Tip: Try Condensed Milk In Your Hot Tea

Many years ago I was invited to a friend's house for tea. His father is Indian, his mother is French, and my friend was born in England, so their house was this great multicultural mix of traditions. As we sat down for tea, his father slid me a plate of Indian sweets called burfi, and poured me a cup of almond tea. Instead of the usual milk, the creamer contained condensed milk, which he gestured to me to try in my tea. And it was wonderful. Rich, sweet, and milky.

I have been told that this is common among South and Southeast Asians. It really does change the flavor of the tea. I've tried it with plain black tea and with masala chai tea, and it's delicious. Give it a try!

(Image: Kathryn Hill)

Comments (18)

My grandmother has always used condensed milk in her coffee and its the best coffee I've ever had, still to this day.

We use it in our coffee, too. There's always a can in the fridge and a couple back ups in the cupboard.

One of my favorite drinks is Hong Kong milk tea, which is black tea with either evaporated milk and sugar, or condensed milk. So delicious!

i love condensed milk but am too scared to keep it at home as i eat it by the spoonful
Also chai is the Hindi word for Tea. If you mean Chai with spices in it then it is called masala chai or masala tea.

missmay - I did not know that. Thanks for the clarification. I think this is a common misconception among Americans.

so do you eliminate the sugar then? i have had this with thai tea when i lived in china and it was really delicious but i kind of remember them offering a simple syrup in a small jug along with the canned milk - but then i just assumed it was because fresh milk isn't really big in asia!

That's sooooo funny! I am so glad you posted this! My mom ALWAYS put condensed milk in her afternoon tea, and I thought it was the normal thing to do! I admit...I LOVE eating bread with condensed milk. It's heavenly.

And those are the same biscuits we ate!

is condensed milk the same as sweetened condensed milk?

The "authentic" way for Thai tea is to use condensed milk instead of sugar. Well, that's how my dad always made it, so it's the only way I like it. Also, Vietnamese coffee is used with condensed milk. I'm not much into sweets, but I LOVE condensed milk. I eat it by the spoonfull!! As a late night snack, I used to warm it in the microwave and then add Smart Start and milk. BEST. SNACK. EVER.

yup, I grew up with HK milky tea as well. It is very strong black tea with sweetened condensed milk and it is delicious! Since HK is warm year round it's also very popular iced (a revelation to me the last time I was there). In fact Haagen-Dazs makes a milky tea ice cream flavor and it's out of control! I wish they'd bring it to the States already

Mmm... condensed milk in tea/coffee AND on a piece of toast.

Yeah, I'm also wondering whether you mean sweetened condensed milk. I'm assuming so, but you could possibly be referring to evaporated because you did not specify that it is sweetened.

After doing my own personal kitchen cure, I found a bunch of old cookbooks of my dearly departed mother's. One happened to be one I gave her that she never cooked out of, as it was too "Big City" to her cream of mushroom tastes.

The cookbook is called Mesa Mexicana by Mary Sue Milliken and Susan Feniger(are they the Two Hot Tamales?)\ and the last recipe in there is for homemade sweetened condensed milk. It's made with less sugar, so I think it would change a recipe's taste, but I always found the tinned stuff to be diabetic coma sweet anyway.

Here's the recipe:
6 cups of nonfat milk(one of the reasons Miliken and Feniger say they use their own recipe is because they want to use nonfat milk, but I bet if whole would work too.)
5 tablespoons of sugar

Pour milk into a medium heavy saucepan and bring to a boil. Reduce and simmer for 45 minutes, stirring occasionally. Stir in the sugar and continue simmering 10 to 15 minutes or until reduced to 3 cups. Strain. May be refrigerated up to a week.

I think I am going to try this tomorrow.

P.S. I don't mind cream of mushroom stuff, but I prefer my own homemade.

This is actually very common in Germany where I´m from!

I meant sweetened condensed milk, yes.

i spent a summer in russia many years ago and learned to love sweetened condensed milk in my tea, as well as on bread and just about anything else i could pour it onto! the tea, also called chai in russian, was strong, black, and loose leaf.
i hadn't thought about this in years! thanks for the reminder...

@kitchengoddess: Thank you for posting this! I was just looking for a recipe for sweetened condensed milk today and all of the ones I found called for powdered milk. I had a feeling it could be make with just milk and sugar.