Thai Tea Recipe

Two glasses filled with prepared and iced Thai iced tea.

4.89 from 202 votes

Thai Iced Tea is a creamy and refreshing mildly spiced sweet tea made from Thai tea mix (or black tea), milk, and sugar. Popular in Southeast Asia and served in many Thai restaurants, learn how to make Thai tea at home with this easy-to-follow guide and recipe.

Prep Time5

Cook Time15

chill time1

Total Time20

Servings: drinks

Calories: 169kcal

Chef: Jessica Randhawa

Ingredients

▢ ½ cup Thai Tea Mix
▢ 2 ½ cups water
▢ ¼ cup granulated sugar
▢ Ice
▢ 1 cup half and half - or milk of choice (full-fat coconut milk, sweetened condensed milk, evaporated milk, whole milk, etc.)

Instructions

Bring water to a boil in a small saucepot over medium-high heat. Add the Pantai Thai Tea Mix and the sugar. Stir to combine. Reduce heat to low and boil gently for two minutes or so before removing from heat.
Allow the tea to steep for approximately 15 minutes before straining through a fine-mesh strainer or a tea filter to separate solids. Set tea aside to cool (for best results, allow the tea to cool in the refrigerator for at least 1 hour).
Fill glasses with ice. Pour in the steeped Thai tea approximately two-thirds full, leaving enough room to add milk or cream. Fill the glass with half and half (or desired milk of choice) and stir to combine.
For best results, enjoy your creamy, mildly spiced, slightly caffeinated, and delightfully sweet Thai tea immediately.

Notes

Ingredient Notes:

This recipe uses a premade Thai tea mixture. I chose to use Pantai Thai tea mix, but Number One Brand is also highly recommended. Both options taste exactly like the Thai tea you get from Thai restaurants. If you prefer to make this recipe without added spices and food coloring, plain black tea will also work.
Most restaurants will make Thai tea with sweetened condensed milk. If you prefer something a little less sweet, consider swapping for full-fat coconut milk, evaporated milk, whole milk, or half-and-half.)

Steeping Time: There is some debate on how long to steep tea. In general, it is thought that steeping for more than 5 minutes will result in a bitter-tasting tea. Thai tea, especially when using a premade mix, is an exception, and should be steeped for up to 15-20 minutes.

Originally published June 5, 2018

Nutrition

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