Hong Kong-style milk tea

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Hong Kong-style milk tea, often known as dai-pai-dong milk tea, is a beverage originating from Hong Kong. It consists of black tea sweetened with evaporated milk, and is usually part of an afternoon meal in Hong Kong tea culture.

Although it originates from Hong Kong, it is now also frequently found outside of Hong Kong, including at restaurants serving Hong Kong cuisine and Hong Kong-style western cuisine. The bubble tea (boba tea) is a similar-tasting drink from Taiwan that makes use of cold milk tea, see also the Malaysian Teh tarik.

Contents 1 Origin 2 Making Hong Kong-style milk tea 3 Culture 4 Criteria 5 Varieties 6 External links

[edit] Origin

Hong Kong-style milk tea originates from British colonial rule over Hong Kong. The British practice of afternoon tea, where black tea with milk and sugar is served, became popular in Hong Kong. "Milk tea" is similar to the type of tea drunk in Britain, except that evaporated milk is used instead of ordinary milk. It is called "milk tea" (奶茶; nai3 cha4) to distinguish it from Chinese "tea" (茶; cha4). Chinese tea was and still is drunk unsweetened and without milk.

[edit] Making Hong Kong-style milk tea

Hong Kong-style milk tea is made of a mix of several types of black tea (the proportion of which is usually a "commercial secret" for famous milk tea sellers), evaporated milk, and sugar, the last of which is added by the customers themselves unless in the case of take-away. The common advertising catchphrase for milk tea in Hong Kong is "Ceylon black tea with Holland Black & White evaporated milk".

The key feature of Hong Kong-style milk tea is that a sackcloth bag is used to filter the tea leaves. The bag, reputed to make the tea smoother, gradually develops an intense brown colour as a result of prolonged tea drenching. Compounded with the shape of the filter, it simply looks like a pantyhose. Therefore, Hong Kong-style milk tea is also known as "silk stocking milk tea" (Chinese: 絲襪奶茶; Cantonese IPA: [sɪ₅₅ mɐt₂₂ nɑɪ₃₃ tsʰɑ₁₁], Jyutping: Si1 mat6 naai3 ca4; Mandarin Pinyin: Sī Wà Nǎi Chá). This name is used in Hong Kong but appears less commonly in Mainland China and overseas communities.

There had been debates over the authentic way of making milk tea, i.e. the sequence of adding each. Some people argue that milk should be added before pouring the tea, while some hold the opposite view. Most people do agree that both ways are authentic. In the past, however, milk tea were usually made in the tea-after-milk way. It is said that the cups may break when the tea (which can be as hot as 80–90 degree Celsius) is poured. There is also a saying that the milk can be sterilized when the tea is added.

[edit] Culture

Milk tea is part of the daily life of many Hong Kongers, and is popular among the masses in Hong Kong. Milk tea is typically served as part of afternoon tea, but is served at breakfast or dinner as well. The beverage enjoys nearly the same ubiquitous status that coffee holds in western countries. While not offered by more traditional Cantonese restaurants or dim sum teahouses, milk tea is standard fare in Hong Kong-style western restaurants and cha chaan tengs, as well as Hong Kong's historic dai pai dongs, with a price between HKD$8–$12 (hot, one or two dollars is additionally charged for cold). A cup of hot milk tea is usually either served in a ceramic cup (often referred to as a "coffee cup") or in a low cylindrical cup made of glass or ceramic.

In contrast, expatriate Westerners and tourists do not hold milk tea in high regard. The 2006 edition of the Rough Guide to Hong Kong and Macau by Jules Brown and David Leffman contrasts the local milk tea unfavourably with the "proper" English tea served in more formal Western cafes and hotels such as the Peninsula, citing strong tastes and different cultural preferences. In the Lonely Planet World Food Hong Kong guide by Richard Sterling and Elizabeth Chong, milk tea is not mentioned at all while traditional Chinese tea and High Teas in hotels are given the nods.

[edit] Criteria

The first criteria of a good cup of milk tea is its "smoothness". To be more precise, a satisfying cup of milk tea is expected to be creamy and, to use the jargon of wine-tasting, full-bodied.

One of the indicators of a nice cup of milk tea (also of bubble tea) is the appearance of some white substance hanging on the internal surface of the cup after a portion of the drink has been drunk. The white substance can be seen if the concentration of butterfat in the evaporated milk used is high enough.

[edit] Varieties

Today the iced milk tea is usually prepared with ice cubes. However, in the old days, when machines for producing ice cubes were not popular, the iced milk tea was made by filling the hot milk tea into a glass bottle and then cooling it in a fridge. Sometimes the milk tea were filled in Vitasoy or Coca-Cola bottles, and were sold by bottle. Today this type of "bottle milk tea" is rare in Hong Kong.

In the case of milk tea with ice cubes, the melting ice will dilute the content, thus affecting the taste of the drink; therefore, many people prefer the old way of preparing iced milk tea. Today, some cha chaan tengs serve ice-less iced milk tea, made by pouring hot milk tea into a plastic cup and then cooling it in a fridge. This is often used as a selling point.

Cha chow (茶走 Cantonese IPA: [tsʰɑ₁₁ tsɐʊ₃₅], Jyutping: caa4 zau2, Mandarin Pinyin: chá zǒu, "tea without [evaporated milk]") is milk tea prepared with condensed milk, instead of evaporated milk and sugar. Its taste is, as can be expected, sweeter than ordinary milk tea. In the old days, Cha chow was mostly drank by older people who had congestion in their throats. By drinking Cha chow it was less likely for them to have the congestion.

Milk tea plus coffee is called yuanyang.

A similar drink is "Pantyhose coffee", made with coffee instead of tea.

[edit] External links

• Recipe of Hong Kong Style Milk Tea, Teas.com.au
• (Chinese) How to make "silk stocking" milk tea, Apple Daily
• (Chinese) The origin of "silk stocking" milk tea, Apple Daily