How to Make Thai Milk Tea | Cha Yen

Love drinking Thai milk tea at your favorite Thai place? Make it at home! Easier, more affordable and tastes even better!

What are Thai iced tea ingredients?

The loose leaves in Thai iced tea are made from a flavorful mix of spices and Ceylon tea leaves, which is a black tea (Yes! Thai tea is caffeinated!). Thai iced tea ingredients are:

• loose leaf Thai tea 
• sweetened condensed milk
• milk of choice
• sugar (optional)
• crushed ice

Just like most Thai food, everyone likes their Thai Tea made a certain way. 

I like mine not as sweet, and more creamy with a strong Thai tea flavor. So for me, I put in sweetened condensed milk, whole milk, ice and no sugar. 

How do you like yours? 

Where can you buy Thai iced tea ingredients?

If you are at the local Asian market, you can usually find a package of Thai tea loose leaf on the aisle with all the teas from all over the world. 

• Look for Thai loose leaf tea brands like Pantai or Number-One ChaTraMue

How do you make Thai milk tea?

To make it at home, bring 5 cups of water to a boil. Take the water off the heat, add ¾ cup of Thai tea leaves straight to the pot, and give it a stir.

Let it steep for 4 minutes. Then strain the tea leaves with a fine mesh strainer or a tea sock into a pitcher.

While the tea is still hot, add ⅔ cup of sweetened condensed milk and stir it up. Then add 2 cups of milk of choice. 

Refrigerate until cold, and then serve with ice. 

Where does Thai milk tea come from?

No one is quite sure when Cha Yen, which in Thai means cold tea started up, but some think it was a lingering influence from Pibul Songkram, a Thai leader who loved western culture, like adding milk to tea, which was a new concept since Thais normally don’t have much dairy in their diet.

What makes Thai milk tea so orange?

It’s is orange from orange food coloring that is added to the tea leaves.

But why did Thais start adding orange food coloring to Thai tea??

No one really knows for sure, but my favorite story about why it is orange is that tea drinking was introduced to Thailand sometime during 1804-1854 when British and other foreigners living in Thailand brought their own tea with them.

Thai workers would brew the tea and serve it to their British bosses. Then, instead of throwing out the tea leaves, the Thai workers would brew the same tea leaves again for themselves. 

Since the flavor and color would be weaker, the Thais added orange food coloring and flavors that are now in the Thai tea spice mix to extend the life of the tea and also to make it look prettier to drink.

Does Thai milk tea have caffeine?

It does have caffeine. Thai milk tea is made with a mix of black Ceylon tea leaves and spices, and has 30-60 mg of caffeine. A regular cup of coffee typically contains around 95 mg of caffeine. So if you are looking for a drink that will wake you up, but not make you too jittery, Thai milk tea is a perfect choice!

Are Thai tea loose leaves or instant Thai tea mix better?

I prefer making it with loose leaves because the instant Thai tea mixes have added sugar and milk powder, so you can’t really control the sweetness. 

If you use the Thai tea loose leaves, you add your own sweetened condensed milk, and milk to taste. But really it’s up to you and what you prefer!

Sherri’s Story

My drink of choice in Bangkok when I lived there was usually Thai tea or iced Thai lime tea, or iced Thai coffee. I would get at least one of these magical drinks a day.

I hadn’t tried making it in America until we’d been back in America a few years. I was at the Asian market when I spotted loose leaf Thai Tea Mix hiding on a shelf. 

And not just the instant Thai Milk Tea packet with sugar, milk, with some powdered tea in it Thai tea packets, but the actual loose Thai tea leaves. So I bought it, and couldn’t wait to make it. And once I did, I was astonished at how crazy easy it is to make at home.

My Thai hubby thought I was weird, as usual. He had never made Thai Milk Tea at home in Thailand using loose leaf Thai tea. 

 Like most Thais, he thought, why make Cha Yen at home when you can buy it on the street made by an expert for a dollar?

But this is America where you can’t buy it on the street, and when you buy it in a restaurant it’s $5 and not that amazing.

But when you don’t live in Thailand, and are craving Cha Yen and make it at home, while you smell it steeping and take your first sip, for a moment it feels like you’ve escaped to the Bangkok streets while standing in your kitchen!

Yes please!

Once you use this recipe to learn how to make Thai Milk Tea, share your Thai milk tea pic with me on Instagram @thaifoodie, I wanna see!

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