Organic Thai Iced Tea
Finally, Thai Iced Tea with NO artificial flavors or colors!
Thai Tea (also known as Thai Iced Tea) is a popular iced drink hailing from Thailand, commonly found in Thai restaurants across the US. Our Organic and Fair Trade Certified Thai Iced Tea is a traditional blend of strong black tea, vanilla bean, cardamom and anise. It can be enjoyed hot or cold with a twist of lime as a self drinker (without milk). Or it can be brewed to create a traditional, restaurant-style Thai Iced Tea when combined with ice, milk and sugar!
To recreate a restaurant-style Thai Iced Tea, we recommend steeping a double strength cup of tea. Then sweeten the hot brew with sugar, and serve over ice. Glasses of Thai Iced Tea are usually topped with dairy, such as sweetened condensed milk, whole milk, half and half, or coconut milk (this last one, of course, is not actually dairy). The final addition of dairy usually rests on top of the ice cubes creating a beautiful layered effect in the glass! For illustrated step-by-step instructions, check out our guide How to Make Thai Iced Tea and/or see our how to video.
NO artificial colors or flavors! Did you know that the deep orange color of Thai Iced Tea served in restaurants is usually attributed to artificial coloring? Well, no longer! We’ve developed an organic tea blend that includes no artificial colors or flavors. As a result, when dairy is added to this iced tea it will not turn orange, but a beautiful, natural light brown!
Ingredients: organic black tea, organic cardamom, organic anise seeds, and organic vanilla flavor
What are Flavored Teas?
Our delicious flavored teas use the same top-quality organic tea that we offer in our unflavored varieties, but are blended with pieces of real fruit, spices, flowers, and 100% natural flavors. When blending our teas, our goal is to create a cup that balances the taste of the tea with the flavors of the additional ingredients so that neither one overpowers. All of the natural flavors we use are either extracts taken directly from the botanical ingredient, or extracted using 100% GMO-free grain alcohol as a solvent. You can rest assured that none of the flavors used in our blends are synthetically or artificially derived, and do not use artificial preservatives.
Steeping Instructions
At Arbor Teas, we believe tea should be brewed to suit your personal taste. We’re happy to make recommendations to get you started, but don’t hesitate to experiment! When brewing your tea, your main considerations are tea quantity, water temperature, and steeping time. We recommend black teas to be steeped for 3 to 5 minutes in water heated to a full, rolling boil. For the best flavor, use fresh water whenever possible, and avoid overboiling. Try not to steep your tea longer than necessary, as you’ll extract undesirable bitterness from the leaves. If you want a stronger brew, don’t steep longer, just use more tea. And don’t forget to re-steep your tea leaves to get the most out of your leaf!
Looking for more info? Check out our How-To Guides and Eco-Brewing Tips!
Staff Perspectives
Sarah
"The combination of tea, dairy (I prefer half & half) and sugar make Thai Iced Tea a perfect complement to spicy food."
Jeremy
"I’ve always loved Thai Iced Tea when visiting my favorite Thai restaurant, but didn’t enjoy the artificial coloring. After a failed search to find a traditional Thai Iced Tea sold in the US without artificial colors or flavors, we decided to make our own!"
Aubrey
"The combination of spices used in this blend makes it popular with our Masala Chai Black Tea fans! As I like to say: “Thai is the new Chai” (TM)! : )"
Health Benefits
Like all true tea, black tea offers many potential health benefits. Research has found that tea (Camellia sinensis) can have many positive effects on human health, including improved cardiovascular function, cancer risk reduction, improved immune function, improved oral health, and help with weight management. Tea is also full of polyphenols, which are a class of antioxidant that help your body maintain homeostasis and balance your stress levels. Black tea specifically has been found to regulate blood sugar in diabetics better than other types of tea, according to a study done by the University of Massachusetts Amherst.
For more information about the health benefits of black tea and other types of tea, and for direct sources of the above information, check out our Tea Health Benefits page!
Please note: the information above is for educational purposes only and has not been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration. This information is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any disease.
Thai Iced Tea
Tea has been drunk and even eaten in Thailand for a very long time, but tea cultivation is relatively new to the country. Only since the 1980s has tea been grown for production in Thailand. Thai iced tea, known as “cha yen" in Thailand, is a popular street drink. It’s usually a mixture of a black tea (usually not sourced from Thailand) and spices such as vanilla, cardamon, star anise, tamarind, and orange blossom water. It is often topped off with a heaping dollop of sweetened condensed milk. Although it’s grown in popularity in the US, Thai iced tea isn’t largely traditional or important in Thailand - it’s more of a treat. Thai chefs started adding copious amounts of sugar and food coloring to appeal to Americans, and thus the Thai iced tea we know was born. The drink has become ubiquitous in Thai restaurants throughout the US. In Thailand, Thai tea is consumed warm in the morning, and only served iced in the afternoon - always with crushed ice, never cubed. Rarely prepared in the home, Thai iced tea is usually purchased from stands on the street where it is often served in a plastic bag with a straw stuck into it.
For even more information about this and other traditions, visit our Tea Traditions Page!
