Hong Kong Milk Tea & Sri Lanka

[Anonymous]

http://blogs.wsj.com/chinarealtime/2010/04/09/hong-kongs-famous-milk-tea-recipe-revealed/

This seemed like an interesting article, although I suspect that either the proprietor was having a bit of a laugh or the author didn’t know very much about tea… “baby Bopf” leaves was a favorite phrase. 🙂

I’m not terribly familiar with Hong Kong milk tea… is it generally smoky as described in the article? I’ve had a few smoky Ceylons, but it never would have occurred to me to try making a tea with milk out of them… I had always assumed that they used low-grade congous from the mainland, or maybe non-smoky broken Yunnan reds… Are there historical reasons for the use of Ceylon tea in Hong Kong?

Joking about the nomenclature aside, it is interesting that they’re using a “mixed grade” blend… Usually that’s a sure ticket to an inconsistent cup of tea. If the non BOPF Ceylon was significantly stemmy, I suppose it might work, as stemmy teas tend to be fairly bland in flavor… sort of a way of stretching the fannings, I suppose, like genmaicha?

I also think the reporter may have misheard when it came to the Ceylon teas… “Wufa, Debar, and Luver” aren’t Ceylon tea regions as far as I’m aware… names of estates, perhaps? I suppose “Wufa” might be Uva…

Can anyone out there shed some light on this?

[Anonymous]

Ah, apparently the stem/fanning mixture was a trick from the “bad old days” of tea blending… here’s reference to it from an 1886 grocer’s manual, supposedly copied from an article in the “Foochow Herald”:

“Aside here, a Chinese who is grinding the tea seeds left by a fanning mill. In these sycee-boxes, sharp spades are falling upon tea stems, chopping them fine enough to go into the stemmy, dusty mixture to which the seed-dust gives the strength, while the chopped stems vouch for it’s being tea.

Generally stalks are considered “tea waste” in most British-influenced tea productions, and after extraction are either burned as fuel or used as fertilizer, since it has historically been considered a fault in made tea if it was too stalky… I’d be interested to know whether or not an exception is being made for the Hong Kong market…

[seule771]

Hi to all,

I am replying with a tea recipe that I stumbled upon some while back last year. I find that I like Hong Kong Milk Tea and Tapioca (bubble tea); not so much the goop at the bottom to slurp in straw but the warm sweet milk is most lovely.

I grew up feeding on old fashion oatmeal and porridge; very thick and hot and runny. Nothing Americans like; well no matter. I am not denouncing one ethnic group for another. They like hot dogs I do not; A good pogo dog is a whole other matter.

Now back to Milk Tea (Hong Kong made OP)

Hong Kong Style Milk Tea

There are a lot of stories about how to make this silky-smooth favourite cup from this buzzing oriental city. We don’t pretend to be the experts, but we can tell you this: absolutely elementary ingredients for this tea is English Breakfast and evaporated milk.

Make 2 cups
1 tbsp English Breakfast
1 tbsp Assam Black tea
1 tbsp Irish Breakfast
1 tsp Pu-erh
1 tsp Lychee black tea
2x 1/3 cup of evaporate milk
2x 1 tbsp sweetened condensed milk
2 teapots

Steep all tea leaves in 400ml boiling water for 5 minutes.

Strain and pour the tea from one teapot to another from about a forearm’s height to aerate the tea (this can be quite messy – best do it in the kitchen sink).

Pour it back and forth between the two teapots for 3-4 times. Little bubbles will form in the tea as you aerate the tea.

Get two cups, pour in each cup 1/3 evaporated milk and 1 tbsp sweetened condensed milk. Then add in brewed tea. Ready to enjoy.

Sweetened with sweetened condensed milk or sugar if desired.
Want it:

More fragrant: add 1 tbsp Ceylon Classic OP
More “caramelly” or Redder brew: add 1 extra Assam black tea
The Brew darker with a stronger overall taste: use more irish breakfast or more broken leaf tea leaves
____________________

Note** that it is if more fragrant is wanted (perhaps that smokiness mentioned from earlier question) than to add 1 tbsp Ceylon Classic OP;;

I am guessing that the taste is not filled with smokiness and brashness if Ceylon is not added in recipe’s beginning.

I have not tried this out since some of the items I don’t use normally; sweetened condensed milk, Lychee Black tea, I don’t yet have and the supposed two teapots. I am sure I could make due if I need to try this.

Anyhow, I may not have addressed the question. I am citing something about the making of milk tea and how to not have that smokiness depicted earlier is not have Ceylon OP; omit it.

It is a recipe worth trying, that is all.

[Author]

Posts