Japanese Royal Milk Tea Recipe

A cup of Royal Milk tea with a sugar caddy and milk jug behind.

5 from 38 votes

An easy 3-ingredients Japanese milk tea recipe (Royal milk tea), with directions for popular variations such as Hokkaido milk tea, Okinawa milk tea, iced milk tea, and bubble tea!

Prep Time1

Cook Time5

Course: Drinks

Cuisine: Japanese

Servings: people

Calories: 73kcal

Author: Zen

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

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. I go by feel (as the creamy milk hides many errors) but tea aficionados may want to use a food thermometer.

Best finished on the day it's made but can also be kept in the fridge in an airtight container for 2- days (without the ice cubes inside.)

Variations

See recipe post for more details

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

Note: the nutritional information is an estimate automatically calculated using the WPRM recipe maker and I am not responsible for its veracity.

Nutrition