Thai Iced Tea
Photo credit : Food.trueid.net
In about every Thai restaurant you can find the famous Thai drink, Thai Iced Tea! The creamy and sweet orange drink has been a signature drink at Thai restaurants. Not only found among Thai restaurants abroad, Thai iced tea is also very popular in Thailand. By looking at some of the varieties of Thai iced tea, you can tell the market for this drink is huge and continuously growing.
People line up to buy slushy Thai Tea.
Photo credit : Facebook Chongdee Teahouse – โรงชาชงดี
Thai Iced Tea with Boba
Photo credit : Aroma Group
The first version is a combination of Thai iced tea and boba. Bubble tea is very popular among teenagers in Asian countries, and increasingly well received in the Western countries as well . Even where I live in a small town in the US, there are 3 bubble tea shops within a 3 minute drive. Thai people like to mix and match, so we added boba to our Thai iced tea. It is fun to drink and chew at the same time!
Cacao x Thai Iced Tea
Photo credit : บ้านเครื่องดื่ม490
This combination drink based on Thai iced tea is Cacao x Thai Iced Tea. This is one of my favorite milk tea drinks I like to get in the afternoon, especially during a hot summer. Once the iced cacao drink is mixed with Thai tea, Thai tea adds a unique tea aroma and flavor.
Bingsu Thai Iced Tea
Photo credit : Facebook Cheevit Cheeva dessert cafe
A fancy version of Thai iced tea is a shaved ice bowl, called Bingsu, a dessert bowl from South Korea. Originally, Bingsu is crushed frozen milk topped with sweet red bean paste. After Bingsu was introduced to Thai people and became popular, many dessert cafes adapted their own versions such as Thai iced tea, Bua-Loi or Lod-Chong, Thai coconut desserts, and many variations of this cross-culture dessert.
Pang-Cha, Bingsu Thai Iced Tea
Photo credit : Facebook Pang Cha – ปังชา World Class Thai Tea
The shaved ice Thai tea bowl became well known to the foreigners. One factor was when Thai iced tea – Bingsu style was recommended by a Michelin Guide for 5 consecutive years, from 2018 – 2022. The owners declared their income 15,000,000 baht in one month, which is around $660,000 AUD.
Thai Iced Tea Slushy and Thai Iced Tea with Chinese deep fried dough as a topping.
Photo credit : Facebook Chongdee Teahouse – โรงชาชงดี
The newest version that is popular is Thai Iced Tea Slushy. The previous photos of people lining up to buy Thai iced tea were for this slushy. This vendor adds more values to Thai iced tea by changing to texture and adding toppings, plus a modern design to attract the customers.
Making Thai iced tea is easy. I like it strong, creamy, and just the right amount of sweetness. When drinking any iced tea, you may experience a diluted drink at the end. I have an idea to keep the drink fresh until the last sip. I would call it a Double Thai Iced Tea.
Ingredients
- Thai tea mix 4 tbsp
- Water 350 ml
- Evaporated milk 4 tbsp
- Condensed milk 3 tbsp (adjust sweetness as preference, you can add 2 tbsp first)
- Sugar 1/2 tbsp (optional)
- Add thai tea mix into a pot or a french press (I found it easy to strain tea leaves when using the french press). Then add hot boiled water and let it sit for 10-15 minutes, but no longer than 15. When the tea sits for longer than 15 minutes, it will become harsh.
- In a measuring pitcher, mix evaporated milk, condensed milk, and sugar together.
- When the tea is done, pour the tea into the mixture and stir it well. Then adjust the taste to your preference.
- When the tea has cooled down, pour it in the ice tray. Then freeze it overnight.
- Next day, make the recipe again. (Following the recipe makes two servings of drink.)
- Put the Thai tea ice cubes in a serving glass. Pour Thai tea on top.
By making Thai tea ice cubes, you can make Thai iced tea slushy, using a blender. If double Thai iced tea is too strong for you, you can use milk, instead of adding Thai tea. For another version, you can brew Thai tea without milk and pour it over the Thai tea ice cubes. Please have fun trying many versions of Thai iced tea!
Reference:
ชาไทยมิชลินไกด์ 4 ปีซ้อน ยอดขายเดือนละ 15,000,000 บาท | 100NEWS
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dQUKTTubv_Q
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