You know of regular Thai tea: the famous sweet and creamy orange milk tea. But have you heard of its sister, green Thai tea? They couldn’t be more different!

Green Thai tea is a jasmine tea with pandan, vanilla, and mint notes that is sweet and floral. You can prepare it exactly like Thai tea, and you get a sweet and creamy green tea that is deliciously refreshing.

With the sweet cream cold foam, it’s even more decadent. Here’s a recipe for making the best sweet cream cold foam Thai green tea you can impress friends and family with!

What is Green Thai Tea?

Green Thai Tea is Jasmine green tea infused with herbs and spices. The spices vary from brand to brand but generally include pandan leaves and mint.

It’s hard to pinpoint the flavors in green Thai tea, as the most famous brand, ChaTraMue, doesn’t disclose the exact ingredients on its tea cans (it just says natural flavorings).

What Does Green Thai Tea Taste Like?

However, from taste, green Thai tea has a very floral-forward taste. It is very aromatic and, when mixed with condensed milk, is very pleasant and creamy.

Tasting notes include vanilla, pandan, mint, and star anise. Some people describe it as fruity, but I think it leans more floral and herbal.

Thai Tea vs. Green Thai Tea

Green Thai tea and regular Thai tea are not the same. Thai tea tastes like a spiced black tea with hints of cardamom, star anise, and other spices. With condensed milk, Thai tea is also sweet and creamy without the floral jasmine taste of Green Thai tea.

Besides taste, the most significant difference between the two is color. Thai tea is a vibrant orange, while Green Thai tea is a bright green.

The bright color is all artificial, but without it, these teas would not be as iconic or recognizable as they are now.

Green Thai Tea vs. Matcha

Although in appearance Green Thai tea looks like matcha, it is not. Green Thai tea is made from jasmine green tea leaves, while matcha is finely ground young green tea leaves.

Green Thai tea leaves are infused with natural flavors like pandan and mint that give it a floral and fresh taste. It’s incredibly aromatic and requires brewing before use.

Matcha, on the other hand, gets its flavor from how you grow and process the young green tea leaves. It’s finely ground and whisked with water before drinking by itself or with milk. Generally, it has an earthy, nutty, and umami taste with a slightly bitter aftertaste.

Indeed, the only thing that is similar between Green Thai tea and matcha is that they are both green in color and tea.

How to Make Green Thai Tea

Just like most teas, to make Green Thai tea, you brew the leaves in hot water for 3-5 minutes until well steeped. Then, like Thai Tea, dissolve sugar or condensed milk into the tea while it’s hot.

Usually, it’s poured onto a full cup of crushed ice and topped with evaporated milk for extra creaminess. This gives it that characteristic creamy flavor that is hard to recreate without it!

You’ll see Thai street vendors brew dozens of cups one after the other and aerate the tea using a giant tea sock. While it’s only $1 in Thailand, the tea brewing process takes a lot of skill and patience. The result is an ultra-creamy milk tea that is to die for.

What is Sweet Cream Cold Foam?

If you’ve ever had Starbucks, you’ll know what this cult favorite drink topper is. Sweet cream cold foam is heavy cream, milk, and sugar whipped until lightly frothy.

It’s a heavenly combination that people top their coffee or tea drinks with, especially at Starbucks. It adds a sweet, milky addition to any drink and creates a nice frothy texture.

It’s really easy to make, especially if you have a handheld frother or whisk. You can also add different syrups, sugars, or sweeteners to create different flavors of cold foam.

How to Make Sweet Cream Cold Foam

You only need heavy cream, sugar, and milk to make sweet cream cold foam. You might wonder why milk is necessary when there is heavy cream. It’s because heavy cream becomes too stiff when you whip it, and you’ll have whipped cream instead of cold foam.

Food Science Break: Whipped cream is a foam formed when a substance suspends gas bubbles in itself. When you whip heavy cream, the milk proteins surround the air bubbles and stabilize them. Then, the fat joins in and stabilizes the air in the cream. The higher the fat content, the more stable the whipped cream!

So, to ensure that our sweet cream cold foam is pourable, we add a little milk to thin out the cream. This ensures that the cream never becomes whipped cream.

Also, if you accidentally make whipped cream, you can always add milk to “de-whip” the mixture. However, whipped cream on coffee or matcha is also delicious.

How to Make Green Thai Tea Dairy-Free

You can make Green Thai tea without milk or condensed milk and add a slice of lemon for a refreshing iced tea version.

But if you want a milk version, sub the condensed milk for a vegan alternative like condensed oat or coconut milk. Then, you can use any non-dairy alternative milk instead of evaporated milk.

Tips

Here are some tips on making a yummy sweet cream cold foam Green Thai Tea:

• If you’re unsure how long to brew your tea, brew it for 3 minutes, and then use a spoon to taste it. If you’d like it stronger, let the tea steep and taste it every minute after.
• Dissolve the condensed milk into the tea when it’s hot or warm instead of cold. Sugar dissolves much easier in hot liquids (science)!
• You can use green Thai tea mix instead of tea leaves in this recipe. Instead of brewing tea, you’ll use hot water to dissolve the green Thai tea mix.