Thai Iced Tea
Quick answer
Thai iced tea is a boldly flavored, sweet milk tea made by steeping black tea leaves with cardamom over low heat for five minutes to produce a deeply concentrated brew.
What makes this special
- Thai iced tea uses a concentrated black tea and cardamom base to maintain flavor against melting ice.
- Deliberately over-extracted black tea survives ice dilution to the last sip
- A quarter teaspoon of cardamom softens the tea's tannic edge
Key ingredients
Core cooking flow
- 1 Bring 500 milliliters of water to a rolling boil in a pot, then turn off the...
- 2 Cover the pot and simmer on very low heat for 5 minutes until the tea become...
- 3 Stir in 1 tablespoon of sugar until the granules are completely dissolved in...
Thai iced tea is a boldly flavored, sweet milk tea made by steeping black tea leaves with cardamom over low heat for five minutes to produce a deeply concentrated brew. The intentionally strong extraction is necessary because the ice slowly dilutes the drink as it sits, and a weak brew would taste watery long before the last sip. Sugar is dissolved while the tea is still hot, then the liquid is cooled fully before being poured over a glass packed with ice. Milk and condensed milk are poured gently on top without stirring to create a visual gradient of white layered over amber, and the drink is mixed at the table before drinking. Once combined, the cardamom's floral spice and gentle bitterness weave through the sweetened black tea base to produce a complex flavor that goes beyond simple sweetness. Adjusting the amount of condensed milk is the easiest way to control how sweet the finished drink turns out.
Instructions
Read the steps as a cooking flow: prep, heat, seasoning, doneness control, and finish.
- 1Heat
Bring 500 milliliters of water to a rolling boil in a pot, then turn off the heat and add 12 grams of black tea leaves and 0.25 teaspoons of cardamom.
- 2Control
Cover the pot and simmer on very low heat for 5 minutes until the tea becomes a deep dark orange color and the spicy cardamom aroma is fully extracted.
- 3Season
Stir in 1 tablespoon of sugar until the granules are completely dissolved into the hot tea, then remove from heat, ensuring the brew does not become overly bitter.
- 4Step
Strain the brewed tea through a fine mesh sieve to remove the leaves and cardamom, let it cool at room temperature, then refrigerate until it is thoroughly chilled.
- 5Step
Fill a tall glass with 1 cup of fresh ice cubes and slowly pour the chilled Thai tea base until it fills about two-thirds of the serving glass.
- 6Prep
Combine 200 milliliters of milk with 3 tablespoons of condensed milk and pour over the tea to create layers, then stir with a straw before drinking to blend.
After the steps
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Black Tea Milk Tea (British Condensed Milk Sweet Tea)
Milk tea is prepared by steeping black tea bags in boiling water for exactly four minutes to extract a strong, tannic base, then combining it with whole milk and condensed milk over low heat. Steeping shorter than four minutes leaves the tea pale and thin; longer than four minutes introduces bitterness and astringency that no amount of milk can fully mask. The milk rounds out the tea's sharpness and adds a creamy body, while condensed milk layers on a dense, caramel-like sweetness that sets this version apart from tea simply sweetened with sugar. Regular sugar dissolved early provides the baseline sweetness, and the condensed milk fine-tunes the richness and texture in the final moments. Warming the milk before combining it with the brewed tea helps both blend more smoothly. For an iced version, the mixture must be cooled completely before pouring over ice, since adding hot liquid directly to ice dilutes the drink and washes out the flavor.
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Korean Sweet Spicy Pollock Floss Stir-fry
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