Thai Iced Tea

Thai iced tea is one of my favorite drinks! Ranks right up there with Iced Green Tea Lattes. My hubby and I love eating Thai food and EVERY time we do I order 1 (sometimes 2) Thai iced teas. I always knew they had to be pretty easy to make, I just never took the time to find some Thai tea to make them. So my kiddos and I headed to an Asian grocery store this week. There is a really nice one by the Chinese dim sum restaurant that we love and it's only a couple miles away. I used to be a little intimidated to go into Asian grocery stores. It always seemed like I was the only Caucasian one in the store and all the labels in different languages were a bit overwhelming. Now that I've been there a couple times with the hubby, I don't mind going by myself anymore. And almost all the labels have English on them too!

We went to the tea aisle and one of the first things that caught my eye was a bag that said "THAI ICED TEA" in big capital letters. Jackpot!!! I then proceeded home and made my first glass of homemade Thai iced tea.

I even decided to share some with the hubby that evening. His response, "Man. We have less and less reasons to go out to eat now. You keep learning how to make everything!" That made me smile!

Thai Iced Tea
Source: www.ehow.com

¾ c. Thai tea
½ c. granulated sugar
1 c. evaporated milk or half-and-half
Fine mesh strainer

Pour 4 cups of water into a medium saucepan. Bring the water to a rolling boil over medium-high heat. Place a 1-qt. heatproof pitcher in the sink.

Add the tea to the boiling water and remove the pan from the heat. Stir the tea leaves gently to soak them with water, as they will float to the top until stirred. Cover the pan and steep for 3 to 5 minutes, once all the tea leaves are wet.

Strain the tea through a fine mesh strainer into the heatproof container in the sink. Discard the tea leaves. Add 1/2 cup of granulated sugar, stirring until it is dissolved. Add more or less sugar to taste, if desired.

Place a lid on the pitcher and place it in the refrigerator to chill thoroughly for at least two hours. Remove the tea from the refrigerator just before serving.

Fill the tea glasses with ice cubes, and add ¾ cup of the chilled Thai iced tea to each one. Top each glass with 4 tbsp. of evaporated milk or half-and-half.

Serve immediately.

Note: The Thai tea that I bought was ground up and even my fine mesh strainer was not small enough to strain the tiny leaves out. I ended up lining my mesh stainer with some cheesecloth to catch all the tea. Next time I go to the store, I am going to pick up some coffee filters. Those will do the trick!