Have you ever heard of Royal Milk Tea (ロイヤルミルクティー) before? It sounds fancy, doesn’t it? Royal Mik Tea is really popular in Japan and typically available on the cafe menus, and you can also find bottles of royal milk tea in vending machines and convenience stores.
What’s Royal Milk Tea?
Actually, royal milk tea is a Japanese-English word, and (of course) this name does not exist in the UK. The tea company Lipton in Japan invented this product in 1965 as part of its “royal” recipe series (source). Compared to a typical milk tea, the ratio for milk is much higher so it balances the semi-bitter taste of strong tea with the creamy richness of milk. The cooking method is similar to Indian Chai. Instead of using a teapot, we use a milk pan or saucepan to make tea. The only difference is that royal milk tea does not include any spices such as cardamoms, ginger, and cinnamon that Chai might include.
Watch How to Make Royal Milk Tea
A delicious and rich drink made with Assam and Darjeeling tea leaves and milk. Add sugar or honey to enhance flavor.
How I Make Royal Milk Tea
There are a number of ways you can prepare the tea to add even more flavor and dimension but the following recipe is how I make royal milk tea. I do not normally use a measuring cup, and use a teacup to make. However, not everyone has the same size teacup, so I measured it precisely for this recipe. I also included my teacup measuring in parenthesis as well.
Tips for Making Tea
I recommend using a pre-warmed cup to maintain the temperature of the tea. To make dark-colored tea, use Assam tea To make light-colored tea, use Darjeeling tea.
Japanese Vending Machine
In Japan, there are vending machines (like the picture below) that sell different kinds of drinks all over the place. My husband and children love them as they can try out many different flavors and they get thirsty often since we walk almost everywhere. For me, the only drink I love and always get is royal milk tea (my favorite brand is Kocha Kaden (紅茶花伝) and Gogo no Kocha (午後の紅茶). Have you tried them before?
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