The legend of Taiwanese bubble tea goes back to the late 1980s, when Chun Shui Tang Teahouse in Taichung mixed tapioca balls into the classic Taiwan Milk Tea to create the world’s first bubble tea.

Since then, Chun Shui Tang Teahouse and hundreds of other bubble tea brands popped up all around Taiwan to create the vibrant bubble tea industry that has become the staple in the local afternoon snacks.

With so many different types of Milk teas around the world, our favourite Taiwan Milk Tea has been somewhat taken for granted in recent years, due to the numerous fancy drinks created to get a slice of the bubble tea industry,

It has made a comeback last year when Costco Taiwan brought in the Thick Milk Tea range that created stampeding crowds to stock up on the drink.

Today, we will show you how to make the basic Taiwan milk tea yourself, so you don’t have to join the stampeding crowd to buy it at Costco.

Step 1. Hot Brew Taiwan Red Jade Black Tea on a Kettle

The first step of the recipe is to hot brew Taiwan Red Jade Black Tea leaves on a kettle.

Unlike steeping loose leaf Taiwan Oolong tea, where you pour hot water into leaves in a gaiwan for a few minutes to create Oolong tea brew,

You get a thicker black tea body by boiling tea leaves on a kettle.

Hot brew the loose leaf black tea in a kettle and bring it to boil.

Use the ratio of 5 teaspoons of loose tea leaves (5-7 grams) to 6 ounces (177 ml) of water, and bring it to boil on a kettle.

Keep it simmering on the kettle for about 5 minutes, and you are ready for the next step.

Step 2. Add 1 Part Black Tea to Glass

This step is simple,

Just pour the black tea into your favourite glass.

Add 1 part black tea into the glass.

Remember to only half fill the glass, because you still need to add milk to it.

Step 3. Pour 1 Part Milk to the Glass of Black Tea

The idea of Thick Milk Tea is to have more milk in the tea than you normally would,

So we aim to have 50% or even 60% milk in the tea.

Add 1 part milk to the glass.

Since you only half-filled the glass in the last step, there is plenty room to add enough milk to it to bring out the milky flavour.

Step 4. Can Be Served Either Hot or Cold

Once you have topped the glass with milk, you can drink it hot as is,

Thick Milk Tea tastes great either hot or iced.

Or add plenty of ice to treat yourself an ice cold Taiwan Milk Tea.

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