How to Make Brown Sugar Boba Milk: Tiger Stripe Technique and Shop SOP

Quick Answer

Brown sugar boba milk is made from brown sugar pearls, brown sugar syrup, fresh milk and ice, and is known for the brown sugar “tiger stripes” streaked down the cup. According to English Wikipedia, Tiger Sugar was founded in Taichung in November 2017 with striped brown sugar boba drinks as its signature. Three keys for shops: (1) simmer or toss cooked pearls in brown sugar syrup, (2) swirl the hot brown sugar pearls around the cup wall to create stripes, and (3) add ice before pouring in the milk for clear layers. The drink contains no tea, so it has no tea caffeine.

Ingredients

Ingredient	Notes
Tapioca pearls	Large or medium; see How to Cook Tapioca Pearls
Brown sugar syrup	For simmering the pearls and making stripes; see What Is Taiwanese Brown Sugar?
Fresh milk	Chilled
Ice	Adjust by ice level

Shop Method

Cook the pearls: cook, rest and drain as the pack directs.
Simmer in brown sugar: stir drained pearls with brown sugar syrup over low heat, or toss well, so the syrup coats them.
Make the stripes: put a portion of brown sugar pearls in the cup and, while hot, tilt and rotate the cup so syrup runs down the wall in streaks.
Add ice: the ice sets the brown sugar stripes on the wall.
Pour in fresh milk: slowly, to keep white-over-brown layers.
Seal and add a wide straw: pearl drinks need wide-bore straws; see PLA Straws, Paper Straws and Plastic Restrictions.

Fix the grams or ml of pearls, brown sugar syrup and milk per cup by testing, and write them into your SOP.

Tiger Stripes Not Working? Common Causes

Problem	Likely cause	Fix
Faint stripes	Syrup too thin or pearls already cold	Use thick enough syrup and work while hot
Stripes blur together	Rotating too slowly, too much syrup	Control portions, tilt and rotate quickly
Stripes wash away with milk	No ice added first	Add ice first to set the stripes

Spin-Off Drinks

Brown sugar boba milk tea: add black or oolong tea (contains tea caffeine).
Brown sugar boba with cheese foam: top with foam; see What Is Cheese Foam Tea?
Brown sugar fen guo milk: swap pearls for fen guo jelly; see What Is Fen Guo?

Ingredients from Tang Sugar

Tang Sugar supplies large and medium pearls, frozen pearls, brown sugar syrup (2.5kg, 5kg), plus brown sugar powder and brown sugar creamer. Request samples.