An easy 3-ingredient Japanese Royal Milk Tea Recipe (ロイヤル・ミルクティー) that is creamy, rich and super popular in Japan. With directions for variations such as Hokkaido milk tea, Okinawa milk tea, iced milk tea, and bubble tea!
Jump to:
⭐ Why Make This?
- This popular drink is delicious: it has a a unique flavor that is rich, creamy, earthy and nutty all at once!
- It's a perfect pick-me-up: this easy recipe only requires 3 ingredients. This Japanese tea recipe is super easy, allowing you to skip the trek to the coffee shop or convenience store!
- You can readily vary this cup of tea for endless variety: use other types of tea or sugar or add some tapioca pearls!
☕ What is Japanese Milk Tea?
Japanese Royal Milk Tea (ロイヤルミルクティー), or Japanese Milk Tea for short, is so popular in Japan that bottles of Royal Milk Tea can be found in tea shops, cafes, convenience stores and even vending machines!
Compared to English regular milk tea, it contains much more fresh milk and is much sweeter. Thus, it's a deliciously rich and decadent drink!
The term was invented by tea company Lipton in 1965, but the creamy milk tea is more similar to Indian Chai (Both are made in a saucepan and not a teapot, although Royal Milk Tea is sans spices.)
vs Other Types of Milk Tea
Hong Kong milk tea uses condensed milk, Thai milk tea uses a combination condensed milk and evaporated milk and Taiwanese milk tea usually includes boba pearls.
Thus, all are much heavier than this (which uses fresh whole milk.) They're all delicious and I highly recommend trying them if you've not had them before!
As mentioned above, Japanese Royal milk tea has a higher ratio of milk than British milk tea.
Note: if you're interested in Asian beverages, click here for recipes.
🥛 Ingredients
You only need simple ingredients for this delicious drink, such as:
- tea: use your favourite black loose leaf tea- just make sure you use high-quality black tea leaves! You can also make this with black tea bags (saves you from having to strain out the leaves.) Obviously, add more tea leaves or steep for a longer period of time if you want a stronger tea flavour. (I usually steep for 2-4 minutes.) Alternatively, use tea powder/ smaller tea leaves for a stronger flavor in a shorter period of time! If you're not sure what variety of black tea, scroll down for suggestions.
- hot water
- fresh milk: since we're making a creamy tea, use full-fat real milk or whole milk!
- a sweetener, such as regular white sugar (the Japanese actually use something called "gum syrup"), caramel syrup (to make the tea taste even richer), brown sugar or brown sugar syrup for milk tea (for a toffee- like taste), or honey (make sure it's a neutral one or it will change the flavor of the milk tea!)
Type of Tea
The most common black teas used to make this Japanese tea are:
- Darjeeling (if you want a lighter tea)
- Assam (if you want a darker tea)
- Ceylon
- Earl Grey
- English Breakfast tea
- You can even blend different black teas to create your own tea flavor
- Some people even use Oolong!
📓 Variations
You can easily vary an ingredient or 2 to make other types of international and Japanese teas, such as:
- Hokkaido milk tea: use fresh Hokkaido milk for an extra creamy and indulgent tea! (Also known as Nidashi Milk Tea.) There is a "mouth coating" feel thanks to the extra fat in Hokkaido milk- Hokkaido is a region in Japan famous for agriculture and its dairy production.
- If you want to make Hokkaido tea but can't get Hokkaido milk, mix heavy whipping cream with regular full-fat milk and a bit of vanilla flavouring to mimic the taste.
- For authentic Hokkaido milk tea, try to find Japanese light brown sugar (Sanoto) which has a faint vanilla aroma.
- Okinawa milk tea: use kokuta sugar as a sweetener to create the roasted caramel flavour and reduce the ratio of milk to tea used.
- Iced royal milk tea: cool to room temperature then add ice cubes.
- If you add the ice to hot tea, it'll melt very quickly and your iced tea will be very watery.
- Bubble tea: add tapioca pearls (boba)- you will need bigger bubble tea straws if making this!
- 1 serving of tapioca pearls (for a 16 fluid-oz cup of boba tea) has 78 calories.
- Boba tapioca balls takes forever to cook so it will substantially increase the preparation time of this drink! I once made bubble tea for a dinner party and the boba was done when the guests were about to leave! (Rookie mistake.)
- Vegan Royal Milk tea: substitute dairy milk for plant-based milk, such as oat milk.
- If you're making Hokkaido milk tea, you want a richer vegan milk for the creamy taste.
- Chai Milk Tea: use Indian Chai leaves or Chai Syrup
- Green Tea Milk tea: Use green tea leaves
📋 Step-by-Step Instructions
1a. Bring water to boil in a small pot or milk pan.
1b, Once boiling, add the tea (leaves or bag) then lower to simmer for 2-4 minutes. (More if you want it stronger e.g. when making iced tea.)
2a. Add the milk and allow the mixture to simmer more- DO NOT BOIL.
2b. Just before the pot boils, switch off the fire and strain into pre-warmed (with boiling water) cups. Sweeten generously, to taste.
🥡 How to Store
Best enjoyed on the day it is made, but this popular milk tea can also be stored in the fridge for 2-3 days. (Don't leave any ice-cubes inside or the tea will become super diluted!)
👩 Expert Tips
Tip #1: If you want to give Japanese royal milk tea as a gift to friends, it is available in Asian grocery stores as powdered milk tea. Some of the more popular brands include:
- "Blendy Stick Royal Milk Tea" (uses 100% Assam tea leaves)
-"Wakodo Royal Milk Tea" (great for those into sustainability as, instead of individual servings, the 26-servings powder is all packed in a single bag. Also uses Hokkaido Milk)
- "Nittoh Kocha Instant Royal Milk Tea Powder" (perfect for history lovers as this was the 1st Japanese company to sell local black tea It uses Hokkaido milk and Japanese tea leaves, as well as has a low-sugar option)
Tip #2: Go big or go home: this isn't the right beverage if you're counting calories! Use whole milk to get that creamy texture and don't skimp on the sugar: you want the luxuriant taste to balance out the earthy, almost bitter flavor of the black tea and the creamy richness of milk. Avoid using semi-skimmed or powdered milk if possible.
Tip #3: The steeping temperature will change depending on the type of tea used: for example, oolong tea typically steeps at a lower temperature than black tea leaves do.
💭 Recipe FAQs
Yes, if using a regular black or green tea base. However, it is possible to find decaffeinated versions.
It is a rich and creamy Japanese milk tea that is made with milk from Hokkaido, Japan.
Bubble tea is a popular Taiwanese beverage, not Japanese. Japanese teas include royal milk tea and Hokkaido milk tea. Unlike bubble milk tea, they don't traditionally contain tapioca pearls.
🥢 Other Japanese Recipes
Enjoyed this creamy Japanese milk tea recipe? Please leave a 5-star 🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟rating in the recipe card below & if you REALLY likes this delicious tea, a comment would make my week! Thank you and have a great day!
Japanese Royal Milk Tea Recipe
Equipment
- Small pot or saucepan
Ingredients
- ½ Tablespoon black tea leaves Assam, Darjeeling, Ceylon or even Earl Grey. If using tea bags, I recommend at least 1 tea bag per person/ cup/ serving.
- 3 Cups Water
- 2 Cups Full-fat whole Milk
- White sugar or gum syrup, to taste Substitutes: caramel syrup, brown sugar syrup or a neutral honey. I usually use about 1-2 Tablespoons per 1 Cup of liquid (so 5-10 Tablespoons here-I suggest you start with 5 tablespoons then work your way up!)
Instructions
- Bring water to boil in a small pot or saucepan.
- Once boiling, add the tea leaves then immediately lower the heat to simmer for about 2 minutes. If making iced Japanese milk tea, you may want to extend the cooking time, as the ice cubes will dilute the tea.
- Add the milk and keep mixture at a simmer- DO NOT allow it to boil!
- Just before the tea boils, switch off the fire, and strain into a pre-warmed teacup.
- Add sweetener of choice, to taste.
Notes
- Hokkaido milk tea: use fresh Hokkaido milk for an extra creamy and indulgent tea!
- Okinawa milk tea: use kokuta sugar as a sweetener to create the roasted caramel flavour and reduce the ratio of milk to tea used.
- Iced milk tea: cool to room temperature then add ice cubes.
- Bubble tea: add tapioca pearls (boba)
- Vegan Royal Milk tea: substitute dairy milk for plant-based milk
- Chai Milk Tea: use Indian Chai leaves
Nutrition
If you've enjoyed this Homemade Royal Milk Tea recipe, please do share this post on your social media or sign up for my Asian recipes' newsletter?
Charity says
Tried with Assam delicious! Must try with oolong next time!
Zen says
Hope you like the milk tea with oolong too Charity!!