Easy Thai Tea Recipe: How to Make Thai Iced Tea at Home

Thai tea is a sweet, milky tea drink that has become popular, especially among tourists who have been to Thailand. If you've ever wanted to know how to make this addictive, richly refreshing black tea beverage, you've come to the right place.

Our recipe isn't unique but we've tested it many times to make sure you'll get that same authentic taste as you would from the streets of Thailand. We've also listed some of the different ways we tried to prepare this delicious drink using some close substitutes. 

If staying at home and saving money has stopped you from getting your fix of trendy beverages, our recipe will make your weekdays much better. We guarantee this sweet beverage is also one of the easiest to make at home from all the drink recipes you've seen us make before.

Jump to:

• What is Thai Tea?
• What does Thai Tea taste like?
• How to Enjoy
• Benefits
• Calories
• Ingredients
• Thai tea leaves vs powder mix
• How to make Thai tea
• Cooking Tips
• Thai Iced Tea Recipe | How to Make from Scratch

What is Thai Tea?

It is a sweet and creamy beverage that originates from Thailand. This drink has four main components - black tea, milk, sugar and spices.

Historical Origin

It's unclear to us when and how this drink came to be. However, the story goes that a chef made this beverage to cater to a leader's taste for food with a Western twist.

Supposedly, they borrowed milk and sugar from European desserts, and the drink was served over ice to distance it from its country of origin further. Another famous tale states that pouring sweet, milky tea over ice started during the reigns of King Rama IV and King Rama V in the late 19th century.

Unfortunately, there is no way to confirm the authenticity of either of these stories. But we thought we would share it with you because we found it interesting. 

Why is it orange?

You can quickly identify Thai tea by its bright orange colour. However, black tea isn't orange. So what gives it this distinctive hue? As it turns out, this may have something to do with its history as well.

The palace chefs used to brew the tea leaves for the king. After that, they used the same leaves again so that the domestic staff could have their fill. Since reused leaves lack aroma and flavour, they added spices to the drink. These include herbs such as turmeric and tamarind. These spices naturally tend to turn drinks orange.

Some of our Thai friends have also told us there's also another reason. They said that restaurant chefs in Thailand added orange colouring to differentiate Thai tea from Thai iced coffee, which has a similar appearance.

Regardless of the real reason, the orange colour isn't necessary to enjoy the bold flavour of Thai tea. However, if the iconic orange hue is essential to you, you can easily achieve the colour without using food colouring. You can thank one unique spice: turmeric. We've added a note in our recipe on how much to add without it being too overpowering.

However, you can also remove the turmeric if you only care about the tea flavour. If you don't want to use natural colouring, we have listed the correct amount of food colouring in our recipe below too.

What does Thai Tea taste like?

Thai tea is sweeter than regular tea due to sugar and condensed milk. The milk makes it creamier and thicker. So, we like to describe the mouthfeel as cool and refreshing, while the spices make it warm simultaneously.

The dominant flavour is from the variety of black tea used in its preparation. However, you can also find several other flavours present. 

Overall, this drink is great if you like tea, boba milk tea, or milkshakes. Also, since many serve the beverage over ice, it's an ideal beverage for the summer. It's one of our top 3 summer drinks.

How to Enjoy

Most Thai tea is served over ice but you can also get it served hot as a latte of sorts. Although the hot version is less common, we prefer it during colder days. Additionally, you can also add boba pearls. This drink is similar to the cold, milky tea used as bubble tea. 

If you're feeling adventurous, you can even try adding this flavouring to a wide variety of other dishes. For example, we've tried making thai tea ice cream, cakes, and even cookies with this flavouring.

It has left quite an impact on food culture around the world. But are there any health-related reasons to choose this beverage?

Benefits

Before listing all the extraordinarily healthful things about Thai tea, it is essential to mention the few potential allergens or health risks it contains. Most teas contain caffeine, and this one is no exception. It is also not lactose-free since it uses both condensed and evaporated milk.

You can also use several spices and food colourings in drinks bought from shops. If you have a severe allergy to any of these, making this beverage at home is a surefire way to avoid potentially dangerous substances. 

Black tea on its own is a veritable host of health benefits. Packed with antioxidants, regular drinking can prevent cardiovascular disease and macular degeneration. In addition, polyphenols in black tea inhibit the absorption of lipids and complex sugars. In other words, they combat weight gain. And finally, it can help ease or prevent chronic illnesses and inflammation.

Adding the milk and sugar makes this less accessible for lactose intolerant and diabetic people. However, this doesn't detract from the health benefits listed above. So if you're looking to drink tea for its health advantages but don't enjoy the taste on its own, this drink is for you.

Calories

A classic Thai tea contains around 200 calories. However, you can reduce the total calorie count by diluting with more ice, reducing the amount of sugar, and using skim milk. 

However, if you add boba toppings, this calorie count increases drastically up to 300 calories. You can find out more with our boba calories research, we did a few years ago.

Unfortunately, since it contains a lot of sweeteners and fats (from the milk), this beverage is not low in calories.

However, by removing the condensed and evaporated milk, you can make this drink much less calorie-rich. When we did this, it just didn't give us the same texture and taste as what we wanted. So, we wouldn't recommend it.

Ingredients

You can easily find instant powder mix to make this Thai tea drink. However, if allergens or foreign additives are a concern, this quick fix might not work for you. 

Instead, we recommend that you make a freshly prepared version of this beverage. It will taste much better than one made with a powdered mix too. It will require a few more ingredients, and steps but we think it's worth it.

Tea

The most important of the ingredients is, of course, the tea. The variety of Thai tea leaves used in this drink is usually Ceylon since this is the variety that is grown in Thailand. The specific brand varies, but a popular one in Thailand is "Number One Mix". However, any form of strong black tea will work if you can't find it. 

Try to steer clear of complex varieties in flavour like smoked lapsang souchong. Using complex spices might conflict and muddle the taste if you are using complex spices.

However, you can always omit the spices, and certain combinations of tea leaves and herbs work well together. Try experimenting and seeing which blends taste the best to you.

Milk

The next most important ingredient is milk. Dairy milk seems almost a given since many people prepare it using condensed and evaporated milk. 

However, from what we've experimented with many non-dairy types also work well in Thai tea. Although it's not traditional, we quite like using coconut milk. It gives a notably lighter texture and adds a tropical tang which might be just the thing if you like fruity notes in your beverages. Soy, almond and oat milk also work well, but these gave us a less creamy texture. 

We used both evaporated and condensed milk in our recipe. You'll find other recipes that use both, and some use just one. If you do not have any of these, we suggest using heavy cream or half-and-half. These are both less traditional options but pretty good to give you something close texture-wise.

Sweetener

Finally, sugar is the least important ingredient. If you cannot consume white sugar, brown or palm sugar is also an option. If these are dissolvable in milk, you can also use honey and stevia or other non-sugar sweeteners.

If you do use, heavy cream or half and half to replace evaporated and condensed milk in your Thai tea, make sure you also add more sugar.

Spices

If you brew various spices with the tea leaves, this will further enhance the distinct flavour profile of this drink.

Some people will buy the powder mix for convenience. But again, we recommend making the drink with fresh spices. The flavours of the herbs will be more vibrant and make the beverage tastier.

If you want to make it from scratch, these are the spices that you will need to find:

• Star anise
• Green cardamom
• Cinnamon
• Turmeric

Tumeric isn't a strong must for us but definitely try not to skip on the other 3 spices we listed.

Other Additional Ingredients

Other than these few ingredients, other common additions include food colouring, ice, and whipped cream. Occasionally we've seen people mix-in like tapioca pearls, crystal jelly boba and cincau.

Thai tea leaves vs powder mix

While we recommend making it from scratch, there have been times when we've gotten lazy and used a powder mix at home. Our recommended blend is the Qbubble Tea Powder Mix. 

Powder mixes have some drawbacks, but they also have many clear advantages. For one, they are incredibly convenient and require only water to make. They also can be improved with spices and boba tea if you are strapped for time or cash but still want a quick fix for Thai tea.

On the other hand, these Thai tea mixes have several apparent drawbacks which you should be aware of before making a purchase.  

First, you cannot customise powder mixes according to your tastes. For example, if you like your tea stronger or with fewer spices, you cannot make these changes to a powder mix (since you dissolve it in water to use). We originally started with buying powder mixes before we realised it was either too sweet or too thin for us.

Second, these mixes contain many preservatives and ingredients, which could be a potential allergen or health hazard for some. Dairy and orange food dye are a few examples.

Finally, the taste of these Thai tea powders is vastly inferior to that of a freshly prepared beverage. It lacks the textural brightness and unprocessed flavours which come from using your ingredients. 

And finally, buying your ingredients (sugar, tea, and milk) and making this drink is more financially responsible in the long run since it costs less than purchasing ready-use packets multiple times. So, these mixes can be better in some situations, but making it fresh is always better (for us at least). Make your choice wisely.

How to make Thai tea

The process of making this drink is actually simple.

• Brew the black tea together with the spices. This process can take around 5-10 minutes, and you can complete it beforehand.
• Pour over ice.
• Top up with a mixture of milk. This mixture depends on personal taste but can also depend on what you have on hand. You can use only one milk instead of a mix of multiple.
• Serve and enjoy.

Cooking Tips

If you are unsure which type of tea you like, try sticking with basic Ceylon, or Assam leaves since more complex ones might muddle the drink's taste. Again, stay away from using smoked lapsang souchong.

In addition, you can use mixed tea bags to make the brewing process even quicker and easier. 

If you are more experienced with making tea, try cold-brewing it for a luscious, smooth and sweet tea flavour.

If you don't want to use ice in your Thai tea, brew the leaves the day before or at least 2 hours in advance. Allow it to come to room temperature and then refrigerate it to cool it faster. In a hurry, put the tea into a plastic bottle, wrap it with a wet paper towel, and put it in the freezer. This step will cool it even faster.

Are you looking to make Thai tea with tapioca pearls at home? Try our Thai boba recipe where we tweaked this recipe slightly.

We hope this recipe helped you learn a bit more about this overlooked treat! Look no further than this Thai tea recipe if you want to try a new tea preparation. ทานให้อร่อยนะครับ!

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Looking for another colourful and vibrant drink to try at home? We recommend checking out our homemade Honeydew melon bubble tea recipe.