Ingredients, Utensils and Brewing Process

By general standards, a good cup of Hong Kong-style milk tea must satisfy three criteria: aroma, richness and smoothness. Every milk tea master has his or her own brewing method and recipe to the proportions of the ingredients used. That is why milk tea may taste different under the hand of different brewers. The ingredients include black tea leaves of different picks and brands, boiling water, and evaporated milk or filled milk. Tools needed are two light-weight antimony kettles, one sackcloth tea strainer and an electric hot plate. The steps of brewing by milk tea masters are as follows:

1. Mixing the tea leaves –– Mix the large, medium and small size tea leaves thoroughly, then put the mixture into the sackcloth tea strainer (it will then be called cha daam) and place it on an open kettle. Each milk tea master would have a different practice as the choice and amount of apportioned tea leaves would affect the flow of the hot water that passes through the sackcloth tea strainer, and the tea drink thus produced would also taste differently. In general, tea made with large tea leaves is darker in colour and smoother on the taste buds, allowing the drinker to savour the aroma of the tea, while tea made with smaller tea leaves is lighter in colour and texture, but this can bring out the taste of the tea more.

2. Boiling water to make tea –– Fill the kettle with water and heat it on the electric hot plate. Bring it to the boil, remove it and put the other kettle with the sackcloth tea strainer on. Pour the boiling water into the strainer.

3. Boiling and infusing the tea –– Put the lid of the kettle back on, and let the tea boil for several minutes. The tea’s colour and flavour could be extracted from this process. Timing is paramount – too little time means its taste may not be fully extracted, and too long it would taste bitter.

4. Force-pouring the tea –– When the tea has boiled, open the lid of the kettle, take out the sackcloth tea strainer and hold it in the air. With the other hand, lift the kettle with hot tea up high, and pour the tea into the strainer to “hit” the tea leaves. Repeat this process at least three times. The repeated pouring process can aerate the tea to deliver a smoother texture. The impact can also throw the tea leaves of different sizes together and blend their flavours.

5. Infusion –– After the force-pouring, place the kettle with tea on the electric hot plat, replace the lid and reheat the tea for one to two minutes. Turn down the fire to let it simmer so as to extract the colour and flavour of the tea more.

6. Force-pouring the tea into the milk or vice versa – Depending on the habit of the milk tea master, the process can be either.