Cha yen simply means cold tea, which undersells it. Thai street vendors brew a strong, fragrant black tea through a long cloth strainer, sweeten it generously with sugar and condensed milk, pour it over a cup packed with crushed ice and float evaporated milk on top, so the drink arrives in two colors and is stirred together by the customer. Most Thai tea mixes are tinted the famous deep orange with food coloring; older blends got their color and depth from ingredients such as roasted tamarind seed and spice.

How and when milk and sugar met Thai tea is not settled. Some accounts point to Western habits arriving in the mid twentieth century, others to Chinese tea traders, and the creamy street version with evaporated milk seems to have spread widely later still. What is certain is that it is now sold from carts on almost every Bangkok corner, and that it is the most efficient fire extinguisher in Thai cuisine.

The tea

Ingredients

• 4 cups (950 ml) water
• 1/2 cup (about 1 1/2 oz / 40 g) Thai tea mix
• 1/3 cup (65 g) granulated sugar
• 1/3 cup (100 ml) sweetened condensed milk

Method

1. Bring the water to a boil in the saucepan. Take it off the heat, stir in the tea mix and leave to steep for 5 minutes, no longer, or it turns bitter.
2. Pour the tea slowly through the lined sieve into the pitcher. Let it drip through; do not squeeze the leaves. Throw the leaves away.
3. While the tea is hot, stir in the sugar and the condensed milk until both have dissolved. Leave to cool for 30 minutes, then chill if you have time.

To serve

Ingredients

• 4 cups crushed ice
• 1/2 cup (120 ml) evaporated milk

Method

1. Fill each glass to the top with crushed ice.
2. Pour the cooled tea over the ice until each glass is about seven eighths full. Slowly spoon or pour 2 tablespoons evaporated milk over the top of each.

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