Throwback Thursday! This is hardly a “throwback,” because I’m still frequently enjoying these in the shadows, secretly and guiltily, mixing up my instant Thai tea while no one knows the wiser. I actually brought packets of this stuff on my last vacation (to the San Francisco Tea Festival) because I knew it would be so easy to pack and make while traveling; I enjoyed one cup at Todd’s house, and then when I emptied some of the packed teabags that I knew I wasn’t going to need into a bag to give Derk at the festival I was like, “Should I really give her this? Instant tea is considered lower than bagged tea!” And I did it anyway. I mean, to be fair, most instant teas usually aren’t too great. I’ve had some instant chais that were pretty decent, and some that were pretty awful. But this stuff really is quite good. Sweet, creamy, milky… I’ve been going through quite a lot watching through the second season of Drag Race Thailand, as well!
I usually make it warm since the powder has to dissolve, but when I order Thai tea in a restaurant, I always get it iced, or as a bubble tea. I really wanted more of that experience, so I decided for this throwback to try to see if I could recreate that! Once I had tried icing it right away by adding ice and it was a truly disastrous cup, so I just decided to always make this stuff warm. So this time I decided I’d just prepare in advance.
I used four packets of the mix to prepare a quart (4 cups). Usually when I make iced tea, because I want to help balance out the water temperature more evenly, I’ll boil two cups hot water and mix with two cups cold water, but since I didn’t know how that would work dissolving the powder, I went ahead and boiled four cups of water. I added the water slowly, stirring the mixture, making sure it evenly dissolved in my glass mason jar. Then, with the jar left open, I left it on the counter for several hours, trying to allow it to cool closer to room temperature (so it wouldn’t “vacuum seal” too badly… this is why I usually do a hot/cold water mixture when I’m making iced tea). Once it felt fairly cooled off, I sealed it off and put it in the fridge to chill overnight. Thankfully it wasn’t too hard to pop open the next morning, and it was great! Really did remind me of Thai tea flavored bubble tea, minus the boba (and made me wish I had some boba to add!) Since the powder already has the milk/sugar in the powder, nothing has to be added to get that milky/creamy and sweet flavor. Has a very vanilla/cream-forward flavor. I was surprised it turned out so well like this! Next time I may see if the powder dissolves fine if I use half the amount of hot water so I can use my typical hot/cold water mix for preparing iced tea, because now that I know this works, I’m imagining I may be making it this way instead of hot a lot more often. Also, I may just have to order some boba to add, heh.
Flavors: Cream, Creamy, Sweet, Thick, Vanilla
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I’m a bit of a sucker for instant teas too, probably mostly because they’re sweetened and yummy. Had to try hard to resist a sale at the local asian grocery earlier this week!
Yes, they kinda hit that same beverage appeal as hot cocoa because of the sweetness!
Are you kidding me, Mastress Alita? I want all the DeDe now thanks to you!
Also want to try dissolving it with some hot CTC.
Oh, I can see that working, it would be like adding sugar/cream to what would otherwise perhaps be a too strong/bitter/astringent or bland CTC. I bet that would be good!
Ya, I couldn’t resist and had another pot (warm this time) of this stuff tonight while catching up on the newest fansub of Drag Race Thailand. I really will have to make another iced batch soon, though.
I’m a bit of a sucker for instant teas too, probably mostly because they’re sweetened and yummy. Had to try hard to resist a sale at the local asian grocery earlier this week!
Yes, they kinda hit that same beverage appeal as hot cocoa because of the sweetness!
Are you kidding me, Mastress Alita? I want all the DeDe now thanks to you!
Also want to try dissolving it with some hot CTC.
Oh, I can see that working, it would be like adding sugar/cream to what would otherwise perhaps be a too strong/bitter/astringent or bland CTC. I bet that would be good!
Ya, I couldn’t resist and had another pot (warm this time) of this stuff tonight while catching up on the newest fansub of Drag Race Thailand. I really will have to make another iced batch soon, though.