Boba is a pretty common drink now. More likely than not, you have heard about it, but that doesn’t mean you’ve tried it. I have now tried boba on five different occasions. The fifth time was cinnamon and brown sugar tapioca boba, while all the other times I had a fruit flavored boba. I am not entirely sure why I didn’t choose a flavor to make that I knew I’d enjoy, but I am glad I tried something new.

My adventure started with doing lots of research on what the easiest type of boba would be for me to make. My efforts were unnecessary though, as I ended up choosing one of the first recipes that popped up on Pinterest. Boba is typically made with a mixture of fruit juice and sodium alginate that is then slowly dripped into a cold calcium chloride mixture that causes the reaction to make the boba balls for your drink! I was not very good at making the boba balls because I had zero patience and tried to rush the process. My boba balls were deflated and gooey instead of a “pop” in your mouth.

I would give the drink a 6/10. I put the brown sugar cinnamon tapioca balls into milk with some ice cubes, and the flavor was strong enough to outshine the milk. I don’t like tapioca, so it doesn’t make sense as to why I chose this flavor to try. It wasn’t a horrible flavor, just not my type of drink, so if you are a tapioca fan I would recommend this to try. I just prefer more fruity flavors for my boba. Overall, this was a fun experience that I would definitely try again with a flavor that I am more likely to enjoy.

This edition of Grubbin’ With Grace is brought to you by Edward Natoli, who funded this experiment.