Boba Pearl-to-Tea Ratio Calculator
Build a bubble tea to size: enter your cup, pearl share and ice level to get cooked pearls, tea volume and the dry tapioca to cook.
How it works
Pearls = cup × pearl% · Ice = cup × ice% · Tea = cup − pearls − ice · Dry tapioca ≈ cooked ÷ 2
A bubble tea is a fixed cup split three ways: pearls, ice and liquid tea. Classic shops fill roughly a fifth to a quarter of the cup with cooked tapioca pearls, add ice, and top up with sweetened tea and milk. Cooked pearls are close to 1 gram per milliliter, and they roughly double in weight from dry as they absorb water and syrup — so halving the cooked weight estimates the dry tapioca to boil.
Worked example
In a 500 ml cup with 20% pearls and 25% ice, the pearls take 100 ml (~100 g cooked, ~50 g dry), ice takes 125 ml, and that leaves 500 − 100 − 125 = 275 ml of tea.
Frequently asked questions
How many pearls go in a bubble tea?
Most shops fill about 20–25% of the cup with cooked pearls — around 100 g of tapioca in a 500 ml drink. More pearls means a chewier, more filling drink and less room for tea.
How much dry tapioca should I cook?
Cooked pearls roughly double in weight, so plan on about half the cooked amount in dry pearls. For 100 g of cooked pearls, start with roughly 50 g dry. Cook a little extra since some always break up.
Do the pearls displace the tea?
Yes — the cup size is fixed, so pearls and ice take space that would otherwise be liquid. That is why adding more pearls or ice leaves less room for the tea itself.
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This calculator is for educational purposes. Double-check important results before acting on them.