Thai iced tea

What it tastes like

Very sweet, creamy and lightly spiced, with the tea providing structure underneath rather than leading. The layered appearance before stirring is characteristic.

What it is built on

Teas

• CTC black tea — Strong, quick and blunt. What CTC gives up in nuance it returns in reliability: it is very hard to under-brew and it holds colour and strength through milk and sugar in a way whole leaf rarely does.

Brewing method: Boiling and decoction — Leaf, and usually other ingredients, simmered in water or milk rather than steeped — the basis of masala chai, butter tea and noon chai.

Ingredients

• 30 g Thai tea mix (black tea, often with star anise and colouring)
• 500 ml Water
• Sweetened condensed milk
• Evaporated milk
• Ice

Preparation

1. Step 1. Brew the tea mix very strong and strain it.
2. Step 2. Sweeten with condensed milk while hot, then cool.
3. Step 3. Pour over a full glass of ice.
4. Step 4. Float evaporated milk on top and serve unstirred.

Serves 2. About 15 minutes from start to finish, including anything that has to simmer or cool.

Equipment

• Tea strainer — A gaiwan lid or a pot’s own integral filter usually suffices; a strainer catches what they miss, particularly with broken leaf.

There is no single correct version

Standard across Thailand and Thai restaurants abroad. Made without colouring the drink is brown rather than orange and tastes essentially the same.

The steps above are one workable account of how this is made, not the authoritative recipe. Households and regions differ on proportions, on order and sometimes on what counts as the drink at all.

Common mistakes

• Brewing at normal strength, which cannot survive the ice and milk
• Assuming the orange colour indicates a particular tea

Sources