Go Back
–+ servings
hong-kong-style-milk-tea

Hong Kong Milk Tea Recipe (Homemade Version)

This recipe shows you how to make authentic HK Milk Tea at home.
Print Recipe Pin Recipe
Prep Time 5 minutes
Cook Time 20 minutes
Total Time 25 minutes
Course Drinks
Cuisine Asian
Servings 1 serving
Calories 175 kcal

Equipment

  • 1 Cloth tea filter
  • 2 Kettles Or use two saucepans instead

Ingredients
  

  • 2 tbsp Lipton Yellow Lable or Rickshaw black tea
  • 2 tbsp Ceylon loose tea
  • 2 tbsp Ceylon tea grounds
  • 60 fl. oz hot water
  • 1/3 cup evaporated or sweetened condensed milk fill 1/3 of the serving cup

Instructions
 

  • Add and mix the tea ingredients into the cloth filter. Aim for a 1:20 ratio, for example,
    tea-leaves-for-hong-kong-milk-tea
  • Put the filter into a kettle or saucepan. Pour hot water through the tea grounds and let it steep or simmer on low heat for 10 minutes.
    infuse-hk-milk-tea
  • Lift the cloth filter from one kettle ot another, then pour the hot brewed tea through the tea grounds. Repeat this flushing for four times.
    flush-hk-milk-tea
  • Place the kettle on a stove and reheat the tea to 194F (90C), keep it warm for serving.
    rewarm-hk-milk-tea
  • Fill the serving cup with 30% evaporated milk or sweetened condensed milk. You can also add brown sugar or granulated sugar for extra sweetnerness.
    add-milk-for-hk-milk-tea
  • Pour the hot brewed tea over the milk and fill the cup.
    serve-hk-milk-tea

Notes

 

  • It’s not simply a case of the more you flush the tea, the better. Three to four times should be fine. If you overdo the flushing, you may lose the smooth mouthfeel.
  • Use loose tea instead of tea bags for better extraction.
  • The tea should be served in a 5oz ceramic cup, which will help maintain the temperature and improve the mouthfeel.
  • If you are making the iced version of the tea, don’t simply drop ice cubes into the hot tea. Instead, chill the tea, then add ice cubes.
  • Any remaining brewed tea can be kept in your fridge overnight. Then, if you’d like more, you can reheat the tea in a microwave, add milk, or make iced milk tea.
  • If you add half brewed tea and half coffee, you’ll have another drink that’s popular in Hong Kong – Yuen Yueng. If you add tapioca pearls, you can make beautiful bubble tea or Boba tea.
  • The tea is ideal for Hong Kong-style pineapple buns or egg tarts.
  • Some people add cracked egg shells into the tea bag to reduce the bitterness of the tea.
  • Local cafes use kettles. The lid can’t fully cover the kettle with a cloth filter inside. To counter this, they unscrew the knob on the lid and reinstall it upside down. Doing this allows the lid to fully cover the kettle for better heat retention for infusion.

Nutrition

Serving: 5fl. ozCalories: 175kcalCarbohydrates: 20gProtein: 5gFat: 7g
Keyword hk milk tea, hong kong milk tea, hong kong style milk tea
Tried this recipe?Let us know how it was!