Cha Yen
- 4 cups water
- 3/4 cup Thai tea
- 1 1/2 cups Sugar Syrup, recipe follows
- Crushed ice or ice cubes to fill each glass
- 1 to 1 1/2 cups evaporated milk or half-and-half (3 to 4 tablespoons per glass)
- In a medium saucepan, bring the water to a rolling boil, and place a heatproof 1-quart pitcher in the sink.
- When the water boils, add the tea and remove the pan from the heat.
- The tea will float to the top until you stir gently to coax it into the water.
- When all of the tea leaves are wet, let it steep for 3 minutes.
- Pour the contents of the saucepan into the pitcher, and don't worry if the dregs are left behind.
- Pour the tea back and forth between the pitcher and the saucepan 7 times as it becomes darker and stronger, ending up with the tea in the saucepan.
- Rinse out the pitcher and strain the tea through a coffee filter back into the pitcher.
- Add the syrup and stir to dissolve.
- Cool to room temperature, cover and chill until serving time.
- To serve, fill tall glasses with crushed iced.
- Add 3/4 cup of the chilled Thai tea per glass.
- Top off each glass with 3 to 4 tablespoons evaporated milk.
- Serve as the milk cascades over the ice and swirls into the tea.
- 1 cup sugar
- 1 cup water
- Combine the sugar and water in a small saucepan and bring to a rolling boil over high heat.
- Reduce the heat to maintain an active simmer and cook until liquid has thickened and colored slightly, about 5 minutes.
- Remove from the heat and cool to room temperature.
- Pour the cooled syrup into a jar with a tight-fitting lid, cover, and store at room temperature for 1 week, or in the refrigerator for several weeks.
- Yield: 1 1/3 cups
water, sugar syrup, glass, milk
Taken from www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/cha-yen-recipe.html (may not work)