Honey Boba Green Tea Smoothie

When looking at this title, you probably know and love 3 out of the 4 ingredients listed above.  If you aren't familiar with boba or bubble tea, you haven't lived!

The boba are those black tapioca bubbles at the bottom of the smoothie.. they have a jelly like consistency and are usually drank along with the tea using a bubble tea straw.

Here is a picture of the boba, that can be bought online or in Asian supermarkets:

 And yes, that is Chardonnay that you see in the background.. not an ingredient in this recipe, but always a great thing to have around ;P

Anyway, here are the ingredients that you need to make two sixteen oz smoothies:

-Blender
-Saucepan with a lid
-5 cups water
-1/2 cup dry boba pearls
-16 oz Brewed green tea, chilled. or you can just buy some UNSWEETENED iced green tea from the store.  I used Wegmans brand called simply green tea,
-Honey.  As much as you want.  Honey is the sweetener in this recipe.  I used 1/2 cup, plus more to drizzle on top in a cool starbucks-like design.
-Sweetened condensed milk or 2% milk.  Going below 2% will make the smoothie less creamy and frothy.

Directions:

-If brewing your own tea boil water and put enough tea bags in to make 16 oz.
For boba:

-Bring 5 cups water to a rolling boil
-gently pour 1/2 cup boba into boiling water and stir softly
-Once boba has become plump, reduce heat to medium and cover pan for 5 minutes
-Drain boba and set aside, coat in honey for to give it more of a taste
For tea:
-Place 1 cup ice cups into a blender
-Pour 16 oz green tea over ice cubes
-Add 1 cup milk, or 1/2 cup sweetened condensed milk, you can always taste and add more
-Add 1/2 cup honey to start, you can always add more to adjust flavor
-Blend ingredients together until well blended, you may have to scrape honey off the sides of the mixer from time to time.
-Add boba pearls to 16 oz glasses, and spoon tea mixture over pearls
-Enjoy with a boba tea straw.
-

Low Calorie Frothy Green Tea Frappuccino

So easy and refreshing... and from looking at the calories at Starbucks, who knew that green tea matcha powder is 0 calories?!

Ingrediants:

-Japanese Matcha green tea powder.  Make sure that it is powder, not bags or leaves.  I bought mine from Whole Foods.  I use Matcha stone ground green tea powder from the Republic of Tea.  It is pricey but worth it because it is very high quality.
-Fat free milk (or any kind of milk if you aren't watching calories)
-Splenda (Again, if you aren't watching calories, feel free to use sugar)
-Ice (optional, only if you are using a blender which is highly recommended)
-If you aren't watching calories, I've heard that Torani Vanilla Syrup is a great addition

-In a blender*, combine ice (depending on the desired consistency.. a few cubes makes more of a latte consistency, more cubes turns it into a frappuccino), As many cups as you want (1 cup= 12 oz, I used 2 cups) of milk (I used fat free for this recipe), 1 tbsp of matcha powder per every cup (12 oz), and as much splenda as you want.

-Blend together until the ice no longer makes noise.

-Taste and add more of something if you aren't satisfied.

* If you do not have a blender, you can mix or shake all of the ingredients, minus the ice, in a cup.

-The latte/frappuccino will be delicious and frothy if you put the ingredients in a blender.. just sayin! ;)

Calorie Count:

Fat free milk= 90 calories/ cup * 2 cups= 180 calories
Matcha powder= 0 calories
Ice= 0 calories
Splenda= 0 calories

180 calories for a 24 oz "starbucks" drink that is also GOOD for you?? Awesome!