This drink is the ultimate Thai drink. Everybody loves Thai Tea, whether or not they admit it. There are two kinds of Thai teas but the creamy kind is what a lot of people are used to. There are "Cha Yen" (iced tea), the creamy kind and "Cha Dum Yen" (black ice tea), the tea with just sugar in it. But why is it orange? Sadly, Thai tea mix has orange food coloring in the mix. I don't know why they started putting color in Thai tea in the first place. My assumption is that the color was intended to distinguish between Thai tea and Thai coffee. If you brew strong tea with spices, you will end up with delicious Thai tea that looks just like coffee.
As an alternative, you can brew your own Thai tea by getting 2 qt of water boiling, add star anise and cloves (just one star anise and maybe a few cloves) and let boil for a few minutes. Turn the heat off and brew green or black tea leaves in the spice infused water. Brew strong black or green tea using about a heaping 1/4 cup tea leaves. Add condensed milk while the tea is still hot if you are making the creamy tea or just sugar if you are making the black iced tea. How much sugar or condensed milk should you add? That depends on how sweet you want it to be. Refrigerate or pour over ice. Now you have it, the famous Thai Iced Tea.
Jam, originally the coloring for Thai tea was natural, from tamarind, (Kasma Loha-unchit's cookbook notes from which part of the tree, perhaps it was the pods if I recall correctly).
ReplyDeleteJam,
ReplyDeleteThank you for this recipe. There are so many variations and I've been looking for just a basic list of spices. I, too, have been wondering why the orange color. Some recipes call for orange blossoms so I'm guessing the food coloring is to hint that there's orange flavor in the mix. But are orange blossoms even traditionally used in Thai tea? Also, do you have a favorite black or green tea that you use for Thai tea?
Hi Cindy
ReplyDeleteI have also read somewhere about what Temple of Thai said. We have tried other color like safflower. The orange color doesn't really contribute to the taste but just the color of it now that it's just food color. I don't know what tamarind would taste, I think it was the seeds that they used in the past. I love black tea from India, Assam tea is my favorite black. For green, any green would do. I have been drinking the green from Taiwan and made those into Thai tea and it's great. As for orange blossom, not sure about those. Haven't tried them. Worth a try though I think. Thanks for stopping by.
Jam,
ReplyDeleteThank you for your post! I really enjoy Thai tea and I often use crushed tamarind seed and orange blossom water. Have you tried it with orange blossom already?
As for black tea, Assam is amazing of course, strong and full bodied, but my favourite black tea is Earl Grey! It offers an extra fragrance and flavour to it.
Besides Assam tea, do you use other black teas to prepare Thai tea?