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A review by indiekay
Kawaii Café Bubble Tea: Classic, Fun, and Refreshing Boba Drinks to Make at Home by Stacey Kwong, Beyah del Mundo
2.0
I got an ARC for this book, and I decided I wanted to actually make one of the recipes in this book before I review it to be thorough - because looking at the other reviews I couldn't find a single one where someone had made a recipe from it, everything was just "5 stars - the art is super cute!" and like, yeah, the art IS cute. If I gave it a rating just on looks alone I'd say 4 stars. BUT actually following the recipes? I'd give it 1 star.
I went out and bought what I needed to make the boba balls and was going to make one of the fruit teas. But the boba recipe (which you need as a starting point for every single recipe) did not work for me. I meaured out the ingredients with a kitchen scale to have the exact same measurements as the recipe said. Then I did as the recipe said, up until "after the mixture starts to thicken". The mixture never thickened. I wasn't sure how thick it shoudl get, either - like to a caramel consistency? I took it off the stove and put the rest of the tapioca flour in, and I was successful in creating oobleck. Definitely not a dough.
SO I Googled what I did wrong, and found a YouTube video explaining hot to avoid the oobleck disaster, which is apparently something enough people do when making boba that there's multiple videos and internet instructions on how to avoid this happening. NO WHERE in this book do they warn you that this could happen. Also, if you accidentally make oobleck, you have to throw the whole thing out. It's not fixable.
I tried again, using the video guidance for help (and already, if I have to watch a YouTube video for a book's recipe to work, we're already at a terrible start). I measured out all my ingredients exactly like the recipe says. And I added a spoonful of tapioca flour at a time, waiting for it to get to the stage the video said, where it turns gelatinous and sticks together in a ball. That never happened. I stood in my kitchen slowly added a spoon of flower, mix, slowly add another spoonful, mix. Until I got to the second last spoonful and - IT TURNED INTO OOBLECK AGAIN. This is definitely a problem with the recipe, and not my fault. I think the recipe calls for too much water and no matter how many times I try, it will always fail.
Another thing is that the recipes are written a little confusingly at times. Like it says uses the phrases "tapioca flour" and "tapioca starch" interchangeably, and while they are the same thing, using one term the entire time will make it was less confusing for readers who might think they're missing.
Each recipe also has SO many steps. You have to make the boba (or buy it at a store, but you're going to have to find an Asian grocers that stocks it - I've looked at about 5 Asian grocers in my area online and only one store had it, and I wasn't able to go out and buy it because they're on the other side of the city from me). then you have to brew your tea of choice (they give instructions for black and green tea), and then you have to make a simple syrup or jam. So like, this book presents itself as a easy way to make boba at home to save money, but are you really saving money if it takes 3 hours to make one cup of tea?
So yeah, while this book does have very cute art, I do not recommend it as a recipe book.
I went out and bought what I needed to make the boba balls and was going to make one of the fruit teas. But the boba recipe (which you need as a starting point for every single recipe) did not work for me. I meaured out the ingredients with a kitchen scale to have the exact same measurements as the recipe said. Then I did as the recipe said, up until "after the mixture starts to thicken". The mixture never thickened. I wasn't sure how thick it shoudl get, either - like to a caramel consistency? I took it off the stove and put the rest of the tapioca flour in, and I was successful in creating oobleck. Definitely not a dough.
SO I Googled what I did wrong, and found a YouTube video explaining hot to avoid the oobleck disaster, which is apparently something enough people do when making boba that there's multiple videos and internet instructions on how to avoid this happening. NO WHERE in this book do they warn you that this could happen. Also, if you accidentally make oobleck, you have to throw the whole thing out. It's not fixable.
I tried again, using the video guidance for help (and already, if I have to watch a YouTube video for a book's recipe to work, we're already at a terrible start). I measured out all my ingredients exactly like the recipe says. And I added a spoonful of tapioca flour at a time, waiting for it to get to the stage the video said, where it turns gelatinous and sticks together in a ball. That never happened. I stood in my kitchen slowly added a spoon of flower, mix, slowly add another spoonful, mix. Until I got to the second last spoonful and - IT TURNED INTO OOBLECK AGAIN. This is definitely a problem with the recipe, and not my fault. I think the recipe calls for too much water and no matter how many times I try, it will always fail.
Another thing is that the recipes are written a little confusingly at times. Like it says uses the phrases "tapioca flour" and "tapioca starch" interchangeably, and while they are the same thing, using one term the entire time will make it was less confusing for readers who might think they're missing.
Each recipe also has SO many steps. You have to make the boba (or buy it at a store, but you're going to have to find an Asian grocers that stocks it - I've looked at about 5 Asian grocers in my area online and only one store had it, and I wasn't able to go out and buy it because they're on the other side of the city from me). then you have to brew your tea of choice (they give instructions for black and green tea), and then you have to make a simple syrup or jam. So like, this book presents itself as a easy way to make boba at home to save money, but are you really saving money if it takes 3 hours to make one cup of tea?
So yeah, while this book does have very cute art, I do not recommend it as a recipe book.