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.
- Steep the tea in hot water for 3-5 minutes. You can do this inside a French press for easy straining.
- Strain the tea through a fine mesh strainer.
- If there's a lot of tea dust left you and strain it again through a finer mesh or paper coffee filter.
- Add sugar and salt. Allow to cool to room temp.
- For Thai style Thai tea, combine the tea base with sweetened condensed milk.
- Pour over a glass of ice.
- Top with evaporated milk.
- 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: Making 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:
- 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.
- 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.
- Add 1 ½ tablespoon sweetened condensed milk, 2 teaspoons sugar (or to taste) and stir to dissolve.
- 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!
Thai Iced Tea ชาเย็น (cha yen)
Ingredients
Thai Tea Base
- ¾ cup Thai tea leaves (buy Thai tea leaves online), see note 1
- 4 cups hot off-the-boil water
- ¼ cup sugar
- â…› teaspoon salt
Thai Iced Tea - Thai Style (for 1 glass)
Thai Iced Tea - American Style (for 1 glass)
- ¾ cup Thai tea base
- 1 Tablespoon sugar, see note 2
- a pint glass packed full of ice
- 3-4 Tablespoons half and half, (~12% cream)
Notes
- If you can't find Thai tea leaves, see my hacked trick in the blog post.Â
- I don't add all the sugar to the tea base to allow room for people to adjust sweetness to their own taste. But if you are making it just for yourself, increase the amount of sugar in the Thai tea base to ½ cup (or however sweet you like it) and skip the sugar when making individual glasses.
FULL VIDEO TUTORIAL
All my recipes come with step-by-step video tutorials with extra tips not mentioned in the blog post, so make sure you watch the video to ensure success. If you enjoy them, consider subscribing to the YouTube Channel to not miss an episode. Thank you!
Subscribe to my YouTube ChannelInstructions
For the Thai Tea Base (4 glass)
- Steep the tea leaves in hot off-the-boil water for 5 minutes and then strain through a fine mesh strainer. If you have a french press, steep it in the french press and make the straining process easier!¾ cup Thai tea leaves (buy Thai tea leaves online), 4 cups hot off-the-boil water
- Add the sugar and salt and stir to dissolve. Allow to cool to room temp before making tea so it won't dissolve the ice too much. You can now store this base in the fridge it will last at least a couple of weeks.¼ cup sugar, ⅛ teaspoon salt
For the Thai Style Thai Tea (1 glass)
- Pour the Thai tea base into a mixing glass and stir in the condensed milk until dissolved. If the tea base is chilled, it will help to microwave it briefly and bring it to room temp so the condensed milk will dissolve more easily.¾ cup Thai tea base, 1½ Tablespoons sweetened condensed milk
- Pack a serving glass full of ice and then pour the tea on top. Drizzle with the evaporated milk on top and enjoy!A pint glass packed full of ice, 2-3 Tablespoons evaporated milk
For the American Style Thai Tea (1 glass)
- Pour the Thai tea base into a mixing glass and stir in more sugar to your taste, if needed. If the tea base is chilled, it will help to microwave it briefly and bring it to room temp so the condensed milk will dissolve more easily.¾ cup Thai tea base, 1 Tablespoon sugar
- Pack a serving glass full of ice and then pour the tea on top. Drizzle with the half and half on top and enjoy!a pint glass packed full of ice, 3-4 Tablespoons half and half
Seph
You mentioned in the video that both the condensed and evaporated milk can last a long time. How long can they last and what is the Thai secret to keeping it alive and safe to drink for so long? (e.g., do you transfer it to an airtight jar, or keep it in the can?) As a person living solo, I always hesitate buying and cracking open either product because it's just so much for one person to use.
Pailin Chongchitnant
Condensed milk, once open will last at least a few months in the fridge in an airtight container. Evaporated milk lasts a shorter time but it should be 3-4 weeks in the fridge in an airtight container. Push it to the back of the fridge where it's colder and it'll last longer.
Laurinda Conyers
Hi Pailin,
Thank you for the amazing recipe and sharing your knowledge with us. I have tried several different recipes for Thai Tea like you get from restaurants. I had to buy many different spices and none came close. I found the Tea you recommended (on Amazon of course), and followed your directions exactly. It was perfect. Just what I was looking for. I am so happy to have found you. I love your Char Sui recipe and your tutorial on rice noodles has given me the confidence to try them again. Keep up the the great cooking.
You rock it,
Laurinda
Pailin Chongchitnant
Aw, so glad to hear! Thank you so much!
Jay
I make extra tea to freeze (tea only) and use as the ice cubes in my next batch.
Pailin Chongchitnant
Brilliant.
Jack Yuen
How to be more find it ?
Chloe
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Chloe
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Chloe
Hello! Sorry, it may be because I'm new to cooking but - what does "off the boil" mean? I couldn't find a consistent answer by googling it.
Adam from HTK
Hi Chloe, Adam here, and "off the boil" means that a liquid has cooled down from boiling and is no longer actively bubbling. It is often used in recipes to indicate a step where ingredients are added or the liquid is simmered after reaching its boiling point. Cheers!
Pailin Chongchitnant
I mean that the water should have just finished boiling. So temp as close to boiling as possible. This is to prevent ambiguity because "hot water" can mean any temperature that's hot, but it may not be hot enough to properly brew tea.
Valerie
Hi Pai!
How long do you think it can last in the fridge? Do you think there is a point in the recipe where we could freeze in order to have some rapidly on hand?
Thank you so much
Dianne
The base should be fine to freeze. I wouldn't freeze it with any dairy products added to it though. The freezing and thawing can cause the milk to separate and you might end up with lumpy tea.
Pailin Chongchitnant
What Diane said is correct 🙂
Laura
If i want to make many servings at once is it better to do the same recipe many times or can i steep it all at once in a pitcher? If so is there a ratio to follow or do i simply increase quantity of tea and water based on number of guests? Thanks
Pailin Chongchitnant
Hi Laura, simply multiply all ingredients proportionally and make a big batch all at once.
Sejal
So simple! Being lazy about washing dishes, I did all the steps in my Yeti travel mug and it turned out great. I love being able to customize the level of sweetness - restaurant versions tend to be overly sweet. Any suggestions for the leftover evaporated milk? I have read that it does not freeze well.
Sandra Rosenblum
You could use sweetened condensed milk to make fudge.
You could use evaporated milk to make pumpkin pie.
Pailin Chongchitnant
Here are a couple of recipes that use evaporated milk on my site: https://hot-thai-kitchen.com/creamy-tom-yum/
https://hot-thai-kitchen.com/curry-crab/
Or you can use it to make soups, add it to smoothies, or use it instead of milk in baking for extra richness.