Hong Kong Milk Tea

As a milk tea lover, I love all fruit-based milk teas with or without boba pearls. But my heart reserves a position for classic and traditional Hong Kong Milk tea for the creamy, silky texture and intense flavor. Traditional Hong Kong Milk tea use a very complex method. We will go through a shortcut way in this recipe.

If you visit Hong Kong restaurants, cafes, and tea houses, you will find that they offer lovely warm milk tea served in thick ceramic cups. Unlike milk tea served in glass or plastic cups, these cups do not contain boba pearls.

You may know that milk tea, at least the most popular types, come from Taiwan. Taiwanese milk tea, called bubble tea or boba, usually has large tapioca pearls. Those fancy and lovely Taiwanese bubble teas are traditionally served as a cold drink with a super large boba and other sinker-friendly straws.

Traditional Silk Stocking Milk Tea

There is another name for Hong Kong Milk Tea—silk stocking milk tea. This name interests me, so I decided to find more reasons for it. In the traditional method, the tea base of Hong Kong milk tea is brewed in a large metal pot. Wait here with a super long cloth filter, considered the silk stocking.

A shortcut version

In this post, we will make our Hong Kong Milk Tea using both traditional methods and a shortcut version. After testing in batches, I believe the shortcut version can achieve a very similar result even we don’t use complex tools.

Key ingredients for the creamy texture

In addition to the strongly brewed tea, two essential key ingredients—condensed milk and evaporated milk—are also responsible for the uniquely intense and creamy texture of Hong Kong Milk Tea.

Both condensed and evaporated milk are made from regular milk with water content removed at different ratios. Condensed milk has a much thicker texture than sugar. Evaporated milk does not contain any added sweeteners. It can be for a creamier texture and richer flavor. If you don’t have it by hand, you can replace it with half and half or heavy cream.

The sweetened condensed milk used in Hong Kong milk tea also works as a sweetener, while syrup is commonly used in Taiwanese milk tea.

The tea mixture

Hong Kong restaurants may have a ratio of black tea mixture. I find this mixture from our online store. But if you can’t find it, you can also find common brands like Ceylon or Assam. The key here is to use strongly brewed black tea.

Step by Step Instructions

Black tea base with a shortcut version

• Mix the tea and water in a saucepan and bring to a boil. Reduce the heat to a simmer and simmer for 10 minutes. Remove the tea bags or strain to remove the tea residue.

• Pour the black tea base back and forth a couple of times to enhance the flavor and remove the bitterness. Since we are making a strongly brewed black tea base.

Assemble

There are two ways of assembling Hong King Milk Tea- the warm version with a ceramic cup or an iced version with a glass cup in summer.

Warm version

Pour the black tea base into a cup, sweeten it with condensed milk, and then pour in evaporated milk.

Cold Version

In the serving cup, add enough ice cubes and then around 2-3 circles of sweetened condensed milk. Pour in the black tea base.

Finished with evaporated milk.