Thai iced tea or Thai Milk Tea is a delicious and refreshing Thai drink made from Thai tea, sweetened condensed milk, evaporated milk, and sugar. It's perfect for any day and ready in less than 10 minutes!
Thai Iced Tea or Thai Milk Tea
Thai iced tea, also known as Thai milk tea and cha yen (ชาเย็น), is a tasty and refreshing drink sold on many streets of Thailand. If you've been here, chances are you've had this Thai drink or seen people walking around carrying a plastic bag with an orange-colored liquid inside and a straw poking out (I know, I know...drinks in plastic bags 😂 We don't get any more Thai than that). Even if you haven't been to Thailand, you may have come across Thai iced tea already, as it's so popular that many Thai restaurants abroad do serve it.
This drink is creamy, refreshing, and has a really nice smell to it. If you've just had, say, tom yum goong, Thai chicken panang curry, Thai basil chicken, Thai garlic pork, or Thai beef green curry for a meal, cha yen is such an amazing drink to wash that all down. Oh and if you really love the taste of Thai tea, don't forget to check out my Thai Tea Cheesecake recipe!
Fun Fact: You can also have this drink hot. But without ice, we tend to call this very same drink cha nom ron which translates to hot milk tea ('nom' means milk, 'ron' means hot, while 'yen' means cold or iced in Thai).
Ingredients
- 1 cup of boiling water
- 3 teaspoons of Thai tea mix:
A Thai tea mix is basically Thai tea leaves. It's called a mix because it's often mixed with vanilla flavoring and food coloring. Hence, the unique flavor and distinctive orange color! There are many brands available, but one of the most common ones is ChaTraMue (pictured above). You can find this Thai tea mix at Asian grocery stores. **Without the flavoring and coloring, Thai tea is essentially black tea. So if you can't find ChaTraMue, you can just use black tea
- 1 ½ teaspoons of sugar
- 3 teaspoons of sweetened condensed milk:
This type of milk is thick, gooey, and sweet. We use it to sweeten and whiten many Thai 'creamy' drinks. - 3 teaspoons of evaporated milk (+ as much as you want to drizzle on top):
Evaporated milk is a little thicker and creamier than normal milk. Carnation is a very popular brand here but you can use any brand you can find.
The Special Tool You Need: A Traditional Thai Tea Filter
A traditional Thai tea filter is a muslin bag or sock with a stainless steel handle. It's very old school, yet still used by most street vendors. This little tool cheap, reusable and does the job well. There are many sizes available but a small one will be enough for your homemade Thai iced tea. Again, you can get this on Amazon or use a fine mesh strainer you might already have.
Instructions
- Put the Thai tea mix in the filter and place the filter over a cup.
- Pour the boiling water into the cup through the filter. Move the filter up and down a bit to extract the flavor of the tea. Let the tea steep for 2-3 minutes before discarding. If you're using a fine-mesh strainer for this step, simply pour boiling water into your tea and let steep for 2-3 minutes before straining. **Do not steep the tea for too long or it will taste off (best not to go over 5 minutes).
- Add sugar, sweetened condensed milk, and evaporated milk and mix with a spoon.
- Taste-test the tea and see if you need to add more of anything. You want the tea to be sweeter than you like because the ice will dilute it later.
- Fill a glass with ice, pour the tea in, and drizzle some more evaporated milk on top.
How To Make Healthier Thai Milk Tea
If you don't care about authenticity and whatnot, you can use less sugar to sweeten it and mix the tea with whole milk. I do this ALL the time and I think it still tastes good. Of course not as good as condensed milk + evaporated milk but it's perfect for those of you who are health-conscious or want to watch your sugar intake.
In case you're a vegan or vegetarian, replace the milk with a plant-based one, and you're good to go!
Storing
If you make this drink in a large amount, you can store it in the fridge (ideally in a bottle or anything with a lid) for up to about 2-3 days. Alternatively, you can pour it into popsicle molds and freeze to enjoy later. The frozen version will keep for at least a month, but trust me it won't last that long. 🙂
Other Recipes You Might Enjoy:
- Thai Pink Milk (Nom Yen)
- Thapthim Krop | Thai Red Rubies in Coconut Cream
- Thai Shaved Ice Dessert | Nam Kang Sai
- Butterfly Pea Milk
- Traditional Thai Jasmine Infused Water
- Butterfly Pea Tea (Blue Tea)
- Bael Fruit Drink
📖 Recipe
Thai Iced Tea (Cha Yen) Recipe
Equipment
- Thai tea filter
Ingredients
- 1 cup boiling water
- 3 teaspoons Thai tea mix
- 1 ½ teaspoons sugar
- 3 teaspoons sweetened condensed milk
- 3 teaspoons evaporated milk + as much more as you want to drizzle on top
- 1 cup ice
Instructions
- Put the Thai tea mix in the filter and place the filter over a cup.
- Pour the boiling water into the cup through the filter. Move the filter up and down a bit to extract the flavor of the tea. Let the tea steep for 2-3 minutes before discarding. If you're using a fine-mesh strainer for this step, simply pour boiling water into your tea and let steep for 2-3 minutes before straining. **Do not steep the tea for too long or it will taste off (best not to go over 5 minutes).
- Add sugar, sweetened condensed milk, and evaporated milk and mix with a spoon.
- Taste-test the tea and see if you need to add more of anything. You want the tea to be sweeter than you like because the ice will dilute it later.
- Fill a glass with ice, pour the tea in, and drizzle some more evaporated milk on top.
Notes