A few weeks ago, a friend of mine introduced me to Thai Iced Tea and, I have to admit, I'm a little bit obsessed with it. Since it has recently been rather toasty in Atlanta, this has been the perfect afternoon refreshment and the added tapioca pearls make it more like a yummy snack than a drink! All of the ingredients for this recipe can be found at online or at your local Asian market for less than ten bucks and come with enough ingredients to make it several times over. While there are several variation of this drink, here's how I like to make mine:
Iced Thai Bubble Tea
Makes 2 servings
3 cups water
2/3 cup Thai tea leaves
1/3 cup tapioca pearls
5 tbsp sugar
half and half
1. In a small pot on the stove, heat the 3 cups of water until boiling. Remove from heat and add the tea leaves. Stir to wet all of the tea and let steep for 4-5 min.
Tip: If your tap water tastes a bit strange, like mine, make sure you filter the water or use bottled water so that the tea doesn't taste strange, too!
2. Once it has finished steeping, pour the tea through a fine strainer to remove tea leaves.
Tip: The orange dye in some Thai teas stains so be careful when pouring!
3. Add sugar while tea is still hot and stir until fully dissolved.
4. Let tea cool to room temperature, then put in the fridge to cool.
5. In a separate pot, prepare the bubbles (tapioca pearls) as directed.
Tip: Although the packaging on the bubbles that I used read 'Ready in 5 min', I found that I still needed to boil them for ten to fifteen minutes for them to get squishy enough.
6. Spoon finished bubbles into prepared glasses. Add ice.
Tip: To prevent the ice cubes from watering the drink down, I made ice cubes out of the tea beforehand.
7. Add cooled tea to the glass, leaving an inch or two at the top, depending on how much half and half you're adding.
8. Pouring slowly, top the tea off with half and half. The milk and tea should separate into two distinct layers.
Tip: You must include the ice in order for the distinct layers to form.
9. Add the straw and sip away! Drink with the layers intact or mixed.
