How To Make Royal Milk Tea 🫖

Are you a fan of traditional royal milk and would love to make hot tea or iced royal milk tea from home but do not know how to? This royal milk tea recipe article will show you how to make royal milk tea.

First, did you know you only need about three ingredients to make royal milk tea? All you need for the process include Darjeeling or Assam tea leaves, milk, and a sweetener. You need to boil water, steep the leaves, and add other ingredients you like.

You may also need to leverage whole milk for this recipe. Whole milk is essential for this recipe because it offers a full and rich flavor. However, it is common to find people using other types of milk for the drink.

How to Make Royal Milk Tea at Home

Here are a few things that you need to prepare to make royal milk tea at home successfully:

What You Will Need

10-12 grams of Darjeeling or Assam tea leaves: For a taste of authentic royal milk tea at home, you will need Darjeeling or Assam tea leaves. You can obtain these tea leaves from any local tea, spice, or grocery store. Alternatively, you can find these tea leaves online. It would be best to buy dried, loose tea leaves if you want to enjoy the best Japanese royal milk tea.
Sweetener: Do not forget to use brown or white sugar when brewing this tea. You can leverage any sweetener you have at home while preparing this tea. You can also use honey.
1 cup milk: Note that you can use unsweetened oat milk if you do not have fresh milk or fresh whole milk in your home. Unlike making iced tea, you have to take note of the ingredients you mix. Ensure that you use enough milk if you want to enjoy a creamy tea recipe.
Alternative for tea leaves: If you can’t find the tea leaves, you can always use royal milk tea powder. The powder contains an instant mix that resembles that of coffee. Thus, instead of steeping your tea leaves, just pour boiling water into the mix and enjoy your already-made royal milk tea. Interestingly, this powder is a timesaver for those who want to enjoy Japanese milk tea without fuss. The flavor, however, is not as fresh as one obtained from steeping your tea leaves.

Preparing the Royal Milk Tea

1. Gather the Royal Milk Tea Ingredients

The first thing you need to do is to gather all the ingredients you will need to make your Japanese royal milk tea. Since the product does not come in tea bags, you must keep each ingredient ready, so you do not get distracted during preparation.

2. Boil Water

After gathering your ingredients, the next thing you must do is boil some water. Boil about a cup of water in a pan, enough to make 1-2 cups of royal milk tea. Boiling the dried tea leaves helps extract the moisture and taste from the leaves.

3. Homogenize the Tea Leaves

Slowly add the two teaspoons of tea leaves to the boiling water such that it steeps to extract the flavor and taste. Let it boil for at least two minutes. If you want to make iced royal milk tea, you can boil the leaves longer to avoid diluting the flavor.

4. Add Milk

After the tea leaves have steeped, you can proceed to add milk. Since this recipe is for two cups of royal milk tea, you need a full cup of milk. You can use a spoon to mix them properly before turning off the heat.

5. Strain the Leaves

Remove the pot from the stove before the tea boils. You can now strain your tea into a teapot or container using a small strainer. Interestingly, you can choose to enjoy your tea like that or add a sweetener of your preference.

Substitutes for Japanese Milk Tea Ingredients

Although it is best to make royal milk tea with its precise ingredients, you can always find a way around it. However, you must note that the substitutes tend to change the flavor of the milk tea. If you have dietary or flavor preferences, you can modify your royal milk tea to suit your needs.

You can start by using any type of milk for the recipe. Thus, you can either use any nut milk like almond. Alternatively, you can also use skim milk. Note that the type of milk you use could affect the silky texture of the tea. You can use whatever milk you prefer or require for your diet.
For the tea leaves, you can use another kind of black tea if you so desire. Irish breakfast tea or Earl Grey can also work. However, they will tend to offer a different fragrance.
You can make use of any sweetener you have. Agave, sugar, or honey can all work well. However, it is best to use what you want. You can also use Stevia or Splenda as sweetener substitutes if you are conscious about your blood sugar.

Although you can use alternative ingredients for this popular drink, the taste will never be the same as if you had used the original ingredients.

Where Did Royal Milk Tea Come From?

Royal milk tea contains Darjeeling tea or Assam, a sweetener, and milk. People usually refer to this creamy milk tea as royal milk tea or Japanese royal milk tea.

Although this tea may sound ancient, it is not as old as you think. Considering the age of other tea leaves, you can say that creamy Japanese milk tea is relatively new. Interestingly, the Japanese royal milk tea was first produced by Lipton, a Japanese tea company, in 1965.

Although Lipton created some other interesting tea recipes, their Royal milk tea recipe is still a cult favorite. Before now, Japanese royal milk tea was a favorite only in Japan. However, it has quickly gained popularity worldwide, and people love to consume the product.

You can now find the famous royal milk tea on menus around the world. Additionally, the brand has bottled Japanese milk tea sold at convenience stores in Japan. However, it will interest you that royal milk tea gained its popularity due to boba tea.

Nowadays, it is common to find people mistaking boba for royal milk tea. However similar these two drinks appear, they have their variations. Unlike boba tea, royal milk is creamier and more fragrant. One of the characteristics of milk tea is its milkiness. Unlike royal milk tea, boba may not even be made from tea leaves.

How Does Royal Milk Tea Taste?

Japanese royal milk tea has varying tastes depending on the ingredients you use. Interestingly, the leaves you use play a vital role in the flavor you get.

Darjeeling tea leaves have an earthy taste, although you may enjoy a little sweetness too. On the other hand, Assam tea leaves have a fuller and slightly malty taste.

Another factor that influences the taste of your royal milk tea is the type of sweetener used. For example, honey adds some richness to the taste. On the other hand, pure sugar makes royal milk tea taste sweeter.

Always ensure the tea leaves are dry and loose, so you can steep them freely in the milk and water. You can always leverage a thermometer to determine the water’s exact temperature for the tea.

You must leverage the appropriate temperature so it will not ruin the tea’s flavor. Also, it is best to take note of the ratios for each ingredient so that you do not overmix while trying to get a rich tea flavor.

What Makes Royal Milk Tea Special

Royal milk tea is like every other tea, only better. Compared to regular teas, royal milk tea has a higher milk ratio. Interestingly, this higher milk ratio balances the bitter taste often experienced when tasting strong tea. The creamy richness of milk masks this bitter taste and makes the tea a bit sweeter.

The royal milk tea preparation process somewhat resembles that of Indian Chai. However, instead of using a teapot, you have to use a saucepan or milk pan to get the job done.

Additionally, royal milk tea does not contain spices such as ginger, cardamom, or cinnamon that you can find in Indian Chai.

The Difference Between Royal Milk Tea and Boba Tea

Although royal milk tea and bubble tea (or boba tea) are all teas, they are of different origins. The mistake most people make is to refer to any tea in the bubble tea parlor as “milk tea.”

However, milk tea and bubble tea have their corresponding differences. Boba tea, or bubble tea, is any drink that contains tapioca pearls. Interestingly, bubble tea could be any drink (even if it is not tea-based), as long as it has tapioca pearls. Conversely, regular milk tea comes with cream or milk.

Most people enjoy consuming Assam milk tea, a type of black tea, because it has a robust flavor. Interestingly, Assam milk tea often serves as the raw material for bubble tea shops.

Although bubble tea originally came from black tea, you can easily find various flavors (like green and jasmine tea) nowadays. It is worth noting that several of the most renowned bubble tea flavors come from fruits and may not even contain real tea.

Is Royal Milk Tea Boba a Thing?

You can enjoy royal milk tea with boba. It is common to find tapioca pearls or boba in most Asian tea drinks. Interestingly, most people refer to boba as bubble tea.

How, then, do you make royal milk tea boba? All you need to do to make royal milk tea boba is to add some tapioca pearls to your mix.

Foods That Compliment Royal Milk Tea

Yes. You can enjoy your royal milk tea with your favorite foods. Some foods you can enjoy with royal milk tea include dim sum, crepes, sushi, and noodles or pasta. Since milk tea has a creamy taste, you can enjoy it with sweet pastries like donuts, croissants, and muffins.

Additionally, you can enjoy your milk tea with snacks and some fried foods. Fried food and boba is an exciting pairing you must try out if you want to enjoy boba with food.

Nutritional Values in Royal Milk Tea

Royal milk tea is not just a mix with no nutritional value. A serving of the drink is one teacup and contains about 76 kcal. Additionally, the drink contains 6 grams of carbohydrates and 4 grams of fat. You will also enjoy 4 grams of protein, 2 grams of saturated fat, and 1 gram of polyunsaturated fat.

Royal milk tea also contains 1 gram of monounsaturated fat and 12 mg of cholesterol. You will also enjoy about 56 mg of sodium and 205 mg of potassium. The drink also contains about six grams of sugar and about 198 IU of vitamin A. Other nutrients you could get from royal milk tea include calcium (138 mg) and iron (1mg).

Benefits of Drinking Royal Milk Tea

Since royal milk tea contains more milk, it is a good source of nutrients for healthy skin and bones. Milk is one of the best sources of calcium that improves bone strength and density.
Royal milk tea is a great source of antioxidants. Most tea leaves contain antioxidants that fight free radicals that damage the body.
Drinking milk tea increases your happy hormones or serotonin levels. L-theanine present in black tea helps with focus and relaxation.
Drinking royal milk tea helps you focus, minus the anxiety. Since it only has low levels of caffeine, you can focus on your studies or work and it helps you de-stress.

Side Effects of Drinking Royal Milk Tea

While it is safe to say that drinking royal milk tea does not have any serious side effects as of now, it is essential to always use ingredients from verifiable sources to stay on the safe side.

Everything should be taken in moderation, even royal milk tea. While it tastes great and has nutritional value, you must not drink too much. Too much milk tea can disturb your stomach’s metabolic activity and can lead to dehydration or bloating.

If you are allergic to dairy, then stay away from royal milk tea that’s made of whole or full milk. If you are unsure of the milk used, you can always opt for vegan choices such as almond milk.

Where Can I Buy Royal Milk Tea?

It is logical that you may not want to prepare this delicious tea every time. Hence, you could always want to visit a tea house or cafe that specializes in milk teas. If you are in Japan, you will come across vending machines that sell this delicious drink in cans or bottles.

Conclusion

Making milk tea, especially royal milk tea is one process that does not require a lot. However, a tea connoisseur knows to always follow the instructions to craft some of the best royal teas you have ever tasted.

We have provided the run-down of the best ways to prepare royal milk tea. Additionally, we have provided an optional recipe to help you enjoy the tea if you do not have the raw ingredients.