Hong Kong Milk Tea is a magical, highly caffeinated, wonderfully smooth morning drink that I had for the first time in its true glory on our trip to Hong Kong.
Always served piping hot and perfectly sweetened, it has just the right amounts of evaporated milk and sweetened condensed milk.
It gives you a jolt without any unpleasant buzz (speaking from my own experience anyway), and a blend of teas makes for a wonderfully strong and fragrant cuppa. It went well with everything from a plate of Hainanese chicken at a hole-in-the-wall lunch joint to a Portuguese custard tart, to a custard bun eaten on the street.
Developing This Hong Kong Milk Tea Recipe
I spent a lot of time on this recipe, watching videos online and thinking back to the many cups of Hong Kong Milk Tea I enjoyed on our short trip there. There are many methods for brewing out there, and notably, there’s a pantyhose-like filter involved.
There’s also tea “pulling” (pouring the tea from one container to another repeatedly), and many thoughts on optimal temperatures and brewing times. I’ve sifted through all the information out there to create what I think is the perfect, no-fuss cup of Hong Kong milk tea.
What Kind of Tea Should You Use?
First there’s the tea blend: many purveyors of great Hong Kong Milk Tea closely guard the blend of teas they use, but it’s always a blend! So when in Rome Hong Kong…
Ceylon is the undisputed common thread across Hong Kong Milk Tea recipes. I used a Ceylon Orange Pekoe that we had in the pantry. From there, I did a little experimenting with my mother’s stash of tea to see what kind of flavors they each yielded, and I was surprised to find that the humble Lipton black tea bag, also made from Orange Pekoe, did a great job at cutting costs AND packing the right flavor.
My parents have actually been to tea farms in China, and apparently, Lipton buys up their “tea dust” or “tea fannings,” i.e. the crushed remnants from the production of the more expensive loose leaf tea. So in a weird way, you might be getting some quality stuff! To round out my tea blend, I threw in some Earl Gray for another citrusy, robust layer of flavor.
From there, there’s the pesky question of tea ratios. I did a lot of tearing open of tea bags, and here are a couple of helpful tips for formulating the right Hong Kong Milk Tea blend:
- 6 cups of water boils down to about 4 1/2 cups of tea, or about 4 servings
- 2 standard tea bags equals about 1 tablespoon.
It’s surprising just how much tea you need to make an authentic cup of Hong Kong Milk tea, as it is traditionally so strong. I watched countless Hong Kong Milk Tea vendors on YouTube scooping huge cups of tea to make just one large pot!
To maximize your tea, you can get another small pot of tea out of the first batch of tea after you’ve boiled it. It will be slightly less flavorful but will be good for drinking black and perhaps not diluted with milk.
By the end of my day of tea brewing, I finally had the perfect cup of Hong Kong Milk Tea with a homemade Portuguese egg tart (another experiment that took some painstaking trial and error from my dad) at around 5pm.
It was delicious, and brought me right back to Hong Kong. Though tread carefully––at 2 AM that night, I was still lying awake, hopped up on 4 cups of tea!
In all seriousness, though, this is my new favorite and go-to. I hope you enjoy it, and if you find optimal tea blends, leave them in the comments!
Hong Kong Milk Tea: The Recipe
First, add 6 cups of very hot water to a pot. Add the tea and bring to a boil. Turn down the heat and simmer for 15 minutes. Your tea should be very dark!
From there, pour the tea through a fine-meshed strainer with cotton cheesecloth wrapped around it. This is optional to make sure you get every last bit of tea fanning out of your drink.
Portion out the tea––one serving is a little over 1 cup. Mix in ⅓ cup evaporated milk and about 1 teaspoon sweetened condensed milk, or to taste. Stir thoroughly, and enjoy immediately!
The shortcut version of this recipe (good for single servings) is to put 1 teabag each of Lipton, your favorite Orange Pekoe, and Earl Gray teas into a mug with boiling water, let steep for 5 minutes, and then add ⅓ cup of evaporated milk and sweetened condensed milk to taste.
Hong Kong Milk Tea
Ingredients
- 6 cups hot water (1.4L, makes about 4 ½ cups of tea after the boiling process)
- 10 tablespoons tea leaves or fannings (in tea bags or tea strainers; any combination of Ceylon Orange Pekoe/Lipton Black Tea, Earl Gray, or your favorite black tea)
- 1⅓ cups evaporated milk (315 ml, ⅓ cup per serving)
- 1 to 2 tablespoons sweetened condensed milk ~1 teaspoon per serving, or to taste
- a fine-meshed strainer lined with a piece of fine cheesecloth cheese cloth is optional, to get a perfectly smooth tea
Instructions
- Add 6 cups of very hot water to a pot. Add the tea and bring to a boil. Turn down the heat and simmer for 15 minutes.
- From there, pour the tea through a fine-meshed strainer that has cotton cheesecloth tied around it. This is optional to make sure you get every last bit of tea fanning out of your drink.
- Portion out the tea––one serving is a little over 1 cup. Mix in ⅓ cup evaporated milk and about 1 teaspoon sweetened condensed milk, or to taste. Stir thoroughly, and enjoy immediately!
What’s that cute red tin container? I adore it!
Hi Esha, I think it was an old tin of English tea that we had–not sure where we got it though!
Looking forward to trying. I’ve always enjoyed cold bottled milk tea while abroad. Has anyone tried to refrigerate this for what is not used immediately? Would you store it in the fridge with milks mixed in or separate? Thanks for your thoughts and experiences. Looking forward to trying.
I would store with milks mixed as it probably won’t mix in as well once the tea is cold. You’ll probably have to give it a stir before drinking; also that will naturally shorten how long it keeps for. Hope you like it!
Yikes. That tea blend didn’t do the job. I think the bergamot in earl grey ruined it. I think you can find milk tea blends at Asian stores
Thanks for your input, Sunny! We’ll have to keep an eye out next time.
We don’t use stockings to make the milk tea, that’s disgusting. The nickname 絲襪奶茶 came from the fact that the tea would stain the white mesh strainer, giving it the appearance that resembles your typical black translucent stockings. The fabrics of a stocking is not meant to deal with high heat from boiled tea, please kindly remove that part so you won’t mislead people. I don’t know the laws in your country, but you would definitely have civil lawsuit filed against you for this in Hong Kong.
Well I feel dumb! That’s my mistake, and a subtlety I didn’t pick up on when doing my research. I guess I thought there was something charming and romantic about having a pair of stockings just for tea. xD
Thanks for pointing it out, and the post has been updated!
Also, there is a procedure called 撞茶(crashing the tea) to incorporate more air into the tea. It is done by straining the tea then pouring it back and forth between two pots.
My dad makes good milk tea but I always get full once I drink it btw!
Hi Ryan, yes that’s right–for ease, I left it out of the recipe. Chalk it up to lazy girl cooking. :P
Well my wife’s family run a Kopitiam (traditional Malaysian coffee shop) in her home village and all their incredible coffee is and always has been run through a stocking to strain. That is in fact how it is done across Malaysia and Singapore.
While their famous Chum (a mix of majority coffee plus tea) is different than Hong Kong Lai Cha, the process of straining it would be equally effective.
Thank you for that context, David! It’s a hot-button recipe, isn’t it?
Arthur you legend! We wear our stockings don’t we! Get your stockings out of the tea pot, Kaitlin. No one use Earl Grey for this tea in HK, that’s disgusting. Burley it up with Rickshaw and Lipton and maybe some cheap Puer. No tea bag tearing, loose leaf !
Thanks, Clarance! This recipe is a hot button topic, rightfully so. I’ll have to think about making some updates soon!
I am confused little bit about the type of tea – 1 bag of ceylong tea + 1 bag of earl grey + 1 bag of orange peoke?
I think it’s – 1 bag of ceylong orange pekoe tea + 1 bag of earl grey + 1 bag of lipton black tea.
Ahh, I had a few good Hong Kong Tea’s when i was there 4 years ago, miss it, will go back when life is normal again. Thanks for for the recipe. I’m from South Africa, home of Rooibos Tea, think it should be interesting to add a bit of that to the blend. I typically boil my rooibos for about 5 min, and make it so strong, it has a lovley sweet honey taste to it, also no caffine. so if you dont want such a kick it might be good to blend it in.
Hi Sandy, you’re welcome! I think Rooibos would be very interesting! One day, we’ll all be able to go back to visiting our favorite spots. <3
In my mind, “Hong Kong Style” is differentiated from normal milk tea by the addition of coffee to the tea. I would call this recipe normal milk tea. Granted, both styles exist in Hong Kong, but if you ask for a “Hong Kong Style” milk tea in the international district here in Seattle, what you get is a coffee flavored tea.
Have you tried using Lipton Yellow Label tea? It is an exceptionally strong powdered tea that is used in the Indian community to make chai. It can produce an immensely strong brew without too much tea.
Keep up the great work – I’ve been using and recommending your chili oil recipe repeatedly!
Hi Nick, in Hong Kong, milk tea only has tea in it. If you want coffee and tea mixed together, you’d order “yuanyang” tea (yeen yeung in Cantonese) we have a recipe for that too: https://thewoksoflife.com/yuanyang-tea-hong-kong/. Interesting to hear that detail about how it’s defined in Seattle though!
Nick’s comment is not accurate–he may be ordering incorrectly. Source: we order HK Milk Tea probably once a week, oftentimes in Seattle International District (ID), from A+ HK Kitchen, Pacific Cafe, and other tea shops outside of ID as well. Ordering HK Milk Tea does not get you a ‘yeen-yeung’ (Cantonese here)–we have never once experienced this mix-up. It is defined in Seattle the same as it is defined anywhere else–HK Milk Tea and yeen-yeung are two different menu items.
You are probably ordering it incorrectly. Lol
That’s 鴛鴦 lmao, where did you find the courage to be this wrong bravely?
Well said. Nick’s comment came off as incredibly entitled and maybe even condescending (but I will hold on this). I hope he learns a bit more about the subject matter as well as HK food culture before mouthing off like that.
“Mouthing off,” though? He may have been mistaken, but he was polite.
where did you lose your empathy to be this rude to somebody you don’t even know and who hasn’t hurt you?
Hi! I’ve been craving for some Hong Kong milk tea ever since the airports are shut down. I tried doing the one serve and I think I read it wrong, I thought 1 tea bag is enough Haha. Can 3 tea bags of Lipton tea be enough? I don’t have have much tea stocked at home
Hi Cheslie, we know how you feel! 3 bags should be enough. You may even be able to get away with 2 depending on your preferences.The trick is to boil them rather than just steep them.
If I don’t have evaporated milk, what would be the better substitute – regular whole milk, Lactaid, or more condensed milk?
Hi Amy, you could use more condensed milk, though it will be much sweeter. You can also make your own evaporated milk by just heating your whole milk!
Thanks for the recipe and method to get HK milk tea. I am a HK milk tea addict as well and need a cup now and then. Just a note about using/adding Earl Grey – I believe the Bergamot in Earl Grey will alter teh taste of your tea. From my trials, it seems English Breakfast or Irish Breakfast (which is stronger) works for me. If you want it even stronger (or use fewer teabags), I use Twining’s 1706 English “Strong” breakfast teabags.
Thanks for the tips, Evan!