Popping pearls for drinks

Most of these start with something already in the fridge: a jug of iced tea, a bottle of soda, nimbu pani or cold milk. Make the drink, add the ice, then peel the lid and tip in one cup of popping pearls. A popping pearl is a thin, soft skin holding flavoured juice, so it holds its shape in the glass and bursts when you bite.

Hibiscus is floral up front and tart on the finish, Peach is soft and juicy, Lemon is bright and zesty. Here are 28 cold drinks, grouped the way you would look for them: iced teas, fizz, lemonades, the desi classics, shakes and floats, and jugs for a crowd.

Iced teas

Brew it strong, sweeten it while it is warm, then chill it properly. The tea has to be fridge-cold before the pearls go in.

Sodas, fizz and coolers

Sparkling water, ginger ale, tonic or tender coconut water. Pour down the side of the glass to keep the fizz, and tip the pearls in once it settles.

Lemonades and juices

Sour, sweet and pale until the pearls go in. Lemon pearls give a lemonade lemon twice; Hibiscus turns the glass pink.

Desi classics

Shikanji, jaljeera, ganne ka ras, rose milk and falooda, each with a burst at the bottom of the glass. Shikanji and jaljeera are the summer ones.

Shakes and floats

Blend the shake, pour it, then add the pearls on top with a wide straw. They never go in the blender.

For a crowd

One jug, many glasses, one cup of pearls per glass. The pearls go glass by glass, never into the jug.

More party drinks, no alcohol

The rule: cold, and last

Pearls are a finish. They go into cold or room-temperature food and drink, after the ice and the pour, and they are never boiled, baked or blended. One 40 ml cup is one serving, so every recipe here counts pearls by the cup.

What popping pearls are, and what is inside one

The pearls in these recipes

More recipe lists

Nothing on this page is a claim about what the pearls do.

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