Thai Tea Mix

I was actually really surprised not to find this on Steepster. From a Google and Amazon search, this is the first one I see, and it’s the one I can find stocked at pretty much any Asian grocery I walk into. I was also really surprised that the company says that this version is made with green tea, where from other Thai teas I expect black tea. It retains the sweet thai tea smell even without added sugar.

This is a fairly coarse ground tea, it honestly looks like coffee if you’re far enough away. The way I’ve learned to make thai tea is to boil the mix in water for awhile, as in keep it boiling, until you reach the desired strength. Usually I add half a measuring cup of mix to a 5 quarts (or 4tbp into a medium pot) of boiling water, boil for ~15min, and add sugar to the cooling mixture. For ice I’ll pour that over equal volume ice, and then refrigerate overnight. For hot tea, I’ll decant into a container, and then dilute it with hot water in a mug whenever I’m in the mood. You can just less leaf to water if you have the time to boil it. I’m just impatient and don’t like waiting/minding the stove.

This mix is special to me because it isn’t pre-mixed with sugar and creamer, which means you can customize it to your individual taste. Personally if I’m serving it to others I make it medium strength without cream and only enough sugar to taste. I like it balanced, but I think most people are used to it being super sweet, like you get at milk tea places. I like it both hot and iced.

The coloring is a bit strong though, so if you aren’t a fan, maybe rinse the leaves a bit first, but that orange color and sweet smell is characteristic of thai tea- I don’t rinse my leaves with this one, but I tend to make a strong brew and dilute it to taste.

It also makes a nice base for tea flavored cookies, because the color and taste/scent is so distinctive, but next time I’d probably grind the leaves before I add to my cookie dough, they’re a bit big for that right out of the bag.