Monday, April 4, 2016

Recipe: Royal Milk Tea

If you don't know what Royal Milk Tea is, it's pretty much the Japanese version of milk tea. Most recipes call for a mix of two types of black teas– usually from Ceylon, Assam, or Sri Lanka– with quite a bit of sugar and milk. It's like chai without the spices. Experiment to your liking!

Ingredients:
Black tea, 7.5 g - I'm using a 3:2 mix of Sri Lankan black tea to Azores black tea.
Sugar, 70g - White sugar here, I'd imagine you can also use honey or brown sugar (but in the case of honey, it would be harder to control sweetness
Milk, 750 ml - Any type is OK
Water, 250 ml - Go for a 1:3 ratio with the milk; it's milk tea, so you want more milk than water

Instructions:
1. Boil your water in a large saucepan and brew the tea for about 5 minutes.
2. Add your milk to the tea until it boils. Stir constantly.
3. Like with chai, let the mixture boil up and take it off the heat. Once the bubbles fall back down, place it back on the heat. You want to do this about 3-5 times (look at the color of the tea to decide strength) while stirring.
4. In a heatproof container, pour in the tea (you might want to let it cool down first) and strain off the leaves.
5. Add your sugar and stir it in to dissolve.
6. Chill and serve cold.


Review: Milk Tea - Ito En

Tea Info
Type: Sweetened, Canned, Black Milk Tea
Producer: Ito En
Origin/Base: Hawaii
Brewing Parameters: N/A
Appearance: N/A
Rating: B | 86/100
# of Brews: N/A

Tasting Notes and Thoughts
Oh hey, first time reviewing tea in a can. I've actually had this before, and I think it's one of the better ones. Interestingly, it's a "Hawaii Exclusive" and I've only been able to find it in the Mitsuwa Marketplace in San Jose (the place where I get all of my Lupicia tea). I think I actually based a milk tea recipe I made on the flavor of this, but I don't know where I actually put it– in fact, I'll try experimenting again and post it on here today since I have nothing else to do.

Anyway, I don't really think there is much to say about this. It's not too sweet, with the earthy flavors of the black tea first and a creamy flavor afterwards. It's slightly fruity, too, probably because of the tea base. Compared to other canned milk teas I've had, this doesn't taste too watery or deathly sweet. Oh, and in all of the cans I've drank (which I admit is quite a bit), the milk isn't curdled or anything, which is nice. Overall, best milk tea in a can I've had so far.

Other Notes
First weekday of spring break! Started off with getting a diagnosis of Temporomandibular Joint Disorder, which is always fun. Apparently I'll have to start taking painkillers for a week or two.

Other than that, today I'll just be making a recipe for Royal Milk Tea, reading/finishing A Confederacy of Dunces, and studying for AP classes (also maybe the SAT Bio/Math/USH tests and the ACT). I don't really have much to do over spring break.

Saturday, April 2, 2016

Recipe: London Fog French Toast

First day of spring break! Not really feeling up to reviewing a tea today, so here's what I made for breakfast. Pretty easy recipe overall, and it can easily be adjusted if it's too sweet or not sweet enough, cooked too much or not enough, and so on.

Ingredients:
Earl Grey Black Tea, 1 teabag or 3g of loose leaf - I used Trader Joe's brand tea bags
Honey, 1.5 tablespoons - Local wildflower honey here
Milk, 0.5 cups - Doesn't really matter what type, I used 2%
Bread, 5-6 pieces - Same as the milk, white or whole grain, doesn't matter
Salt, 1 pinch - Sea salt
Vanilla Extract, 0.5 teaspoons
Eggs, 2
Butter, 1 stick - Can be replaced with oil

Makes 5 pieces of french toast; recipe is adapted from Alton Brown's french toast

Instructions:
1. Microwave/heat your milk to boiling before it boils over. Add your tea and let it brew for 5 minutes.
2. Remove the tea by straining or throwing away the tea bag. Add the vanilla extract and honey.
3. Whisk in 2 eggs, one at a time. 
4. Pour the mixture into a bowl or a container that will allow you to cover the bread.
5. Take a slice of bread, and cover both sides by dipping it in the mixture. Let it sit on each side for about 30 seconds so it absorbs the liquid. Place on a wire rack and let sit for about 10-15 minutes. Repeat for all of the slices.
6. Once the bread has rested for a while, heat a pan. Cover the surface of the pan in butter so the bread won't stick.
7. Brown both sides of each slice of bread. Return to the wire rack.
8. Preheat oven to 375°F. 
9. Place the wire rack/bread into the oven for 5-10 minutes.
10. Serve warm, adding syrup/fruit/cream to taste.