Easy Thai Iced Tea

Mmmm, summer.

There's something about hot weather that is just as good for eating spicy food as it is for drinking a cold beverage. That's one of the most perfect combinations, right?  If you don't believe me, you can just ask these guys.

A little dairy is helpful when fighting the burn of capsaicin because milk contains casein, which helps wash away capsaicin oil when water does not.

Pain aside, Thai tea is refreshing no matter if you're spicing it up or not. The most noticeable thing about the tea is its creamy orange color. It is a black tea with a spicy vanilla flavor, spicy meaning cinnamon or star anise, not hot pepper spicy.

I was thrilled to find this bag of Thai Tea Mix at our local Asian grocery store. If you want to find this stuff, you'll probably have to visit your local Asian grocer, too.

I really like this brand, which seems to be a popular one.

To measure and brew the tea, follow the directions on your brand of tea. This brand suggests using 4 T per cup of boiling water. I brewed the tea for about 4 minutes.

Here's what the mix looks like.

I brewed the tea in our French press, which is good for things like loose leaf tea, coffee, draining quinoa, and pretty much infusing and straining anything.

Oops, I should have added the tea first!

Steeping the tea in the French press

I pressed the tea after about 4 minutes (3-5 here is average) and poured it into pitcher, adding sugar to sweeten it up. You can add white sugar or sweetened condensed milk (which is also part of what makes Thai iced coffee so good). Personally, I like my tea less sweet, so I just dissolved a little sugar into mine before putting it into the refrigerator to cool.

Once cool, I poured myself a glass of this tea goodness! It's a reddish orange color here, but just wait until I add the half and half!

Iced, sweetened and chillin'

BAM! Sittin' pretty with some half and half.

And that's it, folks! Now you have a glass of Thai iced tea (or a pitcher if you're me).

Thanks for reading today! Here a few things to think about:

• Where is your closest Asian grocer?
• Are you interested in learning how to make Thai iced coffee?
• Would you like to see more videos?