Thai Iced Tea Recipe - Thai vs American Style

Thailand has one famous (non-alcoholic) drink, and this is it: Thai iced tea. The orange coloured sweet concoction is so good it feels like it should be dessert. A lot of times I find restaurants make it too sweet, so I actually prefer making my own so I can make it exactly how I want it. If you love Thai tea and you're a coffee drinker, you're also going to love this easy Thai iced coffee!

What is Thai Iced Tea?

Let's start with the tea leaves, what is Thai tea leaves? Thai tea leaves are black tea leaves, commonly assam tea, that has had artificial flavour added to it, most commonly vanilla.

The iconic orange colour is nothing but orange food colouring. I know...it's not the exotic tea made from secret Thai ingredients that you might have thought. But this is not a gourmet tea, it's supposed to be the cheap and cheerful tea for the average Thai!

So the popular Thai iced tea is brewed from Thai tea leaves, and has sweetened condensed milk and evaporated milk added for creaminess and sweetness. There are other kinds of iced teas made from Thai tea leaves, such as this Thai lime iced tea that is super refreshing and is actually my personal favourite!

Thai Style vs American Style Thai Iced Tea

As I shared in the video tutorial, most Thai restaurants in N. America make their Thai tea differently from the way it's done in Thailand.

In Thailand, the tea is made milky and sweet by the addition of sugar, sweetened condensed milk, and evaporated milk. Sometimes, non-dairy creamer (like Coffeemate) is also added.

In most Thai restaurants in N. America, they use only sugar for the sweetness, and then top the tea with half and half. Not all restaurants do this; I have seen places that make a hybrid of the two styles, but this seems to be the most common way in my experience.

If you're wondering which style your local restaurant use, have a look at the video tutorial because they also look different before you stir the tea. If the tea in the cup starts out black with creamy dairy poured on top, it's American style!

The two styles DO taste different, and while both are good I prefer the Thai style because it tastes richer and milkier. But the American style is simpler and you may want to try it out anyway just to see which you prefer.

Ingredients

Here are ingredients you'll need to make yourself some Thai iced tea at home. For amounts, see the full recipe card below.

• Thai tea leaves. The most popular brand in Thailand is ChaTraMue. This company specializes in teas so I try to choose this brand if I can. But other brands such as Pantai and Sunlee are also fine.
• Sweetened condensed milk. Choose a brand with only a few ingredients, mostly milk and sugar, such as Longevity brand. Be aware of cheap non-dairy imitation condensed milk that I would not choose.
• Evaporated milk. Evaporated milk is used to add creaminess without adding extra sweetness. I always use full-fat evaporated milk for best flavour.
• Sugar. This can be added to taste, and any of your preferred artificial sweetener can also be used instead.
• Salt. A little salt helps brighten up the sweetness of the tea and prevents it from becoming cloying. It's a little trick that makes all the difference!
• A lot of ice. You should pack the cup with ice before adding the tea.

How to Make Thai Iced Tea

Here's a bird's eye view of how to make Thai style and American style Thai iced tea. I recommend you check out the full video tutorial so you can see how it's done and you can see my taste test between the two styles!

This recipe shows you how to make a Thai tea base without any dairy product as this will last you a long time in the fridge. Then you can add your dairy of choice when you're ready to drink, which also allows different members of the household to adjust creaminess and sweetness to their liking.

For maximum simplicity you can also make a big batch of the finished tea so it's ready to drink, but keep in mind that it will not last as long since the dairy products have been added.

1. Steep the tea in hot water for 3-5 minutes. You can do this inside a French press for easy straining.
2. Strain the tea through a fine mesh strainer.
3. If there's a lot of tea dust left you and strain it again through a finer mesh or paper coffee filter.
4. Add sugar and salt. Allow to cool to room temp.

5. For Thai style Thai tea, combine the tea base with sweetened condensed milk.
6. Pour over a glass of ice.
7. Top with evaporated milk.
8. For American style, add more sugar to the tea base to taste, then pour the tea over ice and top with half and half!

Hack: How to Make Thai iced tea without Thai tea leaves

If you can't find the Thai tea leaves in your local store, good news: there is a very good hack that produces a delicious tea that tastes very close to the original!

For 1 glass of Thai iced tea:

1. Steep 3 tea bags of orange pekoe tea or another black tea with 1 cup (240 ml) of hot off the boil water for 5 minutes.
2. Remove the tea bags and add ½ teaspoon artificial vanilla extract, and if you wish you can add a few drops of orange food colouring to mimic the colour.
3. Add 1 ½ tablespoon sweetened condensed milk, 2 teaspoons sugar (or to taste) and stir to dissolve.
4. Pour it over a pint glass packed full of ice and drizzle 2-3 tablespoon evaporated milk over top. Enjoy!

How to Make Vegan Thai Iced Tea

If you're not concerned about making a healthy drink, you can make a simple substitution with non-dairy evaporated milk and condensed milk which get their richness from vegetable oil of some kind. You can also use non-dairy creamer such as Coffeemate to help with creaminess.

I tried using Let's Do Organic brand coconut condensed milk, but the coconut fat congealed into little bits in the iced tea and it was not pleasant, and it didn't have nearly the richness of regular condensed milk. This may not be the case with different brands that contain more binders that would prevent this separation, but just FYI that it could happen.

If you want a healthier version, what I do is I add more sugar to the tea base to achieve the desired sweetness, then add about ⅓-½ cup of oat milk per serving of Thai tea. My favourite for this is Oatly which I find to be the creamiest. Oat milk I find is the best tasting non-dairy milk substitute in Thai tea and teas in general. It doesn't taste as rich and you won't get the cream-topped effect but it still tastes great.

Nowadays there are lots of new non-dairy products available so always worth trying out different ones and see what you prefer!