Thai Iced Tea

I’ve had it at Thai restaurants before and I loved it! I always wanted to make some at home, but never got around to it. I remember it being very sweet, which oddly enough I didn’t mind (I hardly ever add sweetener).

I love making it at home. I buy the Thai tea from the brand Combine Thai Company. I have tried another one, and I preferred this one , since it had more star anise flavor. It has to be CTC with orange coloring. I hate the extra orange coloring, but that’s how it is. I guess it used to have saffron a long time ago, so they now add the orange coloing to keep with tradition.

How I make it (which I got from a Thai cookbook):

1 cup of Thai tea
8 cups of water
2 star anise
Bring the water to boil, and throw the tea and spice in there. Boil for 2 hours. Make sure to keep the water level in check, so it doesn’t reduce. You want to remain with 8 cups water. Once it’s done, I used a coffee filter with a strainer and put in a pitcher with a cup of sugar and lime juice (2-4 limes). I used an old tshirt to strain it, too! Stir and serve over ice!

I also added clove and cardamon, since I like the extra spice, but that alters it to be unlike the restaurant. I don’t like it with condensed sweetened milk, either. The local Laos restaurant added lime juice instead, and I love that.

You can boil it for 5 minutes, and it will come out good. But simmering it makes it stronger.