Hong Kong Milk Tea is one of the most popular drinks in Hong Kong (HK) and can literally be found on every block. It is made of strong black tea with the addition of evaporated and condensed milk. The condensed milk adds a dash of sweetness and makes it all the more palatable even for those who don’t like drinking tea straight. It can be consumed hot or cold during every season.  

Hong Kong milk tea is a great choice for breakfast due to its high content of caffeine. It can also be enjoyed as an afternoon tea, as it is a great mood enhancer. Especially if you are taking an afternoon break after a moody day in the office.

I first tried the Hong Kong milk tea on one of my visits to HK. It has since become an item on my itinerary each time I visit HK. But one day while I was looking for a place to spend an afternoon here in Beijing, I came across a Singaporean place that was offering a great afternoon tea deal.

“What could be more mouthwatering than HK milk tea paired with black sugar egg tarts?”, I thought. Surprisingly, the flavor was exactly the same I was used to getting in HK. It never occurred to me before that I could make this drink at home. In this way, I could enjoy it more frequently while waiting for my next trip to HK.

Where the East Meets West: The Origins of HK Milk Tea

Milk is not typically part of the Chinese cuisine, in fact, a big amount of the population is lactose intolerant. While Chinese tea is drunk straight, and the idea of milk tea arose only in HK.

The origins of its creation can be traced back to when HK used to be a British colony. The British soldiers being used to drinking black tea with a dash of milk at home wanted to recreate this habit in HK.

Which Tea Should You Use?

Though most of the black tea varieties originate from China, authentic flavored HK milk tea uses Ceylon tea, which is sourced from Sri Lanka, packaged, and sold in tea bags.  By the time the British arrived in Hong Kong they had already developed a preference for Indian varieties of tea and brought them along as the Empire expanded.

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Like adding milk to tea, using tea bags is not inherent to the Chinese tradition. Tea bags are generally frowned upon in Chinese tea culture.  Chinese tea culture looks at tea brands such as Lipton in the same manner that a seasoned sommelier looks at boxed wine.

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Tea enthusiasts in China pick and consume the whole tea leaves. They are both high quality and very expensive. Even Chinese black tea is made using the whole leaf. These are oxidized forms of the green varieties.

How Do You Make an Authentic Hong Kong Style Milk Tea?

Preparing HK milk tea isn’t complicated. Though it requires few more steps than just soaking a Lipton black tea bag into hot water and adding milk to it. You could certainly try, but even if you add evaporated milk, the flavor would be far from authentic.

The secret behind its amazing, rich flavor lies in the robust brew of the black tea leaves. For this purpose, good quality Ceylon tea leaves should be used.

In order to extract the maximum flavor from the tea leaves, fine brewers tend to boil the tea in hot water for about 10 – 15 mins. Then they use a cloth strainer and pour the boiled tea through it multiple times in order to extract the maximum, robust flavor.

Finally, they add evaporated milk to the tea at a ratio of 3:1 (tea to evaporated milk).

“Black and White” is the most common evaporated milk brand in Hong Kong.

After adding the evaporated milk, you should keep stirring for about 30 seconds in order to get it to blend with the strong tea. During the process, you should be using hot tea, so as to make the milk blend well with the tea. Evaporated milk doesn’t blend in well when the tea is cold. 

If you don’t like it sweet, then your HK milk tea is ready to be served. However, to get the extra creaminess to its taste and rich flavor, the locals add a dash of condensed milk to it. It is supposed to make the flavor even smoother.

The final look is a brown-caramel color with a consistency that is creamy and thicker than regular tea. You can serve it hot or cool, just by adding ice cubes to it.

Another popular variety is the bubble tea.

By adding tapioca pearls to it, you get bubble tea. Tapioca bubbles are usually made of tapioca starch and come in white. But if you’d like to get the popular look for the bubble HK milk tea, you should use black bubbles. Find out how to make your own home-made black tapioca bubbles.

Read Next:

Black Tea with Chinese Characteristics

Best Black Tea Types: Chinese vs. Indian Black Tea

Oolong Tea Benefits: In Between Green and Black Tea 

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