Hong Kong Style Milk Tea

During the colonial period, when Hong Kong was under British Crown rule, two different tea traditions collided, resulting in a beautiful cup of sweet, silky, smooth tea. Traditional Hong Kong milk tea is made by heavily steeping black tea leaves and then "pulling" the tea through a large silk hose before adding it to a cup prepared with precision amounts of evaporated milk and sweetened condensed milk. After living in Asia for three-years, this is the recipe for Hong Kong "style" milk tea that I use for my daily cup of tea. It is a VERY SWEET tea, so if you do not enjoy sweet tea, this won't be your cup of tea.   

• Ready In: 10 mins
• Serves: 1
• Yields: 1 cup

Ingredients

• 1  ceylon tea bag
•  boiling water
• 2  tablespoons  sweetened condended milk

Directions

1. Bring a kettle of water to a full boil.
2. Preheat a cup with some of the boiling water; discarding the water after the cup is hot (about 30 seconds).
3. Place a tea bag in the hot cup and gently pour a cup of boiling water over it.
4. Steep for 7 minutes (the tea needs to be over-steeped to hold up to the viscosity of the sweetened condensed milk).
5. Remove the tea bag.
6. Add two heaping tablespoons of sweetened condensed milk to the tea and mix quickly and continuously until well blended.
7. Optional: a clean eggshell is sometimes added to the tea while it is steeping to reduce its acidity.