Tamarind Boba Adventure
“What does tamarind taste like?”
We were at a Mexican grocery store food court in California with a friend from Serbia pondering flavored drinks. While I searched for the right descriptors, an employee offered him a tamarind agua fresca sample. Nothing beats actually trying it: sweet and sour, light and deep.
That was on my mind when I tasted a horchata boba drink one afternoon in Los Altos. Culinary fusion is next-level in the Bay Area. The creamy, subtly-spiced Mexican drink contrasted delightfully with dark, chewy Taiwanese tapioca pearls.
After Guillaume brought home a box of whole tamarind pods on a whim, I imagined tamarind boba must be someone’s specialty out here.
Online searches didn’t pull up much. Tamarind sometimes makes an appearance in Thai iced teas. And boba, well, that produced zillions of results. But few combine those two specific flavors.
Until now, my experience with tamarind was limited. It’s the secret to the savory dish mee Siam and the best agua fresca at our favorite Mexican restaurant in Louisville, Colorado. However, when friends brought whole tamarind pods to an outdoor potluck during a pandemic lull, I demurred. Guillaume gamely tried one.
My plan became to prepare tamarind agua fresca concentrate, cook pre-made tapioca pearls, make some simple syrup, and then experiment. The Spruce Eat’s tamarind agua fresca recipe was helpful. Admittedly, it wasn’t a visually appealing process. The pods are light brown and oblong. The insides are dark brown, stringy, seedy, soft, and oblong.
Removing the pod shells was easy. I pressed on them to create cracks and then peeled the pieces away like hard eggshells. The strings were more like a protective cage that came off in one go. Extricating the seeds after soaking the pulp was just…ugh. Let’s not dwell on that.
Ultimately the tamarind concentrate was sour and just sweet enough, but I didn’t have any teas that would go well with it. Black tea tends to overwhelm. The herbal teas on hand also seemed too intense. Instead, the tamarind clearly wanted to shine.
Despite rediscovering an appreciation for boba — also known as bubble — tea after moving to California, I’d never made it. The mainstream chain grocery stores sell instant kits now, but in specific flavors. So we stopped by an Asian grocery and picked up a vacuum-sealed pack of dehydrated black sugar tapioca balls.
Deciphering the cooking instructions in minuscule font on the back of the translucent bag ended up being harder than actually preparing the pearls. Their flavor was more bland than expected so I added a little simple syrup made with cane sugar to the cooled, drained pearls. I was judicious about the serving size since having too much boba can cause digestive issues.
Putting together boba, tamarind concentrate, simple syrup made with turbinado cane sugar, unsweetened almond milk, and ice cubes produced a surprisingly refreshing drink on a warm spring day. For anyone wondering, this version is caffeine-free, lactose-free, gluten-free, and can be made vegan depending on the sugar used. Whole milk in place of almond milk made for a creamier, heavier drink. The tamarind sourness has an interesting, almost tea-like depth. Must be alchemy.
Tamarind Boba Drink
Makes around four servings
8 whole tamarind pods
½ C. sugar
Filtered water
½ C. turbinado cane sugar
½ C. dried black tapioca pearls
1 C. unsweetened almond milk
Ice cubes
Special equipment: Blender, strainer, slotted spoon.
Note: For best results, prepare and refrigerate the tamarind concentrate and simple syrup the day before you plan to serve the drink.
Tamarind Concentrate: Put 2 cups of cold filtered water either in a medium-sized saucepan on the stovetop or in an electric kettle.
On a cutting board, carefully remove the tamarind pod shells. Remove as many obvious strings as you can from around the tamarind pulp. Compost or discard the pod pieces and strings.
Set the cleaned pulp in a glass mixing bowl with ½ cup of sugar.
Bring the water to a rolling boil and then pour it over the pulp and sugar. Let the pulp soften in the water for 1.5 hours.
Once soaked and cooled, carefully remove all seeds and any hard or stringy bits. Compost or discard them. Pour the pulpy water into the blender and process until smooth. Now pour the mixture through a fine mesh strainer over a large glass food jar to remove remaining solids. Put a lid on it and refrigerate overnight.
Simple Syrup: Put ½ cup turbinado cane sugar and ½ cup filtered water in a small saucepan set over medium heat on the stove. Bring it to a boil, stirring to help dissolve the sugar. Once it starts to boil, remove from the heat, allow to cool, and then refrigerate it.
Tapioca Pearls: Measure out a generous ½ cup of them to prepare on the day you plan to serve the drink. Cooked, cooled pearls will only be good for a few hours.
Put a few cups of cold filtered water in a small glass mixing bowl. Follow the directions on the package to prepare the pearls. For softer pearls, cook for the longer amount of time given.
Remove the cooked pearls to the cold water. After draining the pearls, add about 1 tablespoon of the simple syrup to give them more flavor and prevent them from sticking to each other.
Assembly: In a tall glass, add a couple tablespoons of the pearls, ½ tablespoon simple syrup, ¼ cup unsweetened almond milk, ½ cup tamarind concentrate, and around three standard-sized ice cubes. These were ideal proportions for me, but you might want to make adjustments. Repeat to prepare additional drinks. Serve with a wide straw or long-stemmed spoon.
