Popping Boba: The Complete FAQ Guide In 2024

1.What is popping boba?

Popping boba is similar to boba that you find in bubble tea. Popping boba are fun-filled juicy balls that come up with great surprising flavors. They are covered in a transparent gummy skin with real fruit juice flavors within it.

Although they’re a small sphere with an extremely thin exterior layer retaining fruit juice that ‘POPs’ in your mouth by squeezing or a gentle bite.

Whether a chewy bubble tea or popping boba in frozen yogurt, everyone loves the bursting pack of flavors.

Popping boba should not be misinterpreted for tapioca boba. Although both of them are originated in Asia. Both have unique characteristics and textures that makes an incredible addition to dessert or drink topping giving them a unique and fresh look.

2.What are the different names of popping boba?

Popping boba is also known for many other names such as bursting boba, popping balls, popping pearls, juice balls, or bursting bubbles.

They are fun-filled bubbles filled with juice inside that burst when you put them in your mouth. That’s why they are a highly popular beverage across the globe.

3.What are the different types of boba?

When you walk into a boba shop for the first time, it can be overwhelming, and you make yourself confused to figure out the menu. If you’re new to the boba world then you must know the following basic types of boba which will help you for the right selection.

1. Tapioca Boba

Tapioca boba or black boba is also known as black pearl or tapioca pearls which is mostly served with bubble tea. They are made from cassava root and added with brown sugar and caramel color that enhances the taste and pigment of boba.
When you sip tapioca boba for the first time, it might be surprising due to its bouncy, chewy texture with a licorice flavor.

2. Popping Boba

This is very much similar to the Gusher fruit snack that everyone loves to consume. Popping boba is a surprising beverage that retains a wonderful flavor. This is created via molecular gastronomy and does not involve cooking. Popping boba is powered by sodium alginate (discussed below). By adding sodium alginate mixture in cold calcium chloride. You will see gel-like bubbles that transform into boba balls.
The popping boba gain popularity due to their bursting property. It has brought a great idea of chewing, bursting as well as drinking. But you cannot call them tapioca.

3. Cleared Boba

As its names show they are a simple and clear form of boba which is directly obtained from the starch of cassava root with incorporating extra sweetness and brown sugar.
Therefore, they are tasteless and used in milk-based teas. This boba absorbs the flavor and adjusts according to the flavor of your tea. So, if you’re in the café and order some bubble chai or clear boba it will taste like your chai or tea.

4. Crystal Boba
   A crystal boba is also known as white boba or white pearl. They are chewy but not jelly-like texture and bouncy. They are presented with a translucent sphere immersed in syrup of citrus fruits for bubble tea, or frozen yogurt, and other iced beverages.
   They are also known as agar boba which is made from Konjac. Konjac is a small plant that is grown in the tropical regions of eastern Asia. Their making requires cooking for approximately one hour.
   
5. Flavoured Boba
   This is a traditional boba that has been prepared by cooking and coating with flavor syrup of a different range of fruity flavors- for instance, mango, strawberry, coconut, etc.
   Keep in mind, flavor boba is also known as a jelly pearl and these are also used in smoothies, brewed teas, and ice-cream toppings.
6.  Mini Boba
   With the emergence of tapioca boba and popping boba, the world of culinary science brought many variations in creating different types, flavors, and presentations of boba.

Mini boba is exactly the same as it sounds. It is a smaller version of popping boba with a translucent and gummy texture. If you order mini boba you can drink it using a normal straw. But it is hard to drink if you find normal size boba. They’re faster to cook and easy to chew.

4.Do you know the difference between Popping Boba and Tapioca Boba?

No one can consider you wrong if you say popping boba and tapioca boba are more like siblings.
But they’re not the same.

As siblings have the same origin, they also have the same origin but different identities and somewhat usage.

Tapioca boba also known as tapioca pearl, is a  small-sized translucent sphere prepared by cooking tapioca starch from cassava root. They are quite flavorless which is added to drinks and desserts solely due to their chewy texture. Furthermore, tapioca boba is considered a traditional drink most often infused with honey to enhance the sweet taste but it is optional. As it is produced from tapioca, so it also has a slightly sweetened taste.  You can add tapioca boba in milk, chilled smoothies, frozen drinks, and much more.

Tapioca Starch

Whereas you can obtain popping boba from seaweed extract.

Seaweed extract

The emergence of frozen yogurt is a secret reason behind the popularity of popping boba. Due to an unlimited variety of flavors, you can customize the flavors of your choice.

5.How to distinguish tapioca boba over popping boba?

Well, for preparation and storing any kind of product is a prime factor for business.

• Preparation
  As we mentioned earlier, the preparation of tapioca boba requires cooking and special attention to attain a perfect texture. Whereas popping boba is comparatively a simple process, that does not require heat or cooking, but you must refrigerate it after preparation.

Cooking of Tapioca Boba

Popping Boba

• Texture
  The texture of tapioca boba is soft and chewy while popping boba pops when pressed and rapidly accepts the mixing with other flavors. Whenever you are dealing with these two kinds of boba, you may experience that tapioca boba may have fragments of honey that enhances after each sip while chewing them. While popping boba rapidly pops after a gentle bite and quickly enhances the fun flavor to flavoring drink which is more appealing to kids.

Texture of Tapioca Boba

• Temperature
  When you apply temperature to your drink that contains tapioca boba or popping boba, their taste and flavors change simultaneously. The modification in taste is mainly based on the duration of a heating process. As you may know, the tapioca boba is made from starch, thus it is so obvious that temperature can make tapioca boba more elastic to chew and enhance the great taste.
  Whereas, popping boba may not demonstrate these outcomes. But it does not mean they are afraid of hot beverages

Because it won’t dissolve if you give them temperature. But over time, it may become liquid-y and become difficult to pop.
Now you may have a strong idea for why we prefer popping boba to serve with a chilled bowl of frozen stuff.   Try to freeze them to get an icy, refreshing flavor of popping boba.

• Flavors
  A tapioca boba is flavorless, thus they are mixed with honey or sugar to enhance the taste. You can have tapioca boba in tea as a flavored drink. Hence, you can practically pair tapioca boba with any flavor of your choice. As it works amazing with many flavors. For popping boba, they have a broad spectrum of flavors from traditional lychee to modern chocolate flavors. So, you have more and more options for popping boba.

6.What are the different ways of using popping boba?

Popping boba is a fun-filled beverage that can use in many ways to get a real fruity flavor. This is a unique way of topping which is not just delicious but gives you immense pleasure and taste.

It is a fantastic addition when you merge them with the following products

• Ice-cream
• Milkshake
• Slushes
• Frozen yogurt
• Custards
• Confectionaries
• Smoothies

7.How did popping boba originate?

Molecular gastronomy is a combination of art and science. Food is prepared in a colloidal system where all ingredients undergo physical and chemical changes. Thus, molecular gastronomy basically focuses on these physical and chemical changes that occur in food. Popping boba is one of their achievements.
We are thankful to scientists for introducing this creative phenomenon between sodium alginate and calcium, which results in the polymerization of alginate ultimately forming a gel.

How?

This is done by ‘spherification’.

A sphere is formed when you drop sodium alginate mixture into a calcium chloride bath. This chemical reaction results in the formation of a thin layer around the juice.

The pH level of juice is very important for effective spherification, it must be > 3.6.

You can also prepare popping boba by ‘reverse spherification’. As its name shows instead of dropping sodium alginate mixture in a calcium chloride bath, you can reverse this process by dropping calcium chloride into sodium alginate mixture.

 

Hence reverse spherification is also a versatile way to form a sphere than the regular spherification process and you can make them using high calcium content. Furthermore, xanthan gum can also be incorporated to enhance viscosity.

8.What popping boba is made of?

To understand the mystery of popping boba, you need to know a little bit of chemistry.

Do not worry, this is not so complicated as the science of popping boba is based on just three main ingredients.

1) Sodium Alginate

Like many others, food experts are thankful for sodium alginate that creates a surprising gelatinous substance that exerts some significant therapeutic effects too. Interesting?

Yes, sodium alginate not only gives a unique look to popping boba, but it also works along with conventional antacids to prevent the action of stomach acids to produce their undesirable action.

Have you ever heard about polysaccharides?

In reality, sodium alginate is originated from marine brown algae and known as a natural polysaccharide. It is also present in soil bacteria, but the main source is algae such as seaweeds in chilly northern seas.

So, they’re not only good for digestion issues but extensively used for thickening products in ice-creams and slimming agents.

Hence, whenever you think of a gel-like food substance, add sodium alginate to your ingredients list.

2) Calcium Chloride OR Calcium Lactate

Calcium chloride is a mineral that is suggested for treating low levels of calcium and prevent calcium deficiencies.

Calcium chloride is also a preferred mineral indicated for calcium deficiency.

Isn’t interesting?

Many foods and beverages manufacturers use calcium chloride or calcium lactate as an ingredient to promote the shelf life, flavor, and texture of foods.

But in our case when you combine sodium alginate and calcium lactate or with calcium chloride to initiate the process of bubble formation. It boosts the magic of chemistry, and their combination is transformed into a soft, delicious membrane.

This delicious membrane Pops when you press or bite into some boba. 

3) Juice

You can incorporate any flavor of juice when making popping boba. But they’re chosen with fruity flavors such as strawberry, pineapple, watermelon, orange, mango, lychee, and so on. The juice is filled in a sphere creating a real fruity taste when burst in the mouth.

Thus, popping boba is healthy as it contains healthy juices, or you may add syrup. The ingredients of juice include water, glucose, or sugar jelly.

4)- Protection Liquid
 There is a protection liquid that is made up of fructose and water that facilitate protection to popping boba when they’re in the packing box.

All these ingredients are safe, and you can consume them perfectly.

9.Is it safe to eat?

Popping boba is contained a rich quantity of carbohydrates. Therefore, it exerts few potential health benefits. The moderate consumption of popping boba is comparatively safe than abrupt drinking.
The presence of calorie (2 tablespoons contain 30 calories) boost energy level while popping boba contains syrup and fruit content. Therefore, individuals with long-term health complications such as diabetes, obesity should avoid or take medical advice before consuming it.

If you consume popping boba in green tea, it can offer the following health benefits, such as lowering blood pressure or lowering the risk of cancer, and weight loss.

10.How popping boba is prepared?

To make popping boba is now commonly instructed on YouTube DIYs and many other sources. This type of creativity is also known as ‘Culinary art’. This is surprising to know that many people are keen to explore the art of molecular gastronomy these days at home. They’re exceptionally popular among all bubble tea connoisseurs. That’s now trending out of top beverage shops in the US and European region. The popping boba or popping pearl is the way to a creative and healthy source of topping presented by many popular chains of beverage. That’s why some people prefer to prepare bursting boba in their own homes.

But on a large scale, you will require to use specialized popping boba machines. Although their preparation steps are similar as you do it in your kitchen.

A popping boba machine includes following components such as jam hopper, SUS pan, a flushing system, a feeder, and highly optimized operating panel.

11.What is a popping boba machine?

A popping boba machine is well-acknowledged equipment used on a commercial scale for manufacturing popping boba. They are available in different types such as manual, semi-automatic, and automatic popping boba machines.

This machine is made up of stainless-steel conforming to international quality standards. A popping boba machine basically deals with three liquid systems, such as sodium alginate, Sodium chloride bath system, and juices.

The preparation of popping boba in popping boba machine requires the following steps:

• Addition of popping material into the jam hopper.

• Rich quantity of water in a bath tank, that gives a rigorous shake to mix ingredients.

• Juices are added into the metering channels of the machine, so these popping boba absorb the juices inside them.
• These machines have an integrated sieving system that helps to give a cleared beads of popping boba.
  

12.Is Popping boba fit for vegetarians?

Of course, yes!

Popping boba is vegetarian-friendly food, as you may know, the outer casing is made up of seaweed extract, a natural form of polysaccharide -Not gelatin.

Thus, popping boba is suitable for vegans.

13.Do bursting boba float in drinks?

In some cases, they can float over super fizzy drinks, but in other cases, they absorb the fizz or drink and settle down at the bottom of a glass.

14.How can you store popping boba?

Popping boba is ideal for a cold drink, ice cream, and frozen yogurt. When you open the packaging of popping boba it is recommended to store them in a refrigerator to preserve its freshness. If you store an unopen pack of popping boba at room temperature, then it will remain stable for around six months.  Once you open the pack then its shelf life will be reduced to two weeks even in the refrigerator.

15.What happened when you add popping boba in hot water?

Popping boba is ideal for chilled and icy drinks. They’re burst with freshness when mixed with frozen yogurt and a cold drink. Although they’re not afraid of hot drinks. But it acts like gelatin in hot water and when you indulge this boba in a hot drink, their outer layer becomes loose and tends to melt.

If you want to experience the burst of juices, then it is not suitable to serve in hot water.

16.Why are we all so obsessed with popping boba?

We all love popping boba. Even kids are obsessed with it. Especially we crave popping boba when the sun heats up or during anxiety! The sweetness and freshness of popping boba are a surprising treat for all ages. It is the perfect indulgence for young or old.

If you’re a curious person and want to know why all are obsessed with popping boba then we came up with the following reasons.

1. There are many delicious refreshing flavors

Popping boba is best known for bursting delicious flavors. Kids and adults everyone love the science and lots of flavors to choose from when ordering popping boba. Now the trend of frozen yogurt if it is without a delicious topping of popping boba will be boring right?

2. It Never Fails to Satisfy You

Having the worst day in the office or at home? Grab a bowl of chilled popping boba that will help you to lighten up your mood. The freshness and sweetness of fruity flavors will create a wonderful sensation to alleviate the stress as you enjoy eating with your favorite flavor and topping.

3. Low Calories

If you are so conscious about your health and want to keep your body fit. Then popping boba is for you. Because each serving of standard popping boba (2 tbs) will give you low- calorie intake which is 30. You can enjoy summer with your favorite flavors that keep you cool.

4. No Cooking Required

The preparation of popping boba does not require cooking. The preparation of popping boba is very simple that devoid of complicated steps and heating. Once you prepare the popping boba, never forget to seal and refrigerate them because it will help to preserve them for a longer time.

Conclusion

In a nutshell, the growing marketing trends and tactics of popping boba is expected to grow approximately more than 10% from 2021 to 2027. This increase in usage of tantalizing juicy popping boba accelerated the manufacturing growth in urban marketing sector. Similarly, establishment of hyper and super-markets are another factor behind rapid growth of popping boba popularity.