Thai Iced Tea Recipe

Made with black tea and a variety of spices, sweet, creamy, and decadent Thai iced tea is easy to make at home. If you want to avoid food dyes and you're looking for a Thai tea recipe made without a mix or powder, give this a try!

Course Drinks

Cuisine Thai

Keyword How to Make Thai Iced Tea, How to Make Thai Tea, Thai Iced Tea, Thai Iced Tea Recipe, Thai Tea, Thai Tea Recipe

Prep Time 5

Cook Time 20

Other Time: 2

Servings servings

Calories 176kcal

Author Faith Gorsky

Ingredients

For the Thai Tea Concentrate:

8 1/4 cups filtered water
10 green cardamom pods
5 whole cloves
2 cinnamon sticks
2 whole star anise
1 vanilla bean split open length-wise
1 teaspoon tamarind pulp optional
1/2 cup granulated white sugar or keto granulated sweetener
1 tablespoon orange blossom water optional
8 teaspoons looseleaf black tea or 8 black tea bags

For 1 Serving of Thai Iced Tea:

1 cup ice
1 cup Thai tea concentrate
1 tablespoon sweetened condensed milk or to taste (see Notes)
1 tablespoon evaporated milk or half and half, heavy cream, coconut milk, or vanilla creamer (or to taste) (see Notes)

US Customary - Metric

Instructions

Make the Thai Tea Concentrate:

Boil the spices and sugar. Add the water, cardamom pods, whole cloves, cinnamon sticks, star anise, vanilla bean, tamarind pulp, and sugar to a large pot. Bring to a boil over high heat, stir, then turn the heat down slightly, cover the pot, and let it boil (covered) for 20 minutes.
Steep the tea. Remove the pot from the heat and add the orange blossom water and tea. Cover the pot and let the tea steep until it reaches your desired strength (I like to let the tea steep until the liquid cools to room temperature, about 2 hours).
Strain. Strain the liquid. Store in the fridge or serve.

To Serve:

To make 1 serving, add ice to a large glass, and then pour in 1 cup of Thai tea concentrate, 1 tablespoon sweetened condensed milk, and 1 tablespoon evaporated milk. Stir, then taste and adjust as desired. Enjoy!

Notes

Sweetened Condensed Milk: You can use store-bought sweetened condensed milk or make homemade rich, buttery, vanilla laced sweetened condensed milk. (Note that if you make it with this recipe, you can swap out the sugar for granulated keto sweetener to reduce the carbs.)
Evaporated Milk: Street vendors in Thailand traditionally use evaporated milk in this drink because it’s shelf-stable. When you order it at restaurants, you’ll notice that vanilla creamer is frequently used for a sweeter flavor with deeper vanilla notes. Here in the US, it’s also common to find half and half or heavy cream used instead of evaporated milk. You can use coconut milk or any kind of milk you like.
Storage: After cooling to room temperature and straining, store Thai tea concentrate in a glass pitcher or jar (preferably covered) in the fridge for up to 1 week.
Recipe Yield, Serving Size, and Nutrition Information: This recipe makes about 8 cups of Thai tea concentrate or 8 (1-cup) servings. The nutritional information for this recipe was calculated with 1 tablespoon of sweetened condensed milk and 1 tablespoon of evaporated milk.

Nutrition