Hong Kong style milk tea, 港式奶茶 (Jyutping: gong sik naai caa), is quite different than the British milk in tea business. For one, HK style is strong, it puts hair on your chest strong (as far as tea goes anyway). Strong, yet smooth. This beverage is quite popular in cafes, open air food stalls (JP: dai pai dong 大排檔). It is the morning beverage of choice for Hong Kongers as well instead of coffee, after all, the Chinese, heavily influenced by their history and the British, it is a tea culture. According to Wikipedia, Hong Kongers consume about 900 million cups of milk tea a year.
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| Hong Kong Style Milk Tea at home Made with Ceylon tea dust Teacup: Minton "Sutherland Green" |
So, why milk tea today? Well, if you glance over to the side bar, you can see a photo of me and probably can deduce that it may have something to do with my heritage. Ever since moving to Canada, my parents often get a craving for this drink and would attempt to make it themselves. They would come close to be content with it, but personally, I still find it off. There was also a Hong Kong style cafe in Chinatown who makes pretty bang-on milk tea, they were the only place in town who got it right after many years of searching and trying. Unfortunately, the cafe owner decided to retire and there were no takers to continue the business. Even Mr. Meow enjoys this beverage from time to time and wouldn't pass up the opportunity to order one when we are in Hong Kong. So, Meow decided it's time she takes matters into her own hands and did some research on the methods.
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| Made with whole-leaf single estate Ceylon tea Teacup: Paragon bone china |
It is no secret that HK milk tea is made with Ceylon black tea, however, it is trade secret as to what else to blend Ceylon tea with to give it a full flavour. Blending is not necessary, and it is really a personal preference. Meow just grabbed whatever was available at the local Asian T&T Supermarket.
But if you really wanted to know, "Ceylon Tea" is just any black tea grown in the Ceylon region. You can technically use any black tea such as Earl Grey, English Breakfast, or even Pu-erh to make this. "Orange Pekoe" simply refers to the grade of tea leaves and it means "whole leaf", it is not a tea type.
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| "100% Ceylon Tea"? Good enough for me! |
It is also not secret that it is flavoured with evaporated milk. Many cafes will advertise which brand of evaporated milk they use in their milk tea even. "Black & White" brand seems popular in recent years, but I couldn't find any here, so I went with the ol' Carnation brand.
There are some "special" equipment that is required to make milk tea as well. You'll need a "silk stocking". Meow actually tried using an actual silk stocking (new one! Not recommended since you're boiling plastic) the first time around and found that the tea dust escaped into the pot, giving me tea sludge. When Meow parents took their annual trip to Hong Kong, I sent them on a hunt for milk tea gear. They came back with a stainless steel stove-top teapot, and a cotton reusable tea filter - large and small sized - as they couldn't find the proper "silk stocking" strainer at the time. These cotton filters worked wonderfully.
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| Yes, they also stopped by the TWG tea shop while in Thailand to buy tea for me. This is when Meow Mother thought of this idea to replace the silk stockings that they couldn't find |
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| The large filter fits over the flagon perfectly |
So, let's make some milk tea!
