Korean Cherry Blossom Milk Tea
Quick answer
Beotkkot milk tea is a seasonal drink built around salt-pickled cherry blossoms, which are soaked in cold water for five minutes to pull out most of their brine before use.
What makes this special
- Salt-cured cherry blossoms provide a faint briny trace to the sweet Beotkkot milk tea base.
- Salt-cured cherry blossoms leave a faint briny trace that lingers behind the sweetness
- Heavy cream and vanilla bean paste smooth black tea's astringency and add body
Key ingredients
Core cooking flow
- 1 Place 12g of salt-pickled cherry blossoms in cold water and soak for only 5 minutes.
- 2 Bring 500ml of water to a boil, turn off the heat, and add 12g of black tea leaves.
- 3 Add 600ml of milk and 2.5 tablespoons of sugar to the strained tea.
Beotkkot milk tea is a seasonal drink built around salt-pickled cherry blossoms, which are soaked in cold water for five minutes to pull out most of their brine before use. Black tea leaves steep for three minutes, then milk and sugar go in over low heat. Heavy cream and vanilla bean paste are stirred in off the heat, rounding out the tea's tannins and adding a dense, smooth body to the drink. The small amount of salt remaining in the blossoms after desalting introduces a subtle savory thread beneath the sweetness - not enough to read as salty, but enough to keep the flavor from being one-dimensional. A few desalted blossoms floated on top release a faint floral scent with each sip. For the iced version, the tea should be brewed roughly ten percent stronger than usual, since dilution from melting ice would otherwise flatten the flavor.
Instructions
Read the steps as a cooking flow: prep, heat, seasoning, doneness control, and finish.
- 1Season
Place 12g of salt-pickled cherry blossoms in cold water and soak for only 5 minutes.
Swirl them once gently, then lift them out without tearing the petals and pat them dry.
- 2Heat
Bring 500ml of water to a boil, turn off the heat, and add 12g of black tea leaves.
Steep for 3 minutes until the tea turns deep amber, then strain at once to prevent harsh tannins.
- 3Control
Add 600ml of milk and 2.5 tablespoons of sugar to the strained tea.
Warm over low heat for about 5 minutes, stirring slowly across the bottom so the milk does not scorch and the sugar dissolves.
- 4Heat
When small wisps of steam rise around the edge, turn off the heat before the mixture boils.
Stir in 80ml of heavy cream and 0.5 teaspoon of vanilla bean paste until the texture looks even.
- 5Finish
Divide the milk tea into warm cups and float a few cherry blossoms on top.
If the blossoms still taste noticeably salty, use fewer of them, and serve when the drink is hot but comfortable to sip.
- 6Finish
For an iced version, brew the black tea about 10 percent stronger, then mix it with the milk, sugar, cream, and vanilla in the same order. Cool the finished milk tea before pouring it over ice so the flavor stays balanced.
After the steps
Pick a recipe that fits this dish.
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