Bring 4 cups of water to a rolling boil in a pot. Add quick-cook tapioca pearls and stir immediately so they don't stick to the bottom. Boil for 5-7 minutes until they float to the top. Turn off heat, cover the pot, and let sit for 5 minutes to soften. Drain and immediately rinse with cold water to stop them from overcooking and getting mushy.

While boba cooks, mix 3 tablespoons brown sugar with 2 tablespoons hot water in a small bowl. Stir until sugar completely dissolves. Add drained tapioca pearls to the warm syrup. Let them sit in syrup for at least 10 minutes. This sweetens the boba and makes them glossy. Boba tastes so much better when it soaks up this syrup.

Sift 1.5 teaspoons matcha powder through a small strainer into a bowl - don't skip sifting or it clumps. Add 2 tablespoons hot water around 175°F, not boiling. Whisk vigorously with a bamboo whisk or electric frother for 30 seconds until completely smooth and frothy. You want foam with no clumps at all. This is the secret to smooth matcha milk tea instead of gritty drinks.

Add honey or simple syrup to the whisked matcha while it's still concentrated. Stir until dissolved. Taste and adjust sweetness now before adding milk. Easier to mix sweetener into concentrated matcha than the final drink.

Scoop tapioca pearls with some syrup into the bottom of a tall glass. Add plenty of ice cubes on top. Pour in cold milk or oat milk, leaving about 2 inches at the top. Pour the sweetened matcha mixture over the milk. The matcha will create pretty layers at first.

Give everything a good stir with your bubble tea straw. The green matcha will swirl into the white milk creating that signature look. Taste and add more sweetener if needed. Enjoy immediately while boba is still chewy. The tapioca pearls start getting hard after about 30 minutes.