Okinawa Milk Tea Japanese (Printable version)

A rich Japanese milk tea with roasted brown sugar delivering deep caramel flavor over ice for a refreshing treat.

# What you'll need:

→ Tea Base

01 - 2 cups water
02 - 2 black tea bags, preferably Assam or robust Japanese black tea

→ Sweetener

03 - 3 tablespoons Okinawa brown sugar (kokuto) or dark muscovado sugar

→ Milk

04 - 1 cup whole milk or oat milk for dairy-free option

→ To Serve

05 - Ice cubes

# Directions:

01 - Bring water to a boil in a small saucepan. Add tea bags, reduce heat, and simmer for 3-4 minutes. Remove from heat and let steep for 2 minutes to develop full flavor.
02 - Discard tea bags. Stir in Okinawa brown sugar while tea is hot, stirring continuously until completely dissolved.
03 - Add milk and stir well. Return to low heat and warm gently for 1-2 minutes without boiling.
04 - Strain milk tea through a fine-mesh strainer into a heatproof jug to remove any tea residues.
05 - Fill two glasses with ice cubes. Pour warm milk tea over ice. Stir gently and serve immediately.

# Expert Tips:

01 -
  • The roasted brown sugar creates this incredible depth that regular sugar just cant match
  • It comes together in 20 minutes but tastes like something youd wait in line for at a specialty shop
02 -
  • Do not let the milk boil or it will change the texture completely
  • The straining step is worth the extra dish because no one wants tea bag bits in their drink
03 -
  • Use three tea bags if you really love that strong tea flavor
  • Let the tea cool slightly before pouring over ice so the ice does not melt too fast

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