#1701 Bolus 4 - Boba Tea

Summary

Juicebox Podcast: Type 1 Diabetes

Episode #1701 Bolus 4 – Boba Tea

Host: Scott Benner | Guest: Jenny Smith
Release Date: December 6, 2025

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Episode Overview

This episode centers on the practical strategies for bolusing insulin when consuming boba (bubble) tea, a trendy but carbohydrate-heavy beverage. Scott Benner and diabetes educator Jenny Smith break down how to approach an unfamiliar, high-carb food like boba tea using their Meal Bolt roadmap. The discussion is candid, light-hearted, and rooted in lived diabetes experience, emphasizing both math and mindset for those navigating real-life diabetes management.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Setting the Stage: The Meal Bolt Approach

• Bolus 4 Series Purpose: Each episode focuses on how to bolus for one specific food using a structured, but conversational approach.
• Meal Bolt Roadmap (explained at [16:05]):
  • M: Measure the meal
  • E: Evaluate yourself (current blood sugar, insulin on board, activity, stress, illness)
  • A: Add base units (carb count/insulin:carb ratio)
  • L: Layer a correction dose if needed
  • B: Build the bolus shape (100% up front, combo bolus, extended bolus)
  • O: Offset the timing (pre-bolus window)
  • L: Look at CGM (continuous glucose monitor) data
  • T: Tweak the plan for next time

“These episodes are going to be very conversational and not incredibly technical. …But we’d also like you to know that this is kind of the pathway we're considering while we're talking about it.”
—Scott [00:14]

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2. What Is Boba/Bubble Tea?

• Scott and Jenny confirm that boba tea and bubble tea are the same: sweet tea-based beverages with chewy tapioca pearls.
• Both puzzle over why people love drinking their carbs so much, with Scott joking about preferring to “have some ice cream or something” instead.
  • [01:29–03:31]

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3. Hidden Dangers: The Nutrition Bombshell

• Using Sharetea’s nutrition facts, Scott reads out shocking stats for a typical strawberry matcha fresh milk boba tea:
  • 532 calories, 4g saturated fat, 111g carbs, 100g sugar ([04:36])
• Size isn’t always clear, but they estimate these drinks are at least 16 oz.
• Many menu items exceed 100g carbs, some even surpassing 200g of carbs per drink ([08:12])
• The overwhelming sugar content provokes laughter and disbelief from both.

“You better hope that your blood sugar is like falling off a cliff with this before you start drinking it.”
—Jenny [06:42]

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4. Bolusing for Boba: Practical Strategies

• Pre-Bolus Is Non-Negotiable:
  • These drinks hit blood sugar hard and fast. A strong pre-bolus is essential.
  • Jenny brings up the idea of a “super bolus,” front-loading insulin beyond a standard calculation ([07:17])
  • Using a 1:10 carb ratio, a mango green milk tea (114g carb) would warrant “11 units of insulin. That's a lot of insulin. For a drink.” ([07:36])
• Trial & Error: Scott shares that his daughter’s first time bolusing 45g for boba “didn't work,” underlining that learning your own response is necessary.
• Start Small: Jenny advises starting with the smallest serving size for less risky experimentation ([14:12])
• Look for Lower-Carb / Sugar-Free Options: Inquire about sugar-free flavor syrups or ways to reduce carb load ([09:49])

“For me, this would be a, like, it's better to skip it situation.”
—Scott [07:44]

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5. The Challenge of Unlabeled Nutrition Info

• Scott and Jenny lament the lack of transparent nutrition facts across most boba shops—making it nearly impossible to bolus accurately without guesswork.
• Jenny recommends using ingredient lists and leveraging tools like ChatGPT to estimate nutrition ([12:49])
  • “Your best probably honest guess would be to use like chat GPT and ask for this size with these ingredients...” —Jenny [12:49]

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6. Mindset & Safety

• Both emphasize it’s not “never have boba,” but to approach it mindfully and with caution.
• If new to boba, expect to need significant pre-bolus (start when blood sugar is dropping, not just steady).
• Be ready to learn and adjust: look at CGM data, and tweak for next attempt.
• If possible, “stick with the small”—the smaller the portion, the safer and easier to manage ([14:16])

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• Stunned by the Carbs:

  "That's a lot of insulin. For a drink." —Scott [07:41]

• On Hidden Beverage Calories:

  “People do not consider beverages calories.” —Jenny [03:32]

• On Experimenting with Boluses:

  “For Arden, there was a lot of trial and error on trying to figure out how to bolus for this.” —Scott [13:26]

• The Ultimate GFL Food:

  “Maybe boba falls under the GFL, which stands for...we know what that stands for: Good Luck.” —Scott [13:34]

• Jenny’s Practical Advice:

  “If you can figure out something small, my professional recommendation would be: stick with the small.” —Jenny [14:16]

• On the Ubiquity of Sugar:

  "But then you can just jump right in and start mainlining sugar into people. And I'm assuming you’ll be incredibly successful at it." —Scott [15:05]

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Timeline of Important Segments

• 00:14 — Explanation of the MEAL BOLT approach
• 01:29 — Confirming boba = bubble tea and why people drink their carbs
• 04:36 — Reviewing nutrition facts for typical boba drinks
• 06:42 — Bolus strategy: pre-bolus, super bolus, insulin calculations
• 08:12 — Reading carb totals from multiple menu items (revealing high sugar content)
• 09:49 — Discussing flavor syrups and the practicality of finding lower-carb options
• 12:49 — Addressing the lack of nutrition information and suggesting using AI to estimate
• 13:26–14:16 — Real-life trial and error, advice to start small, and “GFL” foods
• 16:05 — Step-by-step recap of the Meal Bolt formula for bolusing

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Summary Table: Bolusing Boba Tea—At a Glance

| Step | Key Actions | Episode Reference | |--------------------|-------------------------------------------------------------------------------|---------------------| | Measure | Estimate/Research total carbs (likely 100–200g); ingredient check | [04:36], [04:56] | | Evaluate | Consider current BG, insulin on board, recent/future activity, stress, illness | [16:05] | | Add Base Units | Carb count ÷ insulin:carb ratio (could be 8–20+ units for one drink!) | [07:36], [16:05] | | Layer Correction | Adjust for current BG (highs/lows) | [16:14] | | Build Shape | Consider 100% up front for rapid-acting carbs; possible combo bolus | [07:17], [16:14] | | Offset Timing | Strong pre-bolus (start as sugars drop); expect rapid spike | [06:42], [14:16] | | Look & Tweak | Track with CGM, review outcomes, and adjust next time | [16:14] |

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Tone & Takeaways

Scott and Jenny keep the conversation light, honest, and supportive, mixing humor with pragmatic advice. Their core message: boba tea is a “Good Luck Food” for people with diabetes due to sky-high carbs and unpredictable nutrition. If you try it, start small, pre-bolus aggressively, prepare for trial and error, and always review your CGM data for future tweaks. And if in doubt? Maybe skip the boba—or at least, save it for a special treat.

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For more diabetes management strategies and MEAL BOLT resources, visit juiceboxpodcast.com/meal-bolt.

Transcript

[A]

Hello, friends, and welcome back to another episode of the Juice Box Podcast.

In every episode of Bolus 4, Jenny Smith and I are going to take a few minutes to talk through how to bolus for a single item of food. Jenny and I are going to follow a little bit of a roadmap called Meal Bolt. Measure the meal, evaluate yourself, add the base units, layer a correction, build the bolus shape, offset the timing, look at the CGM tweak for next time. Having said that, these episodes are going to be very conversational and not incredibly technical. We want you to hear how we think about it, but we also would like you to know that this is kind of the pathway we're considering while we're talking about it. So while you might not hear us say every letter of Meal Bolt in every episode, we we will be thinking about it while we're talking. If you want to learn more, go to juiceboxpodcast.com meal bolt but for now, we'll find out how to bolus for today's subject.

While you're listening, please remember that nothing you hear on the Juice Box Podcast should be considered advice, medical or otherwise. Always consult a physician before making any changes to your healthcare plan or. Or becoming bold with insulin.

Jenny, we're gonna do boba or bubble tea. I think those are the same things right now. How do I find, Are they the same thing?

[B]

I wanna make sure they're the same thing.

[A]

You see if they're the same thing. And I'll look for a popular boba tea brand.

[B]

Boba and bubble tea?

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

Oh, it even comes up in my search. I know that I've never searched for this before, so clearly that the Internet is listening to us. Yes, Boba and bubble tea refer to the same drink which is a tea based beverage. Typically includes chewy tapioca pearls. See, like I like tapioca. Why am I drinking it in tea that does. I don't understand. Can you make this is this should be one of those. I don't understand. Scott, can you make me understand?

[A]

Well, I don't understand. Actually, I could get Arden back on, I think. I don't understand. Boba tea would be a pretty good conversation because she'll talk about it very lovingly. Okay, so I have one here. I mean, I don't know. Sharetea S H A R E T E I menu. They have nutritional facts, so we're gonna go with it. Oh, holy hell. Hold on. Just start just snorting. I don't think I've ever snorted before on the podcast. Yeah, I'VE seen the nutritional facts.

[B]

Are they pretty ridiculous? I've never even looked. I guess, you know, that's kind of one of the other things. When I see drinks, as you saw on that woman that you were talking about, right? Carrying the drink.

[A]

Oh, that's something we were talking about when we weren't recording, but go ahead. Right.

[B]

But when you're talking about that, like, in my mind, I'm a very visual person. So when people talk, I can like visually see it in my head. And all of those cups of something that contain a liquid in my brain right away is like, oh my God, you're drinking so many calories.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

Like, it's not a judgment of the. It's just a judgment of the actual beverage fridge. And I'm like, just get a cup of water or get some sparkling water or get.

[A]

See, it's funny, I think about, like, if you're gonna have those calories, like, I mean, I guess they must love them, but like, you know, the drinks. But I, I think, like, go have some ice cream or something, like.

[B]

Right, awesome.

[A]

Like, you know what I mean?

[B]

And I think what you, what you said there is actually interesting because I, I don't think a lot of people outside of those with diabetes that knew no bolusing and insulin need and that kind of thing, and they're looking at the facts, label in general, people do not consider beverages calories.

[A]

They don't see. I think that's where I'm at too, and why I'm trying to include some of these in here. I don't think that it's not even maybe considered half the time like that it has an impact at all. And I'm not talking about something weird like coffee really hits me hard. I hear people say that sometimes.

[B]

Right.

[A]

But I'm talking about, like, there's a lot in those drinks and I don't. I don't think, you know. So this website has a milky series, a fresh brew, a fruity beverage, non caffeinated Matcha. I definitely don't know what matcha is. Ice Ice blend. I don't know what matcha.

[B]

Oh, Matcha is like a green tea powder.

[A]

Okay.

[B]

I love matcha. I have a cup of matcha every day. But I guarantee it's not full of sugar.

[A]

This ain't your Matcha then.

[B]

Okay, not my Matcha.

[A]

Okay. Because I'll just give you the one from, let's see. Strawberry Matcha with fresh milk. Does that sound good?

[B]

Sure, that sounds great.

[A]

532 calories, 4 grams of saturated fat, 126 milligrams of sodium, 111 carbs, 100 grams of sugar. Sugar.

[B]

What's the ounces of this?

[A]

I don't know if it says here. No, it doesn't say there. Sorry. On the size. They don't have sizes, they just have the breakdown.

[B]

So our estimate would be maybe 16 ounces.

[A]

Oh, you think?

[B]

Right.

[A]

I don't know how to tell. Hold on, let me see. Drink menu. Let me go to the menu.

[B]

Okay.

[A]

See if I can figure it out. What did I say?

[B]

That many grams of carb. My estimate is that's gotta be at least 2 cups or 16 ounces of the beverage.

[A]

I'm clicking Matcha series. Strawberry Matcha. Fresh milk. Fresh milk. Jenny, it's got fresh milk in it.

[B]

Fresh. They must have a cow out pack.

[A]

Well, you know, it occurs to me for the marketing people really can't drink milk if it's not. If it's not fresh.

[B]

Not gonna want curdled milk along with.

[A]

Your tapioca pearls does not tell me what size they are. I'm so sorry.

[B]

Okay.

[A]

Yeah, I wish it did actually. It might be more fun. Anyway, let's go back to Milky series Boba. I guess. I mean there's a tons of different. Would you like to look at the Thai pearl milk tea? How about the mango green milk tea? Classic Pearl green milk tea. Classic Pearl black. Just pick one. Jenny. Coffee milk tea with coffee.

[B]

How about we just pick. Pick one that has. If we're looking at the milky ones, I mean that strawberry milky, whatever you.

[A]

Were talking about, that was the matcha. Now we're.

[B]

That was the matcha.

[A]

There's a mango green milk tea.

[B]

Great, let's do that one.

[A]

Okay. There's 14 grams of fat in it, 83 milligrams of sodium, 114 carbs, 92 grams of sugar.

[B]

And we've talked about that before, right? The breakdown of grams of sugar versus total carbohydrates. This is mostly sugar.

[A]

Yeah. You're going to be mainlining this.

[B]

You are like bolus strategy, man. You better hope that your blood sugar is like falling off a cliff with this before you start drinking it. Because man.

[A]

So, so you're not joking though, right? Like if this was accessible to you while you were about to have a low blood sugar, that might be the level of pre bolus making in quotes of pre bolus that you might need. And you're depending on what's making your blood sug. You might need to bolus for this pretty quickly afterwards.

[B]

Yes.

[A]

Yeah. That's how hard it's. I don't know how to tell people to bolus for this stuff.

[B]

Yeah, this is 100% A. You need a pre bolus for this. In fact, it might be along the same lines as the idea of a super bolus. Right. Where you may actually take the bolus recommendation. I mean, we're using a 1 to 10 ratio. This was what, 114 grams of total carbohydrate, this one.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

Right. So what's 11 units of insulin? That's a lot of insulin.

[A]

My gosh.

[B]

For a drink.

[A]

And that's if you're at a 1 to 10.

[B]

Right.

[A]

You imagine if you're like you have insulin resistance or. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Geez. That's right. That's a lot. Like, I mean, listen, I'm not telling anybody how to eat. For me, this would be a, like, it's better to skip it situation or, you know, because I don't know how or.

[B]

Can you. Can I have the espresso shot size, please? That's only 15 grams of carb.

[A]

I'm looking at this. You randomly picked one with a lower.

[B]

Carb on this list than most of the other ones.

[A]

Yeah, there's like eight. 1, 2, 3, 4, 5. There's maybe 15 different drinks on this list. The carb. I'll go down the carbs for you. One of them has 153 carbs, 42 sugars. One has 154, 45, 154, 45, 1, 7, 56 4. 9,952. 9,259. 150. 46. 202. 202. 85. Thai Pearl Milk Tea. Large. 182 to 52. 114. 144. 160. 160. There's 150 carbs, 200 carbs in some of these things.

[B]

And I wonder if many of the carbs, like the typical name brand or nationwide coffee shops, let's say, have sweetening syrups that you would add to this for many of these flavors. Like, is it real? The one that I picked right. Was mango something. Is it real mango that's mashed up and pureed within this, or is it a mango syrup that's added just for flavoring? Because that. That can make a choice difference. You know, I don't. Again, like you, I don't want people thinking, well, gosh, this is like a. No, not ever.

[A]

Right.

[B]

However, would be a very important situation of pre bolusing. But could you make it easier on your blood sugar management? Are there options? If they are syrups that are added for flavor, could you ask if there are sugar free syrup options?

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

I mean, right?

[A]

Yeah. I mean, I guess we got to get past our. Even my. Like, I'm nowhere near astonished. I'm nowhere near Jenny on.

[B]

You were like, what?

[A]

Yeah, I. Listen, I don't even come close to Jenny's, you know, idea of nutrition, like, for my. My own personal life. And I'm stunned by this. Like, that's really crazy. I'm looking to see is there some national chain that has Boba that we could. Because I have to tell you, like, Arden, like, slinks off to like, some. I think it's like a Chinese food place that has bobo. Like, that's where she gets it from. Starbucks drops its version of bubble tea for the first time. 2024 Boba Milk Tea at Starbucks. But then I googled it and it seems like they don't have it anymore. Maybe. Yeah. Starbucks discontinued selling Boba.

[B]

Oh, interesting. Yeah, there's. I looked up a list. There are 11 bubble tea franchise businesses that are at the top in the US there are B&T is one. Bubbleology.

[A]

People who love it are probably like yelling their favorite ones at the thing, right, Nate? Bubbleology. Is that what you just said?

[B]

Bubbleology is one. It's interesting. Kung fu tea is one. And we actually have a kung fu tea here live.

[A]

Bubbleology website. Very exciting website. Look at that. Drinks. They have waffles too. Can you imagine? How am I bolusing for waffles and bubble tea at the same time? Milk fruit coffee specials. Bubble fizz.

[B]

I mean, happy lemon looks like is one of them.

[A]

Well, here's one that just says fruit Strawberry. Yeah, this is a very.

[B]

Bamboo desserts and drinks is another one.

[A]

The way they're gonna list the nutritional facts on this website. Let's see.

[B]

Probably not.

[A]

I wouldn't if I was them. What is bubble tea? Let's see what bubble tea is real quick. Sorry, everybody. This might have gotten sideways on me. A name given to a wide variety of refreshing flavored fruit teas and milk teas served ice cold or piping hot with chewy tapioca balls that you suck up through a big fat straw. Yum. It's like a quirky snack and drink in one. The tapioca balls are sometimes referred to as pearls or boba, which some people say over time has evolved into the word bubble. Isn't it interesting how language can do that? Who wrote this. You should be ashamed of yourself. However, the true origins of the name come from the small floating bubbles that are created by the vigorous shaking involved in making bubble tea. There's going to be vigorous shaking at.

[B]

Some point, like a martini, shaken, not stirred.

[A]

Thinking when you take all that insulin and end up having a seizure, I don't know how to do this. Like, there's. They don't.

[B]

They don't really have the nutrition fact.

[A]

Ain't looking allergic allergen information.

[B]

And most of the places that I'm looking at also don't have nutrition facts. So it is really. Yeah, it is really. Your best probably honest guess would be to use like chat GPT and ask for this size with these ingredients. I mean, most of these places will list or at least will tell you if you ask, what are the ingredients that go into this drink? Right, right. And if so, you could feed it into something that could technically give you some way to estimate or like you did, you just looked up some drinks and it gave you at least a nutrition breakdown.

[A]

Well, for Arden, like, there was a lot of trial and error on trying to figure out how to bolus for this.

[B]

And what does she do? I mean, that's probably the best.

[A]

The first time she tried 45 carbs, I was like, I don't think that's gonna work. So. And. And it didn't, by the way. Yeah, yeah. This one maybe Boba falls under the gfl, which stands for. We know what that stands for. Good luck. Yeah. Like, I don't know. Jesus Christ. Yeah, I mean, guys, do your best to find out how many carbs are really in it. I would listen if I, I. This one I would talk about again from like a safety perspective, I think. Start aggressive but slowly and try to figure it out, you know, because another.

[B]

Option would be to start small.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

Don't get the largest one on the menu if you've never done this before. And an option would really be get their smallest size bolus for it. Expect you're going to need a pretty good pre bolus, almost seeing blood sugar actually coming down before you start to drink it. And then evaluate. Right. And if you can figure out something small, my professional recommendation would be stick with the small because you're not getting 120 grams of carbohydrate at one time. But if you choose to go bigger, then know that your strategy is probably going to have to be just as strong, if not a bit stronger.

[A]

Jenny, if you'd like to open up a share T franchise, you're going to need a minimum investment of $300,000 and 100,000. That's going to need to be liquid capital.

[B]

I probably won't be doing that.

[A]

No. But then you can just jump right in and start mainlining sugar into people. And I'm assuming you'll be incredibly successful at it. There are 400 stores worldwide.

[B]

Wow, That's a lot.

[A]

It is a lot. 400 is a lot. Okay, guys, please don't drink sugar. Thank you. That's all. Jeez. Anyway, good luck. Yeah. Thanks so much to all of you. God bless.

In each episode of the Bolas 4 series, Jenny Smith and I are going to pick one food and talk through the bolusing for that food. We hope you find it valuable. Generally speaking, we're going to follow a bit of a formula, the meal bolt formula. M, E, A, L, B, O, L, T. You can learn more about [e-mail] meal-bolt but here's what it is. Step 1. M Measure the meal.

E evaluate yourself A, add the base units. L layer A correction.

B, build the bolus shape. O, offset the timing. L, look at the CGM&T tweak for next time. In a nutshell, we measure our meal total carbohydrates, protein, fat. Consider the glycemic index and the glycemic load. And then we evaluate yourself. What's your current blood sugar, how much insulin's on board, and what kind of activity are you going to be involved in or not involved in? Do you have any stress, hormones, illness, what's going on with you? Then A, we add the base units, your carbs divided by insulin to carb ratio. Just a simple bolus. L layer a correction. Right? Do you have to add or subtract insulin based on your current blood sugar? Build the bolus shape. Are we going to give it all up front 100% for a fast digesting meal? Or is there going to be like a combo or a square wave bolus? Does it have to be extended? Offset the timing. This is about pre bolusing. Does it take a couple of minutes this meal, or maybe 20 minutes? Are we going to have to again consider combo square wave boluses and meals? Figure out the timing of that meal and then L look at the CGM an hour later, was there a fast spike? 3 hours later, was there a delayed rise 5 hours later, is there any lingering effect from fat and protein? Tweak, tweak for next time. T, what did you eat, how much insulin and when? What did your blood sugar curve look like, what would you do next time? This is what we're going to talk about in every episode of Bolus 4. Measure the meal, evaluate yourself, add the base units, layer a correction, build the bolus shape, offset the timing, look at the CGM tweak for next time. But it's not going to be that confusing, and we're not going to ask you to remember all of that stuff. But that's the pathway that Jenny and I are going to use to speak about each bolus.

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