s still good.

3.  Pumpkin Spice Hot Chocolate— 5/10

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This was just a regular hot chocolate. There was no pumpkin flavor at all, and it wasn’t even that hot. But as far as plain hot chocolate goes, this one was not terrible.

4. Pumpkin Spice Latte — 2/10

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I really tried to give it a fair shot, but no. It was very sugary and strangely acidic, with a strong but unidentifiable artificial flavor to it— maybe it’s the actual Pumpkin Spice that didn’t come through in the Cold Brew or the hot chocolate. As my friend eloquently phrased it, “With [the PSL at] ‘Starbs’ you think it’s gonna be good, and it almost is, but then it tastes like, idk, chemicals.”

…or not