Milk tea is considered one of the most popular hot beverages in the world and especially in South Asia. Milk tea is magical, highly caffeinated, a cup of morning tea gives refreshing feel and feel you on track for long day.
A lot of Indians love to sip their milk tea with breakfast and evening snacks through out year. Every family have their own recipe for making milk tea. The combination of spices, quantity of milk, water decides the strength, flavour of your milk tea.
This drink is simple to make, as well the ingredients can be combined in a single pot. it requires a bit of patience since you simmer the spices in the water or milk, allowing the tea leaves to release their rich color and taste.
In this post I share the method to make perfect cup of milk tea at home from scratch.
Ingredients
Milk: as in India buffalo milk is mostly used rather than cow milk. you can choose whatever available, even you can use powdered milk/dry milk if you don’t have fresh milk.
water: it’s for balancing the milk to water ratio.
sugar: For right sweetness for your milk tea. You can adjust accordingly.
tea leaves: I am using Loose leaf tea (CTC). You can use tea bags but the flavor profile is not the same as that of loose leaf tea. Better search for Indian brand of tea that use ctc method.
ginger: fresh ginger provide subtle spicy kick in your milk tea.
cardamom: these are available these days in regular grocery store all around the world. They have a unique flavor : herbal, citrusy, spicy and even minty all at the same time.
clove:
Milk Tea (Indian Style)
Description
The majority of Indians prefer milk tea at any time of day. milk of choice, sugar, tea bag/tea leaves and spices are used to make it and the flavor is amazing.
Recipe for Milk Tea (Indian Style)
Instructions
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In a saucepan, bring water to boil.
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Add spices ( ginger, cloves, cardamom) to the pot and boil for 2-3 minutes.
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Add tea leaves to the pot and boil for 1-2 minutes until the color change to red/brown.
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Add milk and sugar, then bring it to a boil, lower the heat and boil it for few more minutes. adjust any milk or sugar to taste.
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Strain the milk tea using a tea strainer, placing on the top of the cup, and enjoy your hot milk tea.
Note
Milk: some people like tea to be more milky and some less. Adjust the ratio of milk and water to your personal preference.
tea leaves/Powder: The strength of tea depends the kind of tea powder or tea leaves. do adjust accordingly and avoid overboiling the tea powder that can make tea bitter. Wagh bakri, Tata gold are good for loose leaf and Tetley is famous for it's tea bags.
Spices: You can increase or decrease the quantity of spices to suits your palate. strongly recommend to use spices available at your local market.
Sweetener: Traditionally jaggery is used, but sugar is more common nowadays. You also can have it with any kind of sweetener like palm sugar, coconut sugar, according to your personal preference.
