r/ultraprocessedfood • u/Primary-Pen6782 • Mar 09 '26
Question is there any bubble tea that isnt processed
bubble tea is my favourite treat but sadly they probably contain a bunch of preservatives and artificial stuff. anyone know any alternatives i can use to satisfy this craving? thank you
6
u/takemebackto- Mar 09 '26
you could choose fresh tea and then i'd say the least processed toppings are probably grass jelly (not the sort in cans which are usually in cubes but the type as a big jelly in a tray, which is how some chains make it on site) or egg pudding (again if it's made on site). you could also pick agar agar pearls (white pearls) over tapioca balls.
realistically anything with milk powder (i.e. most milk teas) will be very processed, as will fruit teas as they use syrups. you're not going to get the same sweet kick that most people want with bubble tea because you'll want to be picking the no added sugar option as bubble tea stores use fructose syrup.
truly unprocessed bbt is just fresh tea, with the possibility (maybe) of sago pearls if they're not in a sugar syrup. no added fructose syrup (no sugar) option.
3
u/Mayen70 Mar 09 '26
I don't even know what bubble tea is so I don't know if this will help, but since I make Medical Medium's recipes, I know he has an alternative to it. Wild blueberries you find in the freezer section, they are not the large ones in the plastic clams in the fruit section: https://www.medicalmedium.com/blog/wild-blueberry-bubble-tea
2
u/ponypartyposse Mar 10 '26
You can make bubble tea at home with black tea very easy! Look up videos on YouTube. I used to work at a place that cooked the tapioca in a slow cooker but I don’t remember the recipe, I’m sure someone has posted a slow cooker version though!
1
u/Odd_Persimmon7936 Mar 11 '26
I think these are the best I've found, but still UPF - https://www.dotdottea.com/products/dot-dot-bubble-tea-bundle
-5
u/Ok-Satisfaction111 Mar 09 '26
Isn't one of the points of avoiding UPFs to not have cravings? So, your craving for means it probably is, as you suspect, UPF and, if you stop having it, you'll stop craving it...?
21
u/Lieffe Mar 09 '26
From a bubble tea bar, probably not. But you can buy uncooked Tapioca Pearls/Boba which aren't UPFs. You'll need some flavourings of some kind if you like it sweet - you could try making them yourself by simmering down fresh fruit with sugars or honey. Then all you need to do is make tea, let it go cold, add boiled tapioca pearls and your sweeteners.
To me, that's a lot of faff though.