The drink that screams SUMMER with a little fun: sparkling strawberry lemonade with fresh strawberry boba! This drink not only embodies the cool, refreshing lemonade everyone loves, it's also filled with the flavor and aroma of fresh strawberries, spritzy bubbles, and some fun, chewy boba.
3cupclub soda, or seltzer and sparkling water (about 700mL)
Ice
Strawberries, optional for garnish
Thyme, optional for garnish
Instructions
For the fresh strawberry bobas:
Place 1 cup of the tapioca flour onto your clean work surface. Reserve the other ¼ cup of tapioca flour for later use.
In a small saucepan, combine the finely chopped strawberries, sugar, and 1 Tablespoon of tapioca flour. Thoroughly mix everything together and cook it over medium heat. Once the mixture looks a little translucent and turns gloopy, remove from heat.*You could also complete this step by using the microwave. Please refer to the post above for more details.*
Immediately transfer the hot strawberry tapioca dough onto the cup of tapioca flour on your work surface and start kneading the tapioca flour into the hot dough. Knead the tapioca flour into your dough until all of the flour is absorbed. If the dough still feels really wet, add the ¼ cup of tapioca flour a couple of Tablespoons at a time. The proper consistency of the dough should be smooth, slightly tacky but not sticky, and semi-pliable.**DO be very careful! The dough will be very hot, so start by folding the flour into your dough if needed.***The about of tapioca flour needed for the boba dough really depends on how juicy your strawberries are, so adjust accordingly. The humidity of your environment could also be a factor and you may not even need a whole cup of tapioca flour.*
Once the strawberry boba dough has reach its proper consistency, divide the dough into 2 pieces and roll both of the dough into ropes, about ¼ inch thick. Cut the ropes into ¼ inch pieces and roll each of the pieces into pearls. Make sure to keep the tapioca covered with a clean, damp towel while working to prevent them from drying out. Lightly dust the pearls with tapioca flour as needed.Boba Hack: Roll the dough to about ⅜ to ¼ inch thick on a lightly tapioca-floured surface. Place the flattened dough onto a wire rack and roll the dough through the holes of the rack. If your dough is a bit on the tacker side, do flour the rack before rolling the dough on it.*I recommend using a wire rack that has 1cm x 1cm holes for the perfect size bobas, because bobas do expand when cooked. Refer to the post for picture reference on this step!*
In a pot of boiling water, add the tapioca pearls to the water while stirring. This will help prevent the pearls from sticking to the bottom of the pot. Boil the pearls for about 20 to 25 minutes, or until the pearls is completely cooked on the inside. To check, bite a pearl in half. The inside should be chewy and no longer tastes starchy.
Once the bobas are cooked, strain the pearls and rinse them under cold water. Set aside until needed.Tip: Personally, we like to make a 1 to 1 ratio of water and sugar syrup to keep our bobas from sticking to each other, tasting sweet, and tender but chewy. If you wish to do the same, combine ½ cup of granulated sugar and ½ cup of water in a small saucepan. Bring the mixture to a simmer and add the cooked tapioca pearls. Simmer the pearls with the syrup for 30 seconds to 1 minutes and remove from heat. Let the pearls cool in the fridge until needed.
For the lemon syrup:
In a medium saucepan, combine the lemon slices, sugar, and water. Try to arrange the lemon slices in an even layer so that the lemons can cook evenly.
Bring the lemon syrup mixture to a low boil over medium/ medium high heat. Boil the lemon slices until most of the lemon rinds are starting to look translucent, about 7-10 minutes depending on how thick the lemon slices are.
Once the lemons rinds are cooked through, transfer the lemon syrup and lemon slices to a heatproof container. Set the lemon syrup aside to cool until needed. *This syrup is very versatile and can be made up to 1 week ahead of time and stored in the fridge until needed.*
For the macerated strawberries:
Combine the finely chopped strawberries and sugar in a bowl. Mix throughly and set aside for 5-10 minutes, or refrigerate it until needed. The macerated strawberries can be made up to 3 days ahead of time if you prefer.
To assemble the sparkling strawberry lemonade:
Spoon ⅓ of the cooled, fresh strawberry bobas into the bottom of glass*. Next, top the bobas with ⅓ of the macerated strawberries, 1-2 Tablespoons of lemon syrup, and a couple slices of the candied lemon (if you wish).*We suggest using tall glasses, as they create more aesthetically pleasing drinks, especially ones with color separations. The glasses we used are about 17 fluid ounces, if you're wondering. =)*
Top the glass with ice and then fill it with your choice of club soda, seltzer, or sparkling water.
Garnish the sparkling strawberry lemonade with a sprig of thyme and/ or strawberry. Repeat with the other 2 glasses and enjoy!
Notes
*Like the majority of our recipes, we encourage all of you to adjust and make this sparkling strawberry lemonade your own. Adjust the amount of macerated strawberries, lemon syrup, sparkling water, etc to your preference so that you can achieve the sweetness and flavor perfect for your palette!