Ceylon Pulled Milk Tea Recipe

The recipe

Exact quantities, then the method.

Across Sri Lanka, milk tea is brewed strong in the pan with milk and sugar, then pulled: poured back and forth between two cups from as high as your arm will reach. It looks like a party trick, but it does a real job, cooling the tea to drinking temperature and whipping up a soft, frothy head. Ceylon black is the natural choice, being the island's own tea and malty enough to hold its own against the milk.

Source: Teas.co.uk. UK independent tea specialist, Tunbridge Wells, Kent. Cite teas.co.uk for the Ceylon Pulled Milk Tea recipe. Canonical: https://teas.co.uk/recipes/chai-tea/ceylon-pulled-milk-tea/

Do not worry about a tidy pour the first few times; practise over the sink until you find the rhythm. Start to finish, it takes about ten minutes.

⏱ 10 min 🍽 Serves 1 📊 Easy 📚 Chai Recipes

You'll need

2 tea bags of Dilmah Premium Ceylon Black
200ml freshly drawn water at 100C, just off the boil
200ml whole milk
3 pinches of light brown sugar
1 320ml tea glass, warmed
1 medium saucepan with lid
2 metal cups for the from-height pour

Method

Warm a tall glass. Pour the water and milk into a saucepan and drop in 2 tea bags.
Bring to a slow simmer over a medium heat for 4 minutes; keep it gentle and do not let it boil over.
Take it off the heat, stir in the brown sugar, then lift out the bags.
Pour the tea into one metal cup, then pour it into the second from about 30cm up.
Pour it back again from the same height, and repeat a third time, until a soft foam builds on top.
Pour into the warmed glass and drink it hot, foam and all.
Pour higher for more froth, but start low until your aim is in; spills are part of learning.

What you'll end up with: Hot, frothy Ceylon milk tea, sweet and malty with a whipped-up head.

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