I wanted to write this article for the sole purpose of giving ideas for kids to safely drink bubble tea. There will be an easy recipe at the end.
My main concern has been the tapioca pearls, which have to be sipped through a straw.
Even though the body has natural means of preventing boba from presenting a choking hazard to us, our bodies don’t always respond the way it should. When I first enjoyed sipping my first bubble tea, it admittedly felt a little weird. It was a new experience that I never tried before.
I sipped the boba through the straw and some of it got stuck in between the straw. At one point there was two bobas in the straw trapping the liquids in between them.
I thought it was cool, but in order for the boba to go through correctly, I had to sometimes apply a little extra suction.
It wasn’t like I had to go Super Saiyan on a straw or anything, I just had to apply a bit more suction that’s all. Just a slight power level increase.
My point is that for kids, they will experience the same things with less experience, since they are only kids.
It is hard to tell a kid that they can’t have any after you bring home a beautiful delicious bubble tea masterpiece for yourself.
Of course if they have never tried it, they are going to get excited and want some too.
So we want to be smart about how we give a boba tea drink to our kids in a safe manner.
Can An 8 Year Old Drink Boba Tea?
Is there a safe way for kids to enjoy boba tea? There absolutely is..
There was news from yahoo news that went out in 2012 about researchers stating that children under the age of 5 pose a risk of choking hazards from the tapioca pearls in boba tea. Other sources claim that the age given is under 4 years of age. So the more safer route is to go with children under the age of 5.
Children under this age commonly choke on their juice box even though they begin eating some of the same foods as everyone else at this age. So it wouldn’t be smart to give them boba when they are under this age. However, you can find children around the age of 8 drinking boba tea all over YouTube. Some of with/without their parents.
Now you might have heard about the 14 year old Chinese girl who had 100 boba pearls in her stomach. Now we probably all have some crazy story to tell about that time when we ate/drank whatever, but probably not to this extent.
My thoughts is that this girl has developed a habit of swallowing the boba along with the tea without chewing it first.
This explains why she had constipation. The boba didn’t result in bloating and constipation, as much as her not chewing her food.
The 14 year old girl’s problem was cured by taking laxatives. Hopefully she will chew her food from now on.
The link I provided explains this whole story briefly. Unfortunately, there are other sources out there that have concluded boba must be dangerous for your kids now, deliberately leaving out the end of the story.
One of them leaves out the fact that it resulted from her swallowing the boba whole saying, “boba is unhealthy and dangerous”… Really?
It’s media sensationalism. I guess the swimming pool is dangerous for everyone too because someone who couldn’t swim had to be saved by a lifeguard. Unfortunately these methods are used to catch the unknowing that have never ventured down bubble tea lane.
There is an article here for healthy bubble tea options, which includes information about tapioca pearls. No intentional misleading information.
Moms and dads, hopefully if you haven’t heard of boba, you can follow these simple common sense methods before allowing your child to drink boba.
Most kids know to chew their food, but if your kid doesn’t, then don’t give them hard to digest foods. Boba will most likely lead to bloating and constipation if you swallow it whole or don’t properly chew it. Alligators can get away with swallowing their food whole, but we can’t. We don’t have an alligator’s stomach acid.
Almost every nutritionalist that talks about boba seems to be more interested in scaring the population that has never seen or heard of tapioca pearls to gain credentials.
Very few of them tell the entire truth.
There is such a thing as actually losing weight on a diet while drinking bubble tea.
If your child wants to drink boba, then let them, but in a safe and healthy manner.
Bubble Tea Recipe For Kids
Here is a safe recipe for your kids to make their own bubble tea drinks at home. It uses popping pearls (bursting boba) instead of the traditional cooked tapioca pearls as a substitute.
It is very easy and fun to make with a lot of fun customizations.
The exploding boba is one of the softest toppings that can be placed in bubble tea drinks. Its outer shell is very easy to break open.
In fact, it will be difficult sometimes to place them in your mouth without the layer bursting with fruit juice. If the popping pearls are placed on the tongue and pressed against the roof of the mouth, they burst easily.
Using popping boba instead of tapioca pearls greatly reduces the risk of choking hazards for kids. These things pop like the bubbles in your bathtub; and they come in many flavors.
Ingredients
- 1 to 2 Ounces of Bursting Boba
- 1 Cup of Juice
Equipment:
- A cup
- A boba straw
1. Place 1 to 2 Ounces of Popping Pearls into the cup.
Place the bursting boba into the bottom of the cup.2. Pour juice on top of the Popping Pearls.
Pour your juice into the cup. Right on top of the popping pearls.3. Grab a boba straw.
Get a boba straw to suck the popping pearls with and enjoy.
Many fruit juices can be combined with the many popping boba flavors.
The popping boba encourages the drinker to burst them for the tasty fruit juices inside instead of swallowing them whole.
The popping pearls contain a lot of flavor, and make a great mini snack for kid boba teas. They each have different colors.
These are some fruit juices that work well with particular fruit boba flavors:
- Apple Juice: Cherry, Lychee or Mango popping boba.
- Orange Juice: Cherry, Grape, or Lemon popping boba.
- Grape Juice: Lemon or Strawberry popping boba.
