Food
How to Make Thai Iced Tea at Home
Aug
I don’t think I’ve ever come across a tea-based beverage that I didn’t like.
Roasted Milk Tea? Hell yeah.
Matcha? Every morning as soon as I wake up.
Chai Latte? With pleasure.
Green Tea? Sure, but preferably the roasted rice kind with an ungodly amount of sushi on the side.
But there’s one that stands out above the rest. It’s a bright orange colour when made right and is definitely more indulgent than the drinks mentioned above.
We’re talking about none other than Thai Iced tea.
I think the first time I had Thai iced tea I was so thrilled with the first sip that I drank at least half the glass in the next gulp. It’s honestly that good.
If you’ve never had Thai iced tea before it’s not like your traditional Nestea at all. It’s definitely got the same sweetness level, but it’s creamy and has way more depth of flavour. It’s made by combining a specific black tea mix with water and sweetened condensed milk. The sweetened condensed milk yields a fairly sweet and oh-so-creamy tea that is so refreshing, but still indulgent. It’s the perfect side to Khao Soi, my other Thai love.
For many moons, I only had Thai iced tea when I would go out to eat at Thai restaurants, which isn’t super often. That was until I realized that there was a way you could make it at home and then you best believe I sourced the most authentic bag of Thai iced tea mix that I could. Now I can make it anytime I want!
Making it anytime I want also means that I’ve tried to infuse the flavour of Thai iced tea into other baked goods that I’ve made. I was hell-bent on being able to make a Thai tea cheesecake, so I modified an old recipe and it was quite delicious! It would also be incredible adding some hot tea to brownies the same way you would add instant coffee. Another great way to use it would be to infuse butter with the tea leaves and to then whip that up into an icing for cakes or cupcakes.
Also on my list of desserts to try making is macarons with a Thai iced tea filling. In fact, I might have to start workshopping that this weekend because now that’s all I want to eat!
Sometimes I also make this as a hot tea, so you could have it in the winter as well if you wanted, but it really hits the spot when poured over ice.
If you’re not able to find or don’t want to use sweetened condensed milk, I’ve achieved a similar result using sugar and half n half cream. However, for the most authentic taste, you’re going to want to grab that can of sweetened condensed milk.
So if you’re a huge fan of Thai Iced tea as well, you’ll definitely want to find out how you can make it at home! The process is really quite similar to making any kind of lose leaf tea at home so you don’t even need any special equipment beyond the tea itself.
Whenever I used to make any kind of iced tea, I would always steep an entire cup of tea in boiling water and would then wait for it to cool before adding ice so it didn’t dilute the tea. That was until I realized that I could just steep the tea in half the water and make a kind of tea concentrate. I then add ice cubes to the concentrate to cool the tea super quickly without watering it down too much. That little trick has definitely changed my iced tea making game for sure! It’s so much faster now!
It would be super easy to multiply the recipe and make this in a pitcher to serve for friends! Or, if you wanted to turn this into a fun cocktail I think it would pair great with some rum or maybe even some whiskey or bourbon if that’s your thing.
There are a few weeks of summer left here in Toronto so I’m going to be drinking all the Thai iced tea I can until it cools down again 🙂 Hopefully, you will too!
How to Make Thai Iced Tea at Home
- Start a kettle to boil your water.
- While that’s going on, set a fine-mesh sieve or infuser over a heatproof glass measuring cup and measure 3 tablespoons of tea mix into the sieve.
- When the water is boiling pour about 1 cup over the tea mix and allow it to steep for 10-15 minutes
- Once the tea has steeped, remove the sieve and discard the remaining tea leaves. You’ll be left with a tea concentrate that we’ll further dilute with ice and cool down to make it iced in the process.
- Add enough ice so that the water level comes up to 1 1/2 cups.
- Stir the tea to melt the ice for about 30 seconds. After this is done your tea should be quite cool
- Now measure out about 3-4 tablespoons of sweetened condensed milk and add it to the tea. You’ll notice it turns that bright, yet creamy shade of orange!
- Now fill a glass with ice and pour your delicious tea over top
- Pop in a stainless steel straw and sip away!
Thai Iced Tea
Ingredients
- 3 tbsp Thai iced tea mix I use ChaTraMue brand
- 1 1/2 cups boiling water
- 3-4 tbsp sweetened condensed milk
- ice cubes
Instructions
- Start a kettle to boil your water.
- While that's going on, set a fine-mesh sieve or infuser over a heatproof glass measuring cup and measure 3 tablespoons of tea mix into the sieve.
- When the water is boiling pour about 1 cup over the tea mix and allow it to steep for 10-15 minutes
- Once the tea has steeped, remove the sieve and discard the remaining tea leaves. You'll be left with a tea concentrate that we'll further dilute with ice and cool down to make it iced in the process.
- Add enough ice so that the water level comes up to 1 1/2 cups.
- Stir the tea to melt the ice for about 30 seconds. After this is done your tea should be quite cool
- Now measure out about 3-4 tablespoons of sweetened condensed milk and add it to the tea. You'll notice it turns that bright, yet creamy shade of orange!
- Now fill a glass with ice and pour your delicious tea over top
- Pop in a stainless steel straw and sip away!
Notes
Let’s Be Friends!
Insta | Pinterest | Enews | TikTok
Looking for something similar?
