MILK TEA

For the benefit of random searchers questing for tea, a brief discussion of 'chai' versus 'Hong Kong milk tea'. There are important distinctions, and if you purchase a beverage from a chain in the United States, you should know that what you are getting is crap.
Trust me. Total crap.
It ain't chai.



INDIA: THE CHAI WALLAH

Chai is also called masala chai, meaning spice tea. It is made by adding green cardamom and fennel seeds to a pot of water, heating it to a boil, then dumping loose leaf black tea into it. Reboil a few times, add milk, simmer briefly or reboil once, then strain it and add very little sugar to taste. Yes, it is supposed to be milky, but no, it is NOT a sweet hot dairy beverage. It is tea; it should taste like tea.
Everything else is an afterthought.
Good judgement is inherent.

I do not know how Starbucks and Oregon make chai.
They probably milk rabid weasels.
Damned hippies.

Weasels!

Some people also add ginger, and Kathiawadis as well as some other Gujarati types throw in black pepper. It's probably good with a dish of undhiu, but no civilized person will ever find out.

Or papad, of you are Sindhi.

Cinnamon and nutmeg are NOT part of the programme.
See previous remarks about Starbucks and Oregon.
Damned hippies.


FRAGRANT HARBOUR: THE WAKE-ME-UPPER

Hong Kong milk tea starts with a blend of black tea leaves and either lychee black or pu-erh, or both. Put it into a long cloth strainer and suspend it in a tall tin pot on the burner. Simmer a while, then lower heat to keep it perky throughout the day. To serve, liberally dollop some sweetened condensed milk into the bottom of a cup or tall glass, then pour the steaming dark tea over it and stir.
It should be hot, bitter, and sweet.
Which is very refreshing.


RELEVANT TERMS

Naai cha (奶茶): milk tea. Gong sik naai cha (港式奶茶): Harbour style milk tea; harbour refers to Hong Kong. Si mat naai cha (絲襪奶茶): silk-stocking milk tea; called thus because the long cloth strainer bag usually ends up looking bedraggled and droopy, like your grandma's well-worn garments from the days when she stilled danced with sailors at that place in Yau Tsim Mong. She's had a shocking life, believe it or not. It was just after the war.
Si mat (絲襪): panty hose.
Lin naai (煉奶): condensed milk.
Tam naai (淡奶): indifferent milk, meaning the evaporated milk sometimes used in lieu of sweetened condensed milk. Seung hei pai (雙喜牌): double happiness brand; a popular condensed milk from Malaysia. Sau sing gung lin naai (壽星公煉奶): god of longevity condensed milk, formerly made by a Dutch company in South Vietnam (local name: "Sữa Ông Thọ"), since then manufactured in North America for the Asian overseas community.
Cha chanteng (茶餐廳): tea restaurant; the type of canteen or cheap food place serving spaghetti and spam where milk-tea was invented. Yuen yeung (鴛鴦): mandarin ducks, that being the term for coffee and milk-tea mixed, a favourite beverage of students.
Tung naai cha (凍奶茶): milk tea over ice.
Bo baa naai cha(波霸奶茶): horrid Taiwanese crap with tapioca globs. Jan jyu naai cha (珍珠奶茶): another name for horrid Taiwanese crap.


Related: Royal Milk Tea



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