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Thai Iced Milk Tea (with Grass Jelly!)

Top view of two mason mugs with Thai milk tea, grass jelly cubes, and ice with boba straws and tall spoons.
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This Thai Iced Milk Tea is a cooling, refreshing, and tasty sweet drink with chewy grass jelly cubes! It’s easy to make, creamy, and a delightful treat on hot summer days!

Ingredients

Scale

Instructions

  1. Bring the water to a boil in a small pot over medium-high heat. Add the sugar and 2 Thai tea mix tea bags (or 2 tablespoons Thai tea mix powder). Stir with a spoon to dissolve the sugar, then reduce the heat to low and simmer for about 1 minute. Gently press the tea bags to extract as much flavor as possible. Remove the pot from the heat and allow the tea to steep for 20-30 minutes.
  2. While the tea is steeping, prepare the grass jelly. Open the can and use a sharp thin bladed knife to loosen the grass jelly from the edges. Tip out the grass jelly onto a cutting board, then slice into cubes. Fill a measuring cup with ¾ cup of grass jelly cubes and refrigerate until ready to use. (Note: Place the remainder grass jelly in a non-metallic airtight sealed container and refrigerate for up to one week.)
  3. Discard the tea bags and pour the tea into a pitcher with a cover. (If using Thai tea mix powder, use a fine mesh strainer to strain the tea into a pitcher and separate it from the solids. Discard the tea powder.) Refrigerate for at least 20-30 minutes to quicken the cooling process.
  4. Once the tea is nice and cold, fill two glasses with the grass jelly and ice. Pour the tea in the glass, leaving enough room for the milks. Top each glass with 2 tablespoons evaporated milk and 1 and ¾ tablespoons sweetened condensed milk (use more or less for both as per your preference). Stir to combine. Then serve and enjoy!

Equipment

Notes

Ingredient Notes, Cook’s Tips, and FAQs

  1. Where to buy Thai tea mix: Thai Tea Mix can be found online, at Asian grocery stores, and even Walmart too (on the day of writing this post). It’s available in powder (tea leaves) form or tea bags. I used a Thai red tea mix from Number One Brand.
  2. Evaporated milk: Evaporated milk gives the tea a creamier texture. Use more or less depending on how creamy you like your tea.
  3. Sweetened condensed milk: Sweetened condensed milk makes the tea sweet and creamy. Use more or less depending on how sweet you like your tea.
  4. Grass jelly: Grass jelly can be purchased fresh (depending on where you live) or in cans at Asian groceries store. The cans will be located in the same section as where they keep the boba (tapioca pearls). Grass jelly is pretty much flavorless in taste. If you prefer to sweeten it, you can soak cubed grass jelly overnight in simple syrup in the refrigerator. Or you can add more sugar to the tea itself.
  5. Tea sock: If using Thai tea mix powder, you have the option of using a tea sock instead of adding the tea powder to the pot of water. Then when the tea is done steeping, you can easily remove the tea sock and discard the tea leaves. This will ensure no black grainy tea bits gets into your glass of tea.
  6. Boba straws: Boba straws are wide enough to allow both the drink and grass jelly to be sucked up into your mouth so that you can enjoy both simultaneously. But if you don’t have boba straws on hand, you can serve with regular straws and long spoons.
  7. Can I use regular milk instead of evaporated milk and sweetened condensed milk? Yes. You can use whole milk or half and half if you prefer. You may need to increase the sugar amount depending on your sweetness preference.
  8. Can I use regular black tea bags? Yes. But I recommend adding 2 star anise stars, 2 black cloves, 1/8 TSP ground cinnamon, and ½ TSP vanilla extract to the pot along with the tea bags (or tea mix powder) and sugar to achieve a similar taste profile to Thai tea. 

Nutrition

Find it online: https://thatspicychick.com/thai-iced-milk-tea-grass-jelly/