Boba Teashake

Designing the World's Most Expensive Bubble Tea.
Shake up the status quo.

It's bubble tea reimagined.
Have a taste at San Francisco Design Week (SFDW).

June 22, 2017
At Pinterest HQ
#WorldsMostExpensiveBubbleTea#BobaTeashake#SFDW

The Collaboration

The SFDW theme for 2017 is "Question everything."
We did exactly that. But, in bubble tea.

It's Bubble Tea, reimagined, and will debut at SFDW.
Be a part of history.

The Criteria

Develop a discerning palate like a true tea connoisseur.
Learn how our Master Blenders grade and evaluate bubble tea with this guide.

The Recipe Card

The Boba Teashake
World’s Most Expensive Bubble Tea
by Executive Chef Franck Desplechin.

Mountain berry tapioca pearl
Ingredients
Directions
  1. Bring the hot water to a boil at 212°F, and then infuse TEALEAVES Mountain Berry on a coffee filter for 10 minutes. Press the coffee filter to extract the maximum liquid from the tea and discard the tea.
  2. Bring TEALEAVES Mountain Berry tea to a boil and incorporate the Tapioca pearl and bring down to simmer. Cook the Tapioca for about 1h15 until Tapioca pearls are cooked and transparent. Make sure you are stirring the pot often.
  3. Strain it, then cool down under cold water to eliminate the excessive starch. Reserve in the refrigerator.
Lychee passionfruit tea base
Ingredients
Directions
  1. Prepare 1 TEALEAVES x Royal Crown Derby Basic White T-Pot with the water and then infuse TEALEAVES Lychee Passionfruit Bubble Tea Black on a coffee filter for 3 minutes.
  2. Press the coffee filter to extract the maximum liquid from the tea and discard the tea.
  3. Add 1 oz of the honey and cool down on ice.
Salted Caramel Foam
Ingredients
  • 10 oz
    Sugar
  • 7 oz
    Heavy Cream
  • 7 oz
    Whole Milk
  • 2 oz
    Salted Butter
  • 1/4 tsp
    Fleur de Sel
Directions
  1. Cook caramel to light brown, gradually add butter with fleur de sel, temper with warm milk, cream. Reduce to desired consistency.
  2. Cool down and reserve in the refrigerator.
Passionfruit coulis
Ingredients
  • 17 oz
    Passionfruit Purée (Boiron)
  • 17 oz
    Sugar
  • 1 tsp
    Cornstarch
Directions
  1. Mix all ingredients together and pour in a cream whipper canister (syphon) with one CO2 cartridge. Reserve in the refrigerator.
To serve
Ingredients
Directions
  1. Store the «Riedel» glass in the freezer for 30 minutes.
  2. When glass is chilled, place the tapioca pearls at the bottom of the «Riedel» glass.
  3. Add the passion fruit coulis to the bottom of the glass.
  4. With a cocktail shaker filled up with ice cubes, shake the TEALEAVES Lychee Passionfruit Bubble Tea Black for a few seconds to chill it.
  5. Pour TEALEAVES Lychee Passionfruit Bubble Tea Black into the glass, leaving the ice cubes behind.
  6. Fill the glass to the top with the caramel foam.
  7. Top the foam with a little bit of fleur de sel and then place the pipette for decoration.
  8. Serve chilled with a wide straw.
  • Mountain berry tapioca pearl
  • Lychee passionfruit tea base
  • Salted caramel foam
  • Passionfruit coulis
  • To serve

The “Why”

Explore the story behind the Boba Teashake’s design
it’s what we did, and why we did it.

Bespoke Blending
Tea blended specifically for boba

First, TEALEAVES’ blending approach for an iced tea is completely different than that for a hot tea. As a beverage cools, its aroma has less impact on the overall intensity of the palate. The color and taste are amplified in order to provide the best experience for the senses. Indian, Chinese and Ceylon black tea are blended with the natural oils of lychee and passionfruit, for a delicate aroma, even over ice.

To prevent unsightly clouding, our iced teas are blended carefully in small batches by hand while examining the tea’s acidity so that it can withstand cold temperatures when “shocked” with ice after being infused with hot water. The overarching goal is a color of golden scotch.

The Shake-It-Up Signature
Tea chilled without dilution

Shake up a Boba Teashake using a cocktail shaker to rapidly cool the drink without the addition of ice, which melts and dilutes the tea, radically changing the composition.

Precise Infusion
Tea prepared with proper steeping time + temperature

A tea’s infusion time and temperature is critical in achieving the proper balance of nuanced flavor, while preventing the over extraction of bitter tannins. Water that is too hot, overboiled, also, will bruise the tender leaves, creating a bitter cup with improper balance. Using the TEALEAVES x Royal Crown Derby Basic White T-Pot ensures the waterline stays below the infuser upon first pour to prevent over-steeping.

Tart Tapioca
Tea-infused pearls

Tapioca pearls are infused with TEALEAVES Mountain Berry herbal to add a tart twist to a beloved ingredient that’s typically over-sweetened with brown sugar. White tapioca pearls are used to complement the aesthetic of sea salt caramel foam.

Sweet + Salty Froth
Sea Salt Caramel Foam

The bubbles in bubble tea originally come from shaking the tea in the martini shaker. A second layer of bubbles is created in the Boba Teashake with the sea salt caramel foam. Caramel, sea salt, and cream are frothed to create a culinary foam, and finished with a flourish of delicate fleur de sel.

Drizzling Décor
Passionfruit coulis pipette

Inject the Boba Teashake with a tart coulis, or drizzle it on top of the sea salt caramel foam for a fun, engaging element. Immersing the coulis directly into the tea gives a more fragrant and intense flavor to amplify the passionfruit oils from the black tea blend.

Plating + Presentation
Glass + layers

Riedel, known for crystal that highlights the complex aromas in fine wine, sojourns to the world of tea. The Riedel glass is chilled and paired with a straw to keep your Boba Teashake cool.

Layers of tapioca pearls, tea, foam, fleur de sel and coulis create a complex and varied drinkthe epitome of blending.

The Event

Debuting the World’s Most Expensive Bubble Tea at SFDW 2017!

In luxury, it's the details that matter. Enjoy a taste of the World's Most Expensive Bubble Tea by TEALEAVES x The St. Regis San Francisco, while we talk about our collaborative journey from ideation to creation, exploring color + aroma + taste to form the perfect palate. Learn how texture plays a role in culinary creations to create an enjoyable dining experience.

Luxury tea blender TEALEAVES, known for training five star hotels and Michelin Star chefs worldwide in the art of tea, will share with you the proper techniques of blending, preparing, tasting, as well as evaluating the perfect cup of tea.

With chef as artist and glass as canvas, Chef Franck Desplechin from The St. Regis San Francisco will share with you the design elements he uses to complete his culinary vision: from sourcing the highest quality ingredients to responsible sourcing, technique, and plating.

The ticket gives access to

We would like to give special thanks to Pinterest for sponsoring the event space at their global headquarters.

June 22, 2017
At Pinterest HQ
Can’t make the event? Let us know you’re interested and we’ll see what we can do!