No, taro and yam come from different plants. Both belong to the family of sweet potatoes, both are starchy root vegetables and both are used in purple colored desserts, but they look and taste different. Taro roots aren’t as sweet nor they have the same purple color intensity as ube, but manufacturers of taro milk powder add some sweeteners and coloring to it, so often it’s difficult to tell the difference between taro milk tea and ube milk tea.