While many Thai iced tea mixes often contain a low-grade powder or syrup, this authentic recipe gets its flavor from good-quality black tea and spices without any artificial ingredients. This means your Thai tea won't be bright orange, since the color comes from a dye added to Thai tea mixes.
Serves: 2
Prep Time: 5 mins
Total Time: 5 mins
Course: Drinks
Cuisine: Thai
Similar to hot Thai tea, real Thai iced tea is a mix of black tea, spices, sugar, sweetened condensed milk, and evaporated milk. It's a great drink for fans of masala chai and other spiced or milky black teas. The best part is it's easy to make and far cheaper to make from scratch than buying it.
Recipe written by: Lindsey Goodwin - The Spruce Eats
Ingredients
2 tablespoons loose-leaf black tea
1 pod star anise
2 pods cardamom
1/2 cinnamon stick, optional
1/8 vanilla bean, optional
Tamarind powder, to taste, optional
1/4 teaspoon almond extract, optional
1 cup boiling water
1 tablespoon sugar
1 tablespoon sweetened condensed milk
2 teaspoons evaporated milk, or coconut milk, or whole milk
Instructions
Gather the ingredients.
Steep the tea, star anise, cardamom, cinnamon stick, vanilla bean, tamarind powder, and almond extract (if using) in the boiling water for 5 minutes.
Strain the tea.
Stir in the sugar and sweetened condensed milk until both are completely dissolved.
Fill 2 tall glasses with ice.
Pour the tea over the ice, leaving an inch or so of space at the top for the evaporated milk.
Top up with more ice if needed, and then drizzle with 1 teaspoon of evaporated milk on each glass of tea.
Notes
Tips
Use strong tea such as Ceylon, Assam, or Keemun. Alternatively, you can use 4 tea bags of strong black tea, or you can make a caffeine-free Thai iced tea with 4 tablespoons of rooibos tea.
You easily can make this recipe vegan by replacing the sweetened condensed milk and evaporated milk with cream of coconut and coconut milk.
You can adjust the sweetness of this Thai tea according to your tastes. This recipe is not as sickly sweet as some Thai ice tea mixes, but you can increase or decrease the sugar as desired.
Recipe Variations
If you like this cha yen style of Thai iced tea, you also might enjoy cha manao Thai iced tea, which replaces the sweetened condensed milk and evaporated milk with lime juice and jasmine essence. It is especially refreshing in summer.
And if you're a coffee drinker, be sure to try Thai iced coffee, which has the same spiciness and creaminess with a coffee base instead of tea.
NUTRITION
Calories: 65
Total Fat 1g
Saturated Fat 1g
Cholesterol 4mg
Sodium 20mg
Total Carbohydrate 13g
Dietary Fiber 1g
Total Sugars 12g
Protein 1g
Vitamin C 1mg
Calcium 46mg
Iron 0mg
Potassium 70mg
This recipe is written by Lindsey Goodwin - The Spruce Eats
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