Pandan is the fresh, grassy flavour with a vanilla-and-coconut softness that Southeast Asia puts in its cakes, jellies and drinks. This guide covers what pandan is, how it tastes, and how a café makes a pandan latte, a pandan milk tea and pandan boba, hot or iced, from one bottle of pandan syrup.
A pandan latte is milk flavoured and sweetened with pandan syrup, served iced or hot. Add a little black or green tea and it becomes pandan milk tea; add tapioca pearls and it becomes pandan boba. All three start from the same step: 15–30 ml of pandan syrup stirred into 100 ml of milk.
What pandan is. A fragrant tropical leaf used across Southeast Asia to flavour sweets and drinks. Taste. Fresh and grassy, with hints of vanilla and coconut cream. Colour. Green. Made from. Pandan syrup stirred into milk, over ice or hot. Topping. Tapioca pearls, nata de coco or popping boba, bought separately. Our syrup. Pandan Syrup, 700 ml bottle, ₹525 including GST.
Pandan is a tropical plant with long, glossy green leaves. In Malaysia, Singapore, Indonesia and Thailand the leaves flavour cakes, rice, jellies and drinks, much as vanilla does in a European kitchen, and they give those sweets their familiar green colour.
The taste is hard to place if you have never had it: fresh and a little grassy first, then soft, sweet notes that people compare to vanilla, coconut and toasted rice. Our Pandan Syrup is described on its product page as fresh and grassy, layered with hints of vanilla and coconut cream. In milk those notes turn round and creamy, which is why pandan works so well as a latte.
This is the method printed for our Pandan Syrup:
Start at 15 ml and taste; more syrup gives a sweeter, greener cup. A dirty pandan latte is the same drink with a shot of espresso poured on top, which you add from your own machine. See the dirty pandan latte, the hot dirty pandan latte and the pandan cream cap latte in our recipe collection.
Pandan milk tea is the latte with a tea backbone. Make the latte above, then add 10–15 ml of black or green beverage concentrate, as the syrup’s own method allows. Black tea gives a stronger, rounder cup; green tea keeps it lighter and lets the grassy pandan note lead.
See the iced pandan milk tea and the pandan tapioca milk tea recipes.
Pandan bubble tea is any of the drinks above with a chewy topping as the bottom layer. The syrup’s method calls for 30–40 g of tapioca pearls, nata de coco or popping boba per drink.
Our tapioca pearls cook at a 1:10 ratio of pearls to water: boil for 30 minutes, steam for 35, and serve within 8 hours. The full method is in how to cook tapioca pearls. For a fruity contrast, pandan with mango popping boba pairs the green with a burst of mango; nata de coco brings out the coconut side of pandan.
The same syrup goes beyond milk tea. Our pandan recipe collection includes a pandan float with ice cream, a pandan ice cream frappe and a pandan slush. The ice cream is your own; we make the syrup and the toppings.
Our Pandan Syrup comes in a 700 ml bottle, nine to a case, made at our FSSC 22000 certified plant in Hyderabad. It is vegetarian and Halal, with no high-fructose corn syrup, and keeps 12 months sealed. Once opened, reseal it tightly and refrigerate. Businesses buying by the case get 10% off MRP with a GSTIN, and 20% off with free ground shipping on orders of ₹19,999 and above.
A pandan latte is milk flavoured and sweetened with pandan syrup, served iced or hot. It tastes fresh and grassy with soft vanilla and coconut notes.
Add 15–30 ml of pandan syrup to the cup, pour 100 ml of milk and mix until dissolved, then add 5–10 ice cubes. For a hot latte, use hot milk and leave out the ice.
Pandan milk tea is the latte with a tea backbone: add 10–15 ml of black or green beverage concentrate to the pandan latte.
Fresh and a little grassy, with soft sweet notes people compare to vanilla, coconut and toasted rice. In milk it turns round and creamy.
Put 30–40 g of tapioca pearls, nata de coco or popping boba in the cup, then pour the pandan latte or milk tea over it with ice. For a hot drink use tapioca pearls only; popping boba is for cold drinks.
Yes. Our Pandan Syrup is vegetarian and Halal, made with no high-fructose corn syrup. A pandan latte contains milk, so it is not dairy-free.
We make Pandan Syrup and tapioca pearls at our FSSC 22000 plant in Hyderabad, syrup in 700 ml bottles nine to a case, shipped across India in 7 days.
Outside India? See export & international. Or email sales@theteaplanet.com.