Thai Iced Tea

Lately, all foods, drinks, and desserts from Thailand are very popular in Indonesia. One of them is Thai iced tea. In every mall in my town, there are always those stalls that sell these drinks at prices from 20.000 to 25.000 rupiah. This drink can attract Indonesian people especially us because of its unique taste. We often buy Thai tea every time we go to mall because we loved the taste of Thai tea.

For that reason, we try to find some information about this drink. Let’s get to know about Thai Iced Tea.

The Introduction of Thai Iced Tea

The Thai Iced Tea (ชาเย็น, also known as cha yen, cha nom yen or cha yen sai nom) is a brewed black tea with evaporated milk, sugar, and ice cube. This drink was found in the 1980s when China tea was imported in bulk to Thailand. It’s believed that Field Marshal Plaek Phibunsongkhram, a former Thai leader and prime minister with an eye toward Western culture, was the inventor of Thai iced tea.

Thai ice tea that we know and love now is not necessarily traditional Thai iced tea. Because of the Thai foods and drinks popularity, Thai ice tea also has some improvisation. It’s interesting to note that although strictly traditional Thai iced tea doesn’t make use of coloring or additional flavorings, many restaurants in Thailand now serve the Western variety of the tea due to this version’s international popularity.

Why is Thai Iced Tea Orange?

It comes from food coloring and some spices added to the black tea leaves. The color of the Thai tea will be dark red after the brewing process. It turns orange because of the additional ingredients like sweetened condensed milk or another type of milk.

Interestingly, the restaurant or chef adds food dye purposely. It is for adapting to Western culture. Besides, it is to make Thai tea different from the usual black tea. The other story said that the reason for adding food dye because to help differentiate between Thai iced coffee and Thai iced tea.

The ingredients are very simple to make this Thai tea. You only need Thai tea leaves, evaporated milk, creamer, and granulated sugar. This Thai tea can be served chilled or hot. But our favorite is served chilled with ice cubes.

How to make the Thai tea?

Add Thai tea leaves into a mug. Add 300ml boiling water and set aside for 3 minutes.

In another mug add creamer, evaporated milk, sugar, and 100ml boiling water. Stir until all sugar is dissolved.

Filter Thai tea and add the Thai tea into the milk mixture. Stir until combined.

Place ice cubes into glasses 1 cup each. Add Thai tea mixture.

Thai tea is ready to be served. Enjoy!

Recipe Notes

• Add black tea to the Thai tea mixture to level up the tea taste.
• You can adjust or change the sugar if you like. You can adjust the sugar to fit your preference. Also, you can change sugar with stevia or coconut palm sugar.
• Feel free to play with the milk you use. For a non-dairy version, coconut milk makes a great addition. Whole milk or half and half work as well.
• If you like, you can add lime juice and jasmine essence. It is to make the drink fresher.
• You can make it ahead of time and store it in the refrigerator. When you’re ready to drink, add in the condensed milk and evaporated milk.
• To make the drink authentic, use crushed ice instead of ice cubes.

The Thai tea leaves we use is from Number One Brand. Or sometimes we call it Chatramue Thai Tea.

We tested a lot of different thai tea stalls and we know what kind of taste that make it sooo good and balanced. Sometimes one stall makes Thai tea too sweet. Some other the taste of Thai tea not pronounced enough because too much creamer and too little Thai tea. So trust me based on what we like this recipe is the best we can deliver to you, guys!

You can complete this Thai theme with Thai foods like Spicy Thai chicken basil (Pad Kra Pao Gai) or Chicken Green Curry ala Thailand.

OTHER CHILLED DRINKS :

• Dalgona Coffee
• Rainbow Fruit Sparkling Water
• Melon Lemonade Punch
• Boba Pearl Coffee Milk

CHECK OUR TUTORIAL VIDEO