Hong Kong milk tea: what it is and how to make it

The short answer

Hong Kong milk tea is a strong black tea mixed with milk, with a bold, malty taste and a smooth, silky feel. In Hong Kong it is brewed strong and mixed with evaporated or condensed milk. A café in India can make a Hong Kong-style cup in about a minute with a 3-in-1 premix stirred into warm milk.

What Hong Kong milk tea is

Hong Kong milk tea grew up in the city’s small local cafés, known as cha chaan teng. The tea is a blend of black teas, brewed strong and poured through a fine cloth strainer. That cloth is why it is sometimes called “silk stocking” milk tea. It is then mixed with evaporated or condensed milk, which gives it a rich, silky body. It is served hot, or iced in summer.

The taste is stronger than most milk teas. The tea comes first, then a creamy, lightly sweet finish.

Our Hongkong Milk Tea 3-in-1 is a Hong Kong-style premix. Its ingredients are sugar, dairy creamer, black tea extract, permitted flavour and an anticaking agent. It does not contain evaporated milk. Its taste is described on the product page as strong, malty HK-style milk tea.

How to make Hong Kong milk tea

This is the method printed for our Hongkong Milk Tea 3-in-1:

1. Dissolve 15–30 g of premix in 100 ml of warm milk.
2. Stir until fully smooth.
3. Chill by pouring it over 5–10 ice cubes.
4. Add more tea if you like. 10–15 ml of black tea concentrate gives a stronger tea backbone. It is optional.
5. Top it if you want. 30–40 g of tapioca pearls, popping boba or nata de coco makes it a bubble tea. 20 g of whipped cream on top is also optional.

In short, dissolve 15–30 g of premix in 100 ml of warm milk, stir until smooth and pour over 5–10 ice cubes. Then add black tea concentrate or toppings if you like.

Start at 15 g and taste. Add more premix for a stronger, sweeter cup. The toppings are separate products and are not in the pouch. To cook pearls, see how to cook tapioca pearls.

Hong Kong bubble tea

Hong Kong bubble tea, or Hong Kong boba tea, is Hong Kong-style milk tea served over ice with chewy toppings such as tapioca pearls. The strong tea taste holds up well against the sweet pearls. Make the milk tea as above, then add 30–40 g of tapioca pearls, popping boba or nata de coco at the bottom of the cup.

Hong Kong milk tea price in India

For a café or a home kitchen, the cost is mostly the premix and the milk. Our Hongkong Milk Tea 3-in-1 is ₹1,599 for a 1 KG pouch (MRP, including GST). It comes ten pouches to a case. Businesses buying by the case get 10% off MRP with a GSTIN, and 20% off with free ground shipping on orders of ₹19,999 and above. It ships across India from Hyderabad within 7 days.

What a café charges for a cup of Hong Kong milk tea depends on its milk, cup size and toppings, so menu prices vary from shop to shop.

Ways to serve it

• Hong Kong tapioca milk tea. The milk tea over chewy black tapioca pearls.
• Dirty Hong Kong latte. The milk tea poured over a brown sugar ripple for a striped look in the cup.
• Hong Kong cheese foam tea. Strong Hong Kong tea with a salted cheese foam cap.
• Hong Kong milk tea whip. Our Hong Kong Milk Tea Whip Flavor Powder flavours and colours whipped cream in one step. Add 5–8% of the powder to chilled dairy or non-dairy cream at the final whipping stage, and whip for about 3–5 minutes until soft or firm peaks form. Use it as a drink topping, a frosting or a filling. It is ₹899 for a 1 KG pouch, twelve to a case. For more ideas, see our boba desserts guide.

Buying Hong Kong milk tea premix

Our Hongkong Milk Tea 3-in-1 comes in a 1 KG pouch, made at our FSSC 22000 certified plant in Hyderabad. It is vegetarian and Halal. It keeps 12 months sealed. Once opened, seal it and use it within 30 days, and store it in a cool, dry place below 25°C. The premix contains dairy creamer, so it is not dairy-free. If you want to brew your own tea base instead, see the best black tea for milk tea.