Normally, Thai restaurants are not too giving when it comes to their recipes. But, the recipe for Thai Iced tea wasn’t too hard to come by. It is such a staple Thai beverage that almost anyone who knows their Thai food can tell you how to prepare it. The type of tea that is used in Thai restaurants is called Lapsang Suchong and it can be found on the internet. You can also use any good quality black loose tea and end up with the same results. You will need around 2/3 cup of black tea leaves to make two glasses of Thai Iced tea.

You’ll also need 1 and 2/3 cup of good-tasting water, preferably purified, 1/2 cup of sugar, and 1 1/2 cups of evaporated milk, which is the amount that is in a 12 ounce can of the drink. Add to the recipe ingredients a few pieces of kitchen equipment, such as a teakettle or a large cooking utensil to boil water in, a large tea strainer, or you can go Asian for this recipe and try to locate a traditional Asian tea sock! Have ready a pitcher that can take the heat of boiling water, and a long spoon for stirring.

Place the water into the kettle or utensil and bring it to a rolling boil. Remove the water from the stove’s heat. You don’t want the tea to boil, as this would make it bitter. Add the 2/3 cup of black tea leaves to the water, and stir them with the long spoon to make sure that they have all been covered with water. You want the tea leaves to steep for 5 minutes. When 5 minutes have passed, it’s time to strain the tea into the pitcher, and remember, it needs to be a pitcher that can take the heat, for that tea is going to be very hot. This might take a little time, as 2/3 cup of tea is quite a lot to strain. Poor the tea through the strainer a little at a time, and when it begins to fill up with wet tea leaves, you can stop and remove the tea leaves, and then began to strain the tea again.

Fill the two glasses with ice cubes. Take the tea pitcher, and pour the cool tea over the ice, but do not fill the glass all the way to the top! You want to leave around one fourth of the glass empty up at the top. Get out the evaporated milk, and slowly pour it into the top of each glass. You will need either a straw or an iced tea spoon to drink Thai Iced tea properly. Some people like to mix the milk into their iced Thai tea right from the start. Others enjoy sipping their sweetened tea through the layer of milk. It all depends on how it tastes best to you, and it’s fun to experiment with both ways!