Thai Iced Tea
The bright-orange café classic — strongly brewed spiced black tea, sweetened with condensed milk and poured over ice with a float of evaporated milk.
- Prep
- 5 min
- Cook
- 10 min
- Serves
- 2 drinks
- Level
- Easy
By Maya Chen
Method
- 01
Bring the water to a boil, add the Thai tea mix, and let it steep for 5–7 minutes until deeply coloured and strong. The brew should look dark amber-orange and taste assertive.
- 02
Strain the tea through a fine sieve or a coffee filter to catch all the leaf, then strain again if it looks cloudy.
- 03
While the tea is still hot, stir in the sweetened condensed milk and the optional sugar until fully dissolved. Taste and adjust — it should be quite sweet.
- 04
Let the sweetened tea cool to room temperature, then chill it well so it doesn't melt the ice on contact.
- 05
Fill two tall glasses to the brim with ice and pour the cold sweet tea over, leaving a little headroom.
- 06
Float the evaporated milk over the top so it streaks down through the orange tea, and serve with a straw. Stir before drinking.
Thai iced tea — cha yen — is one of the most recognisable drinks in Southeast Asian cafés: a tall glass of deeply spiced, sweet orange tea capped with a swirl of creamy milk. It is built on the same logic as any iced milk tea, a very strong brew sweetened while hot and tamed with dairy, but the spiced tea blend and the condensed-milk sweetness give it a character all its own.
It is fast to make and keeps well in the fridge as a base, so a batch of brewed sweet tea can be poured over ice on demand.
Brew hard, sweeten, then float
The two moves that matter are a strong, well-strained brew and the two-stage milk. Steep the tea until it is dark and assertive, strain it carefully so the drink is not gritty, and stir the sweetened condensed milk in while the tea is hot. Chill it fully before it touches ice. To finish, float unsweetened evaporated milk on top so it streaks down through the orange — that drifting cap of cream is the look the drink is known for.
