What Is Taro Milk Tea? Taro, Ube and Other Bubble Tea Menu Words
Ning MaTaro milk tea is a creamy, lilac-coloured bubble tea flavoured with taro, a starchy root vegetable with a nutty, sweet, vanilla-ish taste. It's often confused with ube, a purple yam that's deeper in colour and sweeter. Three more words you'll meet on bubble tea menus: winter melon (a caramel-like syrup made from a gourd), grass jelly (a dark herbal jelly) and cheese foam (a salty-sweet creamy topping).
Here's your pocket guide to the menu, so you can order with confidence and maybe try something new.
What is taro?
Taro is the root of the taro plant, grown across Asia, Africa and the Pacific. Raw, it isn't edible, but cooked it turns soft and starchy, a bit like a sweet potato, with a gently nutty flavour. In Taiwan, where bubble tea began, taro turns up in desserts, pastries and, of course, drinks.
What does taro milk tea taste like?
Sweet, creamy and mellow, with a flavour people describe as nutty, biscuity or a little like vanilla. Shops make it either from cooked, mashed taro or, more often, from a taro powder. That's where the famous pale purple colour usually comes from: the root itself is cream-coloured with purple flecks, so many powders add colour to make the drink pop.
Taro or ube: what's the difference?
They're both purple-ish and both root crops, but they're different plants.
| Taro | Ube | |
|---|---|---|
| What it is | Root of the taro plant | Purple yam |
| Where it's loved | Taiwan, China, across Asia and the Pacific | The Philippines |
| Colour | Cream flesh with purple flecks; drinks are pale lilac | Deep, vivid violet |
| Taste | Nutty, mellow, vanilla-ish | Sweeter, more like vanilla and coconut |
If your drink is a bold, almost electric purple, it's probably ube. If it's a soft pastel lilac, it's likely taro.
Three more menu words
- Winter melon. A large, mild gourd that's cooked down with brown sugar into a dark syrup. Winter melon tea tastes of caramel and toffee, with no melon flavour at all.
- Grass jelly. A dark, almost black jelly made from a plant in the mint family, cut into cubes. It's slightly herbal and a little bitter, and lovely in a sweet milk tea.
- Cheese foam. A thick, salty-sweet topping made with cream cheese and milk, floated on top of tea. You sip the tea through the foam rather than stirring it in.
For more of the menu, our guide to bubble tea flavours explained goes further, and bubble tea, boba, pearl milk tea explains why one drink has so many names.
And the toppings?
Taro milk tea usually comes with chewy tapioca pearls, but you'll also see popping boba, jellies and puddings. Popping boba or tapioca pearls explains the difference.
Where TeaJoy fits
We don't make a taro drink, but if taro milk tea is your thing, you'll feel right at home with our creamy milk teas. The Milk Tea Kit makes two Classic Milk Teas and two Brown Sugar Milk Teas with chewy instant tapioca pearls: stir the powder into 300ml of milk or a milk alternative, add the pearls and ice, and sip.
Curious where bubble tea colours come from? What gives bubble tea its colour? lists the natural colourings in every TeaJoy drink.
Questions people ask
What does taro bubble tea taste like?
Creamy and sweet, with a nutty, slightly vanilla flavour. Many people compare it to a sweet potato or a biscuit.
Is taro the same as ube?
No. Taro is the root of the taro plant; ube is a purple yam. Ube is sweeter and a deeper purple.
Why is taro milk tea purple?
Taro itself is mostly cream with purple flecks, so most of the bright lilac colour in shop drinks comes from the taro powder, which often has colouring added.
Does winter melon tea taste of melon?
Not really. Winter melon is cooked with brown sugar into a syrup that tastes of caramel and toffee.
Make your own milk tea
Find our milk tea, fruit tea and matcha kits in bubble tea kits for home, or read what is bubble tea for the basics. Sign up to our emails for 15% off your entire order.