Tea Time
When is the last time you had a great cup of tea? For me it was just this morning as it has been for just about every morning since I discovered the wonders of loose leaf tea. My favorite teas tend to be green tea and how lucky that the scientific studies show it has such great health properties. Just between you and me, I would drink it anyway because I love the taste.
Here is one of my early favorites:
Earl Grey Green Tea
This was my first love of loose leaf teas. It has this amazing citrus aroma that provides a gentle sweetness to the oolong tea. I have tried many other green teas but I still love Earl Grey Green’s flavorful aroma.
My Mighty-Thai Tea Recipe
One of my favorite teas is the kind of tea you get from Thai restaurants, simply called Thai tea (not to be confused with Chai tea, which is totally different). I have often had it as an iced tea and love the look of the bright orange tea sitting atop the creamy milk. It also is typically very sweet and I estimate it has about a billion grams of sugar, or at least that is what it tastes like. I wanted to make some at home, but when I looked for it in stores I came up empty. Finally I found it on-line, but it was these packages of pre-mixed low quality tea with questionable contents that include an orange dye to give the tea its characteristic color. Those recipes also call for sweetened condensed milk and since I have been avoiding adding sugar to my drinks I was searching for an alternative. After a lot of looking around I finally created my own version of Thai tea. Here is my recipe for a great tasting and healthier Thai Tea.
For my recipe you will need the following ingredients, but of course feel free to modify. After all, creating your own blend is a lot of fun.
In addition to the above ingredients you will also want either cream, half and half or sweetened condensed milk, depending on your preference. Here is a summary of the ingredients and the amounts for each 12 oz serving of hot Thai tea:
- 1/2 TBSP of Assam Black Tea
- 1/2 TBSP of Earl Grey Black (or green) Tea
- 1 crushed pod of star anise seed
- 1/8 tsp ground cardamom
- 5 – 10 drops of vanilla extract
- sweetener (sugar, stevia, or sweetened condensed milk)
- cream or half and half
Place the Assam and Earl Grey teas along with the crushed anise seed and ground cardamom into a Pyrex measuring cup. Add 1/2 cup water. Heat in microwave for 2 minutes. Remove from microwave and let stand. Place a desired amount of cream or half and half in a 2 cup Pyrex measuring cup and add a cup of water. Heat in the microwave for 2 minutes. When the cream/water mixture is finished, strain the tea mixture into it. Add 5 – 10 drops of vanilla extract and sweeten to taste. Pour into your favorite mug and enjoy.
It is not exactly the same as the restaurant style of Thai tea I enjoy, but I love the taste, the aroma as it is brewing and I love that the ingredients are fresh and totally free of obnoxious dyes. This will work great as an iced tea, just add a little more of the ingredients per cup to counter the diluting effect of the melting ice.
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