do YOU want to make your own milk tea at home instead of going out to buy it at boba places all the time? then i got the thing for you. and for me. i made this for me bc of this exact situation. but now so can you
get whatever tea you want. seriously, it doesn't really seem to matter what kind you use, this recipe works for all of it. cheap or expensive, grocery store or specialty, green white black red etc. you name it, you can milk it. wait-
get whatever milk you want. sort of. some milks work better flavor and texture-wise than others, but you can use whichever one you like the most and it will probably work. be careful with fruity teas or butterfly pea flower tea if you've added lemon juice because the acid will curdle the fat in your milk and it'll be kinda gross! a little tiny bit won't hurt, but lesson learned: do not put half a lemon's worth of juice or more in there
sweeteners are very necessary to make this palatable, in my opinion. measure with your heart, but no matter what you use Always taste test it as you go to gauge the level of sweetness you want. plain white sugar is a good way to go, but you can also use brown sugar or honey depending on what could go best with the tea. vanilla is not a sweetener, but that can be a nice addition as well
THE SECRET INGREDIENT... sweetened condensed milk. this is the glue that binds the milk tea together. its primary function is actually to thicken the tea and give a creamy and smooth texture, rather than just making it watery. but it is also very sweet, obviously, so keep that in mind. highly recommend getting it in a squeeze pouch rather than a can, or you could probably scoop it into a plastic baggy and use that, too. unfortunately there isn't really a non-dairy option for this to my knowledge, so i'd recommend subbing with either a creamier milk substitute like extra creamy oat milk or maybe a coffee creamer of your choice? haven’t tried that but it sounds like it'd work well
now that you have your Ingredience, you gotta steep your tea! my recipe makes around 7 cups/nearly half a gallon of tea, and most of that is the tea itself, so if you want Less tea then divide accordingly.
you will need 4 cups/1 liter of water to heat to your tea's specifications, and you will need 2 teabags per cup or 8 bags in total; if you have looseleaf tea, that'll be 8 teaspoons. wow, that actually makes a lot of sense
let your tea steep for however long it's specified while you get the rest of your Ingredience. measure 2 cups of milk and around 1/4 cup of sweetened condensed milk (or the same amount of your substitutions), then add however much sweetener you'd like - i tend to go for a couple tablespoons
once the tea is done steeping, dispense it into your pitcher or container of choice. add your sweeteners in and mix so that they can dissolve, and then add the milk on top. and there you go!
now go enjoy some milk tea from the comfort of your own home! spruce them up with fixings if you want, like the obvious boba pearls or jelly cubes or foams or what have you. i don't have any tips for those, sorry lol you're on your own for that one
