Looking for more than just a cup of milk with tea? How about a delicious spliced creamy rich chai? Or a gorgeous pink tea? These are the 12 milk teas you can make at home.
1. Teh Tarik
Teh Tarik is a Malaysian milk tea. It's made with condensed milk, rather than regular whole milk. To make a delicious cup of Teh Tarik, you will need only a spoon or two of condensed milk and a strong Ceylon black tea base. Teh Tarik may or may not include spices. Milk is added last, and tea is then pulled – poured from one cup to the other – to create a layer of foam and improve the texture. Teh Tarik is usually quite sweet and served in a glass cup.
2. Thai Iced Milk Teas
Thai Iced Tea is a milk tea from Thailand with an intense brown orange colour. It can be spiced or pure, but it usually contains vanilla flavouring. Thai milk tea is a sweet tea too, made with condensed milk and served over ice. This tea is usually made from a special Thai tea mix that contains broken tea leaves, flavouring and artificial colourings, hence the beautiful flavour. You can make Thai tea at home without compromising the flavour, texture or colour even if you don't have an original Thai Tea Mix.
3. Indian Chai
Chai is an Indian black tea with milk. Tea leaves are simmered, rather than steeped, and sweetened with a hefty amount of sugar. Chai is unlike any other milk tea – it's very creamy and complex with a deep texture and silky mouthfeel. Making chai includes a pulling method that aerates the tea and creates a layer of tiny foam.
Find out what are the 7 ways of making chai at home.
© All That Tea
4. Masala Chai
Masala chai, on the other hand, is a spiced Indian black tea. It's made in the same way as chai, with the addition of spices. Spices are usually crushed and added to water before tea leaves. Masala chai can include different spices, with the most common ones being green cardamom, cinnamon, ginger, and cloves.
Learn how to make Masala Chai at home.
5. Boba Milk Teas
It's almost impossible to be a tea lover and not hear about boba tea. Boba is perhaps the most popular of all milk teas. It's literally everywhere and there are so many flavour and colours to choose from it can make you feel completely confused. And extremely happy too. The traditional Boba tea originates from Taiwan, where it was made with black tea leaves, milk, sugar, and tapioca pearls. Modern boba can be a milk tea or a fruit tea and can contain different toppings such as custard pudding, grass jelly, or popping fruit boba pearls.
Learn how to make Strawberry black tea milk boba at home.
6. Tea Latte
Just like a coffee latte, tea late is made using steamed, silky, frothed milk. Unlike pulled teas, tea lattes have much more foam. The type of foam is also different – it's made of milk only, rather than brewed tea with milk. While you usually need to use specific teas for making traditional milk tea, you can make a tea latte using almost any tea – including flavoured vanilla, nut, berry, chocolate black teas, darker oolong teas, pu'er teas and some tisanes such as chamomile, rooibos or liquorice.
Learn how to make iced tea latte at home.
7. Tea Mocha
Rich and creamy cup of black tea with steamed and frothed milk, and a shot of chocolate syrup. Sounds good, doesn't it? Tea mocha is a tea latte with chocolate syrup, usually without a froth and with whipped cream instead. You can make tea mocha at home using your regular favourite black tea leaves, or flavoured vanilla and chocolate blends. Besides, chocolate syrups are a great alternative to regular sweeteners.
8. Dirty Chai
Dirty Chai, a modern style of chai latte, is made with a shot of espresso and steamed and frother milk. Unlike the traditional cup of chai, Dirty Chai is made by steeping tea leaves in water, or from a chai tea concentrate.
9. Pink Chai
Pink chai or Kashmiri chai is a unique chai with pink colour. Unlike other chai teas, pink chai is made with green tea leaves and sometimes spices that are simmered long enough to release a lot of colour and flavour. What would usually look like an over-brewed green tea is transformed into a beautiful drink by adding a pinch of bicarbonate of soda. Bicarbonate of soda will change the pH value of tea and turn it into deep red. To get a mesmerising pink tea, you only need to add milk.
Find out what is the best green tea for making pink chai.
10. Pink Iced Milk Teas
Just like pink chai, pink iced tea is made with green tea leaves, water, milk, sugar and bicarbonate of soda and served over ice. It's an eye-catching tea for a garden tea party, that tastes delicious too. Serving pink tea over ice is not a traditional way of making this tea, so you can experiment with flavours you like the most.
Learn how to make Pink Iced Tea.
11. Custard Milk Teas
Extra creamy, thick texture and a delicious vanilla flavour makes Custard milk tea a must try at home. It's one of those teas you can make from a scratch, or adding a pre-made custard mix to your milk tea. Simmer the tea leaves in water and milk first and then add a thickener and vanilla extract or an instant custard powder.
Learn how to make Custard Milk Tea at home.
12. Hong Kong Milk Tea
Another traditional milk tea to try is a Hong Kong milk tea. Hong Kong milk tea is similar to Malaysian Teh Tarik, but with some differences. Hong Kong milk tea is also a pulled tea and uses evaporated and condensed milk. It is less sweet than the Malaysian tea (but not necessarily), and it's often served in regular cups.