This delicious and refreshing summer treat is sure to become your new favorite! Thai iced tea is one of the amazing melting pot creations that came from Thai culture and food blended with Western ingredients. Traditional Thai tea combined with Western condensed milk poured over ice is a heavenly beverage.
This fusion drink has been gaining popularity worldwide since the 1980s, and it’s easy to taste why. Almost all Thai-inspired restaurants have this creamy iced tea beverage on their menus.
One reason for this is that Thai iced tea pairs so well with spicy foods. The zing of sweetened tea and wash of ice cold cream are excellent for soothing your palate before you tuck in to another bite of a delightfully spicy curry or peppery noodle dish.
Thai iced tea has certainly captured the imagination of folks around the world. Its sweet and creamy flavor has migrated from just a beverage to a common ingredient in luxury desserts. Thai iced tea crème brûlées, ice creams, doughnuts and panna cottas have recently been taking the culinary world by storm.
Here is an easy Thai iced tea recipe that you can make at home. Making your own Thai iced tea saves money and you are able to customize the blend to be just how you like it. This would be a great beverage to offer at your next BBQ or dinner party, especially if you are serving any spicy cuisine.
The recipe we offer here will have lots of customizations available so that you can create a Thai iced tea that is perfect for your palate.
Thai Iced Tea Recipe- Serves 3
Ingredients:
- 3 cups of water
- 4 Organic Assam Breakfast Black Tea Bags
- ½ cup of granulated sugar (This is to your taste, you can absolutely use less or use substitutes. If you are using condensed milk as your dairy topping you may want to reduce to ¼ cup of sugar as condensed milk is sweet)
- 1 anise star
- 2 whole cloves
- 1 crushed cardamom pod (optional)
- Dash of vanilla extract
- ¾ cup of a dairy product or dairy alternative. Popular options include half and half, whole milk, sweetened condensed milk, evaporated milk, heavy cream, coconut milk, oat milk, coconut cream or any blend of these. If using sweetened condensed milk, consider using less sugar overall because it is quite sweet.
- Ice cubes
Instructions:
- In a medium sized saucepan bring 3 cups of water to boil. Take off heat.
- Immediately add the tea, sugar, star anise, cloves and optional cardamom to the water. Stir until all the sugar dissolves.
- Let the mixture cool and steep for around half an hour. You can leave it to steep longer if you prefer especially strong tea, or choose to steep for less time if you want a lighter tea concentrate.
- Remove your tea bags and all the spices from the tea concentrate you have just steeped. You can do this with a strainer or even pour it through a coffee filter.
- Add a dash of vanilla extract.
- Cool your tea concentrate in the fridge for a few hours.
- When you are ready to serve, fill 3 glasses with ice. Pour the tea concentrate onto the ice, leaving about ¼ of the glass empty. Add your dairy component to the top portion of the glass. This creates a beautiful marbled layering effect in the tea. Serve immediately.
The Republic of Tea Blends to Try in Thai Iced Tea
Once you have prepared the above recipe a few times and have tweaked the sugar content and steeping time to suit your palate, you may want to get creative with your Thai iced tea flavors. Some particularly delectable tea blends to steep into Thai iced tea are:
Good Hope Vanilla Red Tea- Rooibos tea is naturally caffeine free, so you can enjoy a Thai iced tea brewed with these tea bags in the evening and still enjoy a restful sleep. That famous red rooibos color is also an asset if you are looking for a vibrant Thai iced tea without the use of food coloring.
Mango Ceylon Blend- The touch of mango in this blend would be a delicious homage to the tropical origins of Thai tea. If you use this blend you might even get you close to the orange color Thai iced tea is famous for, without the use of unnatural food dyes.
Cardamom Crème Brûlée Black Tea- Cardamom is a spice that is often used in brewing Thai tea concentrate. This tea blend would be a convenient way to get cardamom flavor in your thai iced tea without a special trip to the store for cardamom pods.
Whichever tea blend you choose and however you customize your homemade Thai iced tea, we hope that you savor it sip by sip.
