Sunday, June 17, 2012

How to Make Thai Iced Tea From Scratch








2 cups water
3 tablespoons Assam tea leaves, or strong black tea*
green cardamom pods
3-4 cloves
star anise
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoon star anise powder (I powdered 2 star anise in the mortar and pestle)
1-2 tablespoons sugar or 1 tsp. stevia
2 tablespoons sweetened condensed milk (for restaurant-style)
3-4 tablespoons evaporated milk (for restaurant-style), or 1/2 cup whole milk (for healthy version)



* 3 Tb of tea for five minutes yielded a bitter brew.  Next time I'd like to experiment with less leaves at 195 degrees for 4 minutes to avoid the bitter taste 

Restaurant-style Thai Iced Tea:
In a medium-sized pot, bring water to a boil. In the meantime, add tea leaves, cardamom pods, cloves and star anise into a tea bag. Once the water reaches a rolling boil, turn off heat and add bag. Gently stir and make sure bag is fully submerged.


After 4 minutes, remove bag, add in star anise powder, vanilla extract, 2 tablespoons of sugar and 2 tablespoons of sweetened condensed milk. Stir until dissolved and cool down to room temperature. Once ready to serve, fill 3/4 of a large glass with ice, then top with tea, leaving room for evaporated milk. Stir in the evaporated milk and serve.

Healthier version of Thai Iced Tea:
When tea has finished steeping, only add 1 tbsp. of sugar and omit sweetened condensed milk. Mix in Stevia until dissolved. Let cool to room temperature. When serving over ice, add whole milk or half & half instead of evaporated.

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