If you’ve been to an Asian city, chances are you’ve stumbled upon the combination of tea and milk in its many forms: Bubble Tea, Teh Tarik, Masala Chai, Nai Cha, and countless others. Not as common, but equally as delicious, is adding coffee to the mix. Malaysia has Kopi Cham, Singapore and Hong Kong, Yuenyeung. Our iced Coffee Milk Tea is inspired by the latter, where the name of the game is striking a balance between strongly-flavoured ingredients. We used easy-to-find Lipton Black Tea, but feel free to experiment with similar teas like Earl Grey or Ceylon. An optional addition to this recipe is coffee-flavoured grass jelly, which takes some effort but really boosts the drinking experience!
Ingredients:
Coffee Milk Tea:
- 240ml or 1 cup water
- 3 bags of black tea (4g per bag, 12g total)
- 120g or ml espresso (brewed from 2 capsules, around 60g or ml each)
- 4 tbsp or 80g of sweetened condensed milk
- half a cup of shaved ice (or three ice cubes)
- 3 tbsp coffee jelly (optional, recipe below)
Coffee Jelly:
- 120ml water
- 120g or ml espresso (brewed from 2 capsules)
- 1 tbsp brown sugar
- 1 packet of gelatin (we used one 7g envelope of Knox)
The coffee jelly will need a bit of time to set, so we will start with that. Pull two long capsules, and add an equal volume of water to a sauce pan. Add the sugar and stir. Follow your gelatin’s instructions to make 1 cup (or 240ml total) of gelatin. Our particular brand called for bringing the mixture to a boil before adding the gelatin powder, then simmering for five minutes. Transfer the mixture to a wide but shallow container (a small food storage tub works great), then allow to cool to room temperature. Placing this in the refrigerator for a couple of hours should speed up the setting process. Once firm, run a bread knife through the set jelly in a cross-hatch pattern to create half-inch cubes. This recipe makes enough for three servings of coffee milk tea.
Onto the main recipe! In a sauce pan, bring your cup of water to a boil. Cut the heat, then brew the teabags for five minutes. Once brewed, remove the bags, add the condensed milk, then the espresso pulled from two capsules. Stir well to combine. In a 16oz glass tumbler, put three tablespoons of coffee jelly (if using) and the crushed ice. Slowly pour in the sweetened coffee-tea mixture. Stick in a straw and start sipping away!
Recommended Capsule: House Blend by The Coffee Academics
Words & Photos by Jonathan Choi (@theheadbean)