Coffee bubble tea with coffee jelly

A stronger caffeinated twist on bubble tea.

It’s basically just iced coffee decked out with pearls and coffee jelly (made with agar agar, but with a gelatine option!), sweetened with a brown sugar syrup. Turning your coffee into a dessert affair.

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I’d had this idea since the start of the year, but just never really got around to making it.

I know it’s technically not bubble TEA per se, but it felt weird to call it bubble coffee. Does it make more sense to call it coffee boba? Maybe, but boba still means bubble TEA to me, so it’s the same.

Coffee jelly using agar agar vs. gelatine

I used agar agar to set the jelly instead of gelatine. Makes it vegetarian/ vegan friendly! The texture is, in my opinion, less bouncy than gelatine, so if you prefer the bouncy texture feel free to use gelatine instead, or you can reduce the agar agar powder to 1 1/2tsp or 1 3/4tsp for a softer texture. If you use gelatine however, you’ll need to use 3tsp of it to set the jelly, and you’ll have to make sure you don’t boil it. Don’t worry - I’ve included instructions for using gelatine too!

The mother found the coffee jelly to be too bitter, however the sibling found it to be perfect, so feel free to use less coffee and more sugar if you’re sensitive to bitterness in coffee or just don’t like your coffee too strong.

This recipe makes 2 cups of jelly. It’s a little too much, however unless you have a tiny pan or dish, you’ll end up with thin jelly. If that’s your vibe, then feel free to cut the jelly recipe in half. I personally wanted a thicker, more cube-like shape. With the leftover jelly, I just served it with cream and condensed milk as in the shot below which you may have seen from my previous photography post.

Speaking of photography, I couldn’t decide whether I wanted to shoot it bright or dark, so here’s both.

You may think, ‘haha, well clearly you put the bright one as the main image, so you prefer it!’ but actually that’s just because I edited all the bright ones first. Gotcha. Or maybe I do subconsciously prefer the brighter ones. The world may never know.

For an additional caffeine kick (or, really, just an additional flavour kick), I’ve also tried brewing some caramel brownie black tea and mixing it with milk and coffee. Pretty good, and would go nicely with the jelly and pearls.

This is more just a recipe for coffee jelly, since preferred coffee:milk ratios differ among everyone. Even pearl preferences differ! Obviously if you know you prefer more pearls, cook more. If you prefer them softer, cook them for a little longer. Prefer sweeter drinks? Add more sugar. Since this ain’t a baked good or anything, you can pretty much taste and adjust to your liking as you go along.

Recipe

For the coffee jelly

Makes 2c of jelly

INGREDIENTS:

• 2tsp agar agar powder

• 2c water

• 50g castor sugar

• 1 1/2tbsp instant coffee granules/ instant freeze-dried coffee

METHOD:

1. In a small pot, combine the agar agar and water and bring to a boil.

2. Add the sugar and coffee. Stir until all dissolved and simmer for 3 minutes.

3. Pour into a heat safe dish to cool at room temperature. Once solidified, slice into cubes and set aside.

NOTE: If using gelatine, sprinkle 3tsp of gelatine over 1/4c water and allow to bloom for 5 minutes. Meanwhile, heat 1 3/4c of water with the sugar until it is just about to boil. Remove it from the heat and whisk in the coffee and the gelatine/water mixture until dissolved. Cool slightly, then pour into a heat safe dish and refrigerate until set.

For the pearls and syrup

INGREDIENTS:

• 100g brown sugar

• 100g water + 500g water (separate)

• 85g instant pearls

METHOD:

1. In a small pot, combine the sugar and 100g water. Heat, stirring regularly, until boiling. Boil for 3 minutes. Set aside.

2. In a separate pot, boil the 500g water. Add in the pearls and simmer for 5-7 minutes (until at your desired chew level).

3. Drain the pearls and keep them in the prepared syrup.

To assemble

Makes approx. 3 large serves

INGREDIENTS:

• Coffee jelly (as prepared above)

• Pearls and syrup (as prepared above)

• 3c (750g) strong coffee

• Milk of your choice (amount as desired)

METHOD:

1. In a large cup, scoop some jelly and pearls. Pour in some syrup to sweeten. Pour in roughly 1c of coffee and top with milk.

That’s it!

Serve cold with ice if desired.