I am a self professed milk tea addict. Asian milk tea with boba, English afternoon tea – I’ll take it all. I drink some sort of tea probably every day, although I alternate between my Asian green teas and English black teas. And I know that I am not alone! So this milk tea ice cream recipe is for all my other milk tea fanatics out there. I see you.
My dental hygienist, Sarah, asks me without fail at every cleaning, “Have you been drinking lots of tea or coffee?” Both, Sarah. Both. And my teeth stains will probably get even worse because I can now eat my tea straight from the freezer.
Equipment You Need to Make Milk Tea Ice Cream
You’re going to need an ice cream maker for this one. Sorry, folks! I promise you it is worth it! I held off getting an ice cream maker for so long, thinking I wouldn’t use it enough. But I’m happy to say that I was wrong! I’ve used mine about 4 times in 5 months. Plus, making ice cream is actually super simple. The maker itself is only used for the churning. You cook together a custard mixture on the stove (if using eggs in your recipe), let it cool, and then churn it in the maker. And you don’t need the super expensive ones! I got my CuisinArt ice cream maker for about $45 on Amazon.
Milk Tea Ice Cream – Special Ingredients
The only ingredient you need to be concerned about is the tea. Please use a good quality tea! I used a Fortnum & Mason royal blend loose leaf tea that I got at Williams Sonoma. (Yes, that’s right. You can get Fortnum & Mason without an actual trip to England!) You could also use a tea bag, but I can’t guarantee the taste will be the same. If you want a stronger flavor of tea, you can steep the milk in the tea for 20 minutes before you cook the rest of the ingredients, but even if you just dump it all in the pot at once, it should be fine. That being said, you can substitute the royal blend tea in this recipe for any other tea flavor you’d like! Here are some variations of milk tea ice cream I am hoping to try in the future:
- Jasmine
- Earl grey
- Hojicha
- Chai
- Sencha
- Thai tea
Also, be forewarned, this recipe does use five egg YOLKS only. What to do with the whites? Make the Bravetart Swiss Meringue Buttercream that I’m always talking about in my cake posts.
The last thing to think about is the timing of making your ice cream. Because you need to cool your mixture BEFORE churning it, and then potentially let it harden it some more in the freezer, I highly recommend starting your ice cream the night before. Alright, that’s all I have to say, so without further ado, here’s the milk tea ice cream recipe!
Royal Milk Tea Ice Cream
Equipment
- Ice cream maker
- Fine mesh strainer
Ingredients
- 1 1/2 cups whole milk
- 1 1/2 cups heavy cream
- 3/4 cup sugar
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 1 tbsp loose leaf black tea
- 5 egg yolks
Instructions
- To make the custard for the ice cream, dump all ingredients in a saucepan and whisk to combine.
- Cook on low-medium heat, stirring constantly, until the mixture is thick enough to coat the back of a spoon. This means if you stick a spoon in the mixture and pull it back out, you can wipe a finger down the back of the spoon and it will leave a clear mark where the custard used to be. Be careful not to overcook or you will have lumpy scrambled eggs in your ice cream.
- Strain the mixture using a fine mesh sieve to get all the tea leaves out. Chill in the fridge at least a few hours or until the ice cream base is completely cold. I leave mine overnight. Meanwhile, make sure your ice cream maker is ready.
- When your ice cream mixture is cooled, churn in your ice cream maker according to your machine's instructions. Mine took about 25 minutes.
- Eat immediately at soft serve consistency, or put in freezer to harden to scoopable ice cream texture.
I hope you enjoyed this recipe! If you are looking for an easy, egg-free ice cream recipe, I recommend my friend Shannon’s recipe here.