Have you seen red, sort of orangey-colored iced tea? If you have, you might have just seen Thai iced tea – a beverage that has become popular across the globe as Thai food gain popularity. In this post, we will introduce you to a few traditional Thai tea recipes you can commonly find in Thailand. Be careful, you might find yourself thirsty after reading this!
Table of Contents
Types of Thai tea drinks
Before jumping into the Thai tea recipe, we want to introduce you to some common tea beverages in Thailand.
There are 3 common traditional tea beverages that we want to introduce in this post. One good thing is that all these 3 beverages can be made from the same tea so you can even try them all at home.
The most popular traditional Thai tea is from the ChaTraMue brand which has been around since 1945.
- The famous Thai milk tea: We are quite certain that the first type of Thai tea you have tried or seen is “Thai milk tea” or iced Thai milk tea. Thai milk tea is orange in color, it has a heavy sweet and creamy taste
- Thai “black” tea: This is called “Cha Dum Yen” in Thai which is translated to Iced black tea. Despite the name, this tea is in fact the same as Thai milk tea above, but without any milk so it has a darker color but with a lighter taste, with a slight hint of tea bitterness (without being masked by the milk)
- The refreshing Thai lime tea: Similar to Thai black tea but with a sour taste from the lime. Iced Thai lime tea has a refreshing taste and is perfect for a hot day in Thailand
What is in Thai tea?
You might be wondering what is in the Thai tea and why is it red/orange in color? Thai tea, for example, the ChaTraMue brand, most commonly makes use of red Assam tea. After being boiled or poured over with hot water, it will produce a red-colored tea (similar to the Thai black tea above.
Other common ingredients in your Thai tea beverages are water, sugar then condensed milk + evaporated milk for Thai milk tea or lime for Thai lime tea.
Milk makes the “red” tea orange.
Thai tea recipes: How to make Thai iced tea at home?
First step: Procuring and preparing the tea
Thai tea like the one from Cha TraMue is traditionally sold in a large bag/box, however – you can now also find tea sachets which help to simplify the process. If you purchase a large bag/box of Thai tea leaves, you will also need to prepare a tea filter bag.
The standard recommendation from ChaTraMue is to have 2g of tea for 1 cup of boiling water (about 200 ml). You can start the process by putting tea mix into the filter bag, pour hot water in and let the tea simmer for about 3 to 5 minutes before removing the filter bag.
Pro tip: if you have two cups, you can run the tea beverage through your filter bag a few times to ensure that your tea is rich and fragrant.
Second step: Fine-Tuning the taste
Now you have yourself a Thai tea! If you like your drink sweet then you can add sugar for sweetness. If you want to try the iced Thai “black” tea then simply let the tea cool and add ice! Or if you want to try lime/lemon tea then squeeze a slice of lime/lemon after adding ice!
Third step: Making Thai milk tea
If you are looking to make Thai milk tea, then you are going to need 2 additional ingredients, condensed milk and evaporated milk. First, add condensed milk to your hot tea and stir well until well blended and the tea turns into an orange color.
Next, let the tea cool – add ice then top up your tea with evaporated milk for a rich and creamy taste.
And now you have yourself a nice, iced Thai milk tea!
Should you make yourself a Thai tea drink?
That’s for sure!
Thai milk tea is one of the most popular beverages in Thailand, it is also very easy to make.
If you are looking to try and make Thai milk tea at home, do not forget to give Thai black tea and Thai lime tea a try as well. They are equally easy to make.
Lastly, Thai milk tea is sweet and creamy so do not forget about both the calories intake and caffeine content when making and drinking Thai milk tea. Moderation is always the best.
Hope you enjoy learning about the Thai tea recipes! if you are passionate about Thai tea then be sure to check out these Thai tea desserts as well!
Learn more about Thailand from our other posts: