Making milk tea with Royal Black

While we have a stubborn belief in the purism of tea, we do things to some of our teas sometimes. Like making milk tea for instance. After all, we are from Hong Kong — the birthplace of the famous Hong Kong style Milk Tea (港式奶茶), the quintessential drink in cha chaan teng (茶餐廳 translation: Tea Meal Hall — i.e. HK style grassroot diners). To the hard working population in the city, the extra calories, protein and fats delivered with a dose of caffeine is a much needed boost in breakfast, lunch or tea break for a long day. More so when it suddenly gets wintry. A warm cup in the hand alone is a comforting escape from the cruelty of realities.

To make a good cup of milk tea, pick a good tea first

However, as tea specialists, we simply cannot bear with the coarse taste of the tea served out there — some blends of over-roasted broken grades mass-produced products, to be masked with the sticky taste of evaporated milk and white sugar. We have a wide range of tea which tastes, even when strongly infused for adding milk (or other condiments), are far more enjoyable. Such as Royal Black from the slope of the Himalayas in Dhankuta, Nepal.

The floral, sweet, malty and earthy deep oxidation black tea is infused to an extra strength for adding a mixture of cream and milk. The tastes blend so well together to give a thick, creamy, smooth cup without the need for a grain of sugar. Like a fine black tea should.

Tea Fundamentalists vs Tea Purists

A comforting cup in the leisure of your own home that is better tasting than those served in the noisy, grubby, and crowded diner. So you see, we are not fundamentalists in tea at all, just purists who can appreciate the occasional desire for something heavier, or even sugared, or any other fun ideas that people fancy putting into tea. We sometimes do it too, just in a nicer way.

These are some of the teas that we make milk tea of

• Honey Pearl Pekoe (that’s right, it’s a green tea)
• Red Jade
• Royal Black
• Imperial Topaz
• Dianhong Classic
• Keemun Snail

This is what we do when we make a milk tea with Royal Black, the variables maybe slightly different in different teas to different preference, but the idea is simple and straightforward:

This is how we make a good cup of milk tea

1. An infusion vessel suitable for longer infusion, such as a thicker Yixing or porcelain teapot, but not too large, ideal would be between 200ml to 400ml capacity — pre-warmed with freshly boiled water
2. Pre-warm your needed amount of milk, or as I prefer it, 1 part cream to 3 parts full cream milk
3. 7.5 g of tealeaves to each 100 ml of water, i.e. 15 g for a 200 ml teapot
4. Boiling water
5. Infuse for 10 min
6. Decant right into a cup or cups already with the milk, or add the milk later, whichever way you prefer ( I know, there is always an argument about this )
7. Happy sipping!

(ps. If you really want sugar in this, please try to stay away from white sugar and use a healthier alternative instead. I’d use, although I seldomly do, a raw sugar such as muscovado or coconut sugar. White sugar, like corn syrup, is actually quite toxic and a thing that everyone should stay away from.)

(ps 2: To infuse the same batch of tealeaves for a second time, the best way is to infuse it like in the first round, but put the infusion vessel in a hot bath, and add 2 min to the duration)

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