Thai tea

Tea brewed far stronger than drinkable, then cut with two milks and poured over a full glass of ice.

Vegetarian, but not vegan — contains dairy (condensed milk), dairy (evaporated milk).

Ingredients

• 6 tablespoons strong black tea leaves
• 1 litre water
• 6 tablespoons condensed milk
• 6 tablespoons evaporated milk
• 2 tablespoons caster sugar
• ice, to fill the glasses

Method

1. BREWED FAR STRONGER THAN YOU WOULD DRINK IT, and that is the whole trick. It has to survive two milks and a full glass of melting ice. Tea brewed to normal strength makes a pale sweet milk drink with no tea in it by the third mouthful.
2. Six tablespoons to a litre, steeped 5 minutes in water just off the boil. Longer than that and the tannin turns it harsh rather than strong, which is a different thing.
3. Strain it through a cloth or a fine sieve twice. Thai tea leaves are cut very fine and the dust goes straight through a tea strainer, leaving grit in the glass.
4. Sugar into the hot tea, stirred until dissolved. It will not dissolve later.
5. COOL IT COMPLETELY before it meets the milk or the ice. Warm tea melts the ice on contact and you have a weak drink before it reaches the table.
6. Condensed milk into the cooled tea and stir until uniform. This is the sweetener and the body.
7. FILL THE GLASS WITH ICE, properly full, then pour the tea over it to about 2 cm from the top.
8. Evaporated milk floated over the back of a spoon last, so it sits as a pale layer on top rather than mixing in.
9. Serve unstirred, with a straw, and let whoever is drinking it mix it themselves.

Our own recipe. This one was written for this site rather than taken from anywhere, so there is no source to point you at. The quantities and the order of the steps are choices, not the only way to do it.

Filed under Thailand · All recipes