How to Make Roasted Milk Tea (Without Milk Powder or Creamer)

ChaTime's roasted milk tea has been a favourite of so many of my friends and myself that there are times I want to make one at home.  Especially a hot one on extremely cold days like today!!  I know that most bubble tea places use milk powder or creamer in their drinks which makes it easier, however I don't have these items on hand. So I began using regular milk and thought I'd share some key tips on how to make milk tea, more specifically roasted milk tea in this post.  Making cold vs hot also requires different steps which I'll highlight but my recipe below will be for a hot roasted milk tea.

1.  Finding the right tea

Tea is available almost everywhere these days, but finding roasted tea...that can be a stumbling block from the start.  There are oolong teas that are roasted however, roasted oolong may be a little expensive to use and may not be exactly the right flavour profile.  A more readily available roasted tea is hojicha (also spelled houjicha) a Japanese style roasted green tea.  If you haven't heard of hojicha, you're missing out!  Comforting when brewed hot and refreshing and unique when cold brewed.  I purchased my first batch at Nohohon Tea Room which sells the Momo Tea brand (very nice teas) but recently I've also ordered online from Yunomi. Roasting levels can vary though.

2.  Quantity of tea leaves

Use at least double the amount of tea leaves for the volume of water used to brew the tea.  You could try three times the amount depending on the tea but start with two.  This is because of the addition of milk or ice that will dilute the brew.

3.  Using liquid milk instead of milk powder

So this post comes about because I don't have milk powder or creamer on hand.  To get a similar creamy taste, it's ideal to use 3.25% fat or homo milk for this but you could definitely use lower fat milk.  In addition, because you'll be using liquid milk, a small amount won't cut it, the quantity of milk will need to be almost equal to the quantity of tea and that is why you'll need to brew the tea strong.

4.  For cold milk tea, use large chunks of ice to cool the tea quickly.

You want the tea to cool very quickly to reduce the amount of water that gets added to the drink or you risk diluting the drink too much.

5. Steep time

There are some teas that will be quite bitter if over steeped so don't try to add extra time to the steeping unless you are making more than one portion. You will need to increase the steep time compared to making a single portion by about a minute.  I find with hojicha it doesn't over steep so easily so often I'll brew longer.



Hot Roasted Milk Tea:
Makes 1 large mug (approx 300ml)

6g of hojicha tea leaves (1 rounded tablespoon)
150 ml boiled water
1-2 tsp sugar (adjust to taste, I prefer 1.5 tsp)
150 ml milk

Put tea leaves into a brewing vessel*.
Pour boiling water into a separate cup first, then pour onto tea leaves (this step is to reduce the water temperature to about 85°C as boiling water with result in some bitterness).

Let steep for 3-5 minutes.
Strain the tea into your cup/mug.

This was after 4 minutes

Add sugar.
Heat milk till steaming (do no boil).
Add to tea and sugar, stir and ENJOY!.

*No brewing vessel, a small pot/saucepan also works (and steps may be simplier), especially when making more than one cup.