Boba Beer? LI's Lithology Brewing Adding Tapioca Balls To Beverages

FARMINGDALE, NY — Boba, or tiny flavored balls of tapioca, have grown in popularity thanks to their use in tea. However, a Long Island brewery is trying something different: boba beer.

At Lithology Brewing Co., craft beer lovers can request for an additional $1.50 that boba balls be added to their brews. The brewery, at 211A Main St., Farmingdale, made the option available in late January.

"I think people need to stay open-minded and creative, so why not give it a shot?" co-owner Manny Coelho told Patch. "If cocktails can have so many different things in it, why can’t we do that with beer? Keep pushing the creativity and the idea of how beer can be drank."

Coelho himself was originally opposed to the idea when co-owner Kevin Cain suggested it around a year ago. Cain, who loves boba tea, noted how Japan — in the middle of its own craft beer renaissance — began making boba beer and wanted to bring the idea to Long Island.

Coelho, who added a foosball table and jukebox to the brewery, recently gave into Cain's dream.

"I was like, ‘Really, we’re going to do this? Alright, let’s try it. Why not?' Coelho said. "We’re a craft brewery. You get to try and experiment with things that work. Some things we try don’t work out. Some things work out really well."

Lithology is offering two boba flavors to start: passion fruit, which contains passion fruit juice, and chocolate. Coelho recommends passion fruit boba or IPAs and sour beers, or chocolate boba for stouts and porters. Some customers, he said, get "gutsy" and add chocolate boba to a sour or pale ale.

Lithology purchases its passion fruit and chocolate bobas, but it is looking into creating one of its own.

Flavors can be cooked into tapioca, said Coelho. The brewery is experimenting cooking tapioca infused with its stout beer so the boba balls take the beer's flavor. The stout boba balls could then be poured into a red ale for a boba version of a black and tan.

"You’d be drinking the red ale and chewing on a stout ball," Coelho explained.

Outside of Japan, boba beer has rarely been tried. Coelho pointed to Hawaii and Germany breweries as examples.

The boba beer experiment "definitely turned heads" among Long Island craft brewers, according to Coelho.

"I got a couple of messages from other brewers, like, 'What are you doing?' I’m like, 'Hey, why not? Why can’t we try it? Who cares?'"

Boba beer has been received "very good" overall, Coelho said. He noted the tapioca-in-beer concoction is an experiment for both the brewery and its customers.

People who love boba tea came went to Lithology to try it in beer, while people who were opposed to the idea tried it and said, "'it's actually pretty damn good,'" according to Coelho. He is "really excited" for more people to try it.

Lithology has gained Instagram followers — people who Coelho believes did not even know his brewery existed until they saw the boba beer post.

"Obviously, it means people who love boba are now going to come here," he said. "Now, you’re not just attracting craft beer lovers, you’re attracting a whole other niche of boba lovers. Now they get to try boba in a different vessel or a different formula or liquid. They’re used to tea. They probably have never even thought about putting it in a beer. And now they get to have it with beer."

Customers also bring their kids to the brewery sometimes, so Lithology carries soft drinks and water for them. Kids can get boba in those beverages, as well.

As a business owner, Coelho has to weigh creativity and profit. But this was something fun to try, he said.

"Let’s mess around with flavors. Let’s start to put other flavors in the beers we’ve already made. If you can do it with cocktails, why can’t you do it with beers?"

Lithology Brewing Co. is a New York state farm brewery that uses at least 60 percent locally harvested New York ingredients in its beer, including hops, grain and its own yeast strains. The brewery has a rotating list of more than 10 taps depending on the season.