Collection: TAPIOCA BALLS

Tapioca pearls are the base topping for bubble tea. They are cooked from dry, and the size you choose sets both the cooking time and the chew.

Sunwide stocks three sizes and one single-serve format:

• Standard: boil 1 part pearls to 6 parts water for 20 minutes, rest covered for 20 minutes, then strain, rinse under cold water and mix with brown sugar syrup.
• 2.5mm large: 25 minutes boiling and 25 minutes resting, five minutes longer each way, for a firmer bite.
• 1.2mm mini: a smaller pearl for lighter drinks and dessert bowls.
• 50g single-serve: one pack makes one drink, so there is no cooked batch to throw away at close. A carton holds 240 packs, sold as 60-pack bags.

The 3kg bags share one specification. One carton holds 6 bags, 18kg in total, and a bag makes about 100 drinks at 30g of dry pearls per 700ml cup. Pearls roughly double in weight once cooked, so 30g dry comes out around 60g in the cup. Shelf life is 12 months unopened, from the production date printed on the bag.

Cook in small batches through the day rather than one batch at open. Cooked pearls harden as they sit and the chew is lost.

Stock is held in our Melbourne and Sydney warehouses. The Sydney site is for dispatch only and is not open for pickup. See also agar pearls, a ready-to-eat alternative that needs no cooking, and the full toppings range.