Did I get you excited? I hope I did, because I love Thai Tea.
I REALLY want to make a thai tea flavor and have a few ideas where to start but could use some feedback before I order flavors.
"Thai tea is made from strongly-brewed black tea, but other spices like tamarind, star anise, or orange blossom water are infused as well."
I know it's a certain type of black tea, which I'd like to perform a tea extraction to use. I could use help figuring out exactly what kind of tea would work best for that. I don't need help with the extraction, rather picking which tea to use.
I know NN has a tamarind flavor I am going to try. Plenty of anise flavors out there to try as well. And maybe a hint of FA Orange or a mandarin flavor at a small percentage, maybe not.
Other than that I'm imagining a milkstone-esque body for the cream, maybe with a bolder coconut background. I don't expect this to be done soon am just spitballing, but if anyone loves thai tea as much as I do, I'd appreciate your feedback. Thanks :)
Hmm, sounds interesting! I like your idea! From my stash of flavors, I am going to try this:
1.5% Black Tea (FA)
2% Tamarind'oh (NN)
1.5% Fresh Cream (FA)
1% Malted Milk (TFA)
0.5% Coconut (FA)
0.5% Mandarin
1 drop per 10ml Anise (FA)
1 drp/10ml Liquid Amber
I'm hoping that Liquid Amber with the Mandarin imparts that Orange Blossom feel, and the Malted Milk provides a bit of that condensed/evaporated milk flavor. I don't have much in the way of floral flavors, but I'd be tempted to throw in some Jasmin, if I had it.
After tasting this, I think I might have gone too high with the Tamarind'oh - but it might could just need some steeping time. This is my first time using it so I'm not sure what to expect. I might add a drop of Cardamom (FA) - /u/smoakleyyy had the right idea with that - then push the Black Tea up to 2%, and the Coconut to 1%. I think the Fresh Cream and Malted Milk works pretty well.
That looks about like what I would try, I haven't tried a tamarind flavor yet and to be honest I don't know what it tastes like. Gotta get my hands on the stuff before I could imagine what yours tastes like but any attempts from everyone only improves mine to come. Thank you!
I'm not a huge fan of the complimentary flavors you've mentioned (namely tamarind and anise), but I can offer my thoughts and what I've come across as far as black tea flavors are concerned. I am a huge fan of black tea (the kind you drink, not the kind you vape).
Due to what I've heard regarding TFA Black Tea, I'd decided never to go for it. Most of my tasting notes are using a Quasar, dual coil, 24 ga., 7 wraps a piece around a 2.5 mm bit (about 0.2 ohms).
FA Black Tea: This reminds me of black tea that you've steeped for a touch too long. It has a bitterness to it that's not really pleasant. That said, it's a true black tea flavor. If you are to use it, use it at less than 4%, as the bitterness can become a bit overbearing above.
FW Black Tea: This is the black tea that I think of when I'm thinking sweetened black tea. It has all the qualities of black tea except for that touch of bitterness. It's smooth and light, as if you'd added a touch of sweetener and cream. Be wary though. This black tea is what I would consider a flavor-eater. Whatever you mix with it had better be pretty potent, and increase in potency as it ages as it will, no doubt, have to stave off the black teas encroachment. It's a pretty finicky flavor, but if you get it to work it'll be worth your while.
As far as creaminess in your tea is concerned, consider using a combination of TFA Dairy and FA Meringue at low percentages (something like 0.50-1.00% of each) to add a hint of creaminess.
I made this once and it was pretty delicious http://www.food.com/recipe/thai-iced-tea-33910
Going off that recipe you could do
- Tea Extract
- FA Cardamom
- Clove
- Vienna Cream / Fresh Cream / TFA Dairy / FA Meringue etc (or a combo of some of these maybe)
I haven't used cardamom, any teas, any clove, or TFA dairy so I wouldn't know where to begin guessing at percentages.
This might get you a good base at least. IDK what tamarind tastes like, maybe its similar to Cardamom? Also throw in an anise of some kind and I think you would round out a nice vape.
I spent many years getting into, researching, and developing my palate for high quality, loose, whole leaf teas.
Explain to me what the black tea flavor is like, and I can point you in the right direction.
It's likely a ceylon or assam black tea. These two are often used as the base for tea concoctions that add in other flavors.
Wikipedia confirms it's a ceylon or assam(ish).
A while ago I found this and its great. I was able to score a 120ml bottle when they were having a sale. Its not the strongest flavor juice I've ever had, but its exactly the right flavor. That said, I used to work at a thai place and we didn't put anything extra in the Thai iced tea. Brew, filter, chill, sweetened condensed milk. It was made with Thai tea which was procured at the Asian grocery store (google Thai tea leaves). We brewed it in a big perk coffee maker.
Thanks so much, very insightful. My motive for using more additives is I believe I will lose some of the essence of the flavor through the extraction process. The orange, tamarind, anise will hopefully bring the flavor back to life. Again, this is all hypothetical as of now. Thanks for the chime in!
It's been forever since I've had it, and the last few times I've been to the markets that carry it I can't even find the stuff, but Thai tea is one of the best sweet drinks I've ever had.
If you like I can locate some tea online and get to tasting (not that encouragement is necessary - I might do it anyway just because this thread reminded me that the stuff exists). Not sure how much more help I could be, but I can give it a shot. IIRC, a lot of the time it's served with a layer of condensed milk, so once you've figured out your tea you may want to try nailing that part down. TFA Milk/Dairy might be a decent starting point for that.
I definitely remember faint citrus notes, as well.
Forgot about TFA Milk/Dairy. I was on the boat of people who thought it was discontinued because it's on the bulk section only, and I didnt search it while logged in to my bulk account :) I'm definitely going to pick some up soon, Not a fan of their malted milk/whipped cream, hey both smell and taste plasticy to me. TY for the input and yea I'm, not a huge tea connoisseur so your help with finding an easily available tea to work into an extraction would be wonderful, but not by any means necessary. Thanks again!
I don't really know the profile of a Thai Tea flavoring but I am a huge fan of Earl Grey. I too like a little creaminess to my mix and usually around 5-6% of sweet cream usually does the trick. TFA black tea has a weird taste to it so I don't suggest using that as a base, unless someone can give you better guidance on the approach of that flavor. Lastly, as for the coconut background, make sure you only use around .5% - 1% depending on which coconut you use because it could easily overpower the rest of the flavors.
I feel the same about tfa black tea, I noticed TFA green tea has a much mellower tea taste and is not necesarily "green" tea to me and I may be able to use that to get the earthy backnotes in thai tea. It's such a unique taste, I'm looking forward to the quest :) TY for your input.
Has anyone gotten it down? I've have gone through about at least 17 formulas with TFA and FW extracts using FW's black tea mixing with milk, sweet cream, whipped cream, malted milk extracts for about a year already. I have gotten pretty close to it but it's just sort of lacking that half & half/creamer taste and trying to stay away from the buttery notes as well. If you guys still have no idea to what it tastes like here's a cheap version you can do. Go to McDonalds and get their sweet tea ask for 2-3 pumps of vanilla and ask for 3 creamers (they may look at you funny) mix it together and there's your cheap Thai tea.