17 Best Milk Tea Recipes - Oh, How Civilized (2024)

Tea and milk together is milk tea and with the addition of boba, it’s boba milk tea. Here are 17 delicious milk tea drink recipes that can easily be made at home.

• Milk tea is easy to make with these step-by-step recipes.
• Refreshing and delicious, it’s a great year-round drink.
• Recipes include a brown sugar milk tea, matcha bubble tea, and layered strawberry matcha milk tea.

Homemade Milk Tea

Any drink that’s made with tea and milk is called milk tea. This includes bubble teas and tea lattes.

Milk tea is so easy to make at home, including bubble tea (using store-bought tapioca balls).

The trick to making delicious milk tea is brewing the tea perfectly so that it’s not bitter. That comes down to the steep time and the water temperature.

To make the tea ahead of time, steep the tea, cool it down, then store it in the refrigerator for up to 4 days. You’ll have tea ready to go anytime you want to make milk tea.

Any iced milk tea can be made even more delicious by adding cold foam. It’s super easy to make at home using a French press or an electric milk frother.

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17 Best Milk Tea Recipes

1. Brown Sugar Boba Milk Tea

Deliciously rich and sweet brown sugar is balanced with a robust black tea and creamy milk.

Black tea, brown sugar, store-bought tapioca balls, and milk are so good together.

The brown sugar is made into a syrup and cooked with the tapioca balls to create a sweet shortcut.

PRO TIP: For boba milk tea, the tea quality doesn’t need to be the absolute best since it’s being made with milk and sugar so you can use tea sachets or tea bags.

Ingredients: Black tea, water, tapioca balls, brown sugar, milk, ice,

2. Iced Chai Latte from Scratch

The best chai is the one you make yourself, from scratch, since you can tailor it to your taste.

To make this drink, I went through multiple trials and errors until I got it to exactly how I wanted it.

Sweet, spicy, and milky, my iced chai latte is one you’ll fall in love it, like I did!

This recipe includes a chai concentrate made from a blend of spices. Make a batch of just the chai concentrate to have chai drinks whenever you want.

A comment from a reader: “Great recipe! I just made some and it is so delicious.”

Ingredients: Black tea, water, honey, cinnamon, star anise, cardamom, cloves, nutmeg, ginger, peppercorns, vanilla extract, milk, ice

3. Starbucks Iced Chai Tea Latte

This is the EASIEST way to make iced chai latte since all you need are 3 ingredients (store-bought chai concentrate, milk, and ice).

The secret to making this drink exactly like the one at Starbucks is using a chai concentrate that tastes the same.

There’s no prepping with making this drink since all that’s involved is putting the 3 ingredients into a cup. That’s it!

A comment by a reader: “Since the closest Starbucks is 45 minutes away (I live in the sticks) now I can enjoy the same flavor chai tea at home anytime I want.”

Ingredients: Chai Latte concentrate, milk, ice

4. Matcha Boba Milk Tea

A pretty layered matcha latte with tapioca balls.

This drink is made with oat milk, which pairs so well with matcha AND it helps to create the layers.

The trick to making boba milk tea exceptionally delicious is with very warm (almost hot) tapioca balls since that’s when they have the perfect texture.

A tip for buying matcha is to look at the color. The brighter green it is, the better the quality (and more expensive).

A comment by a reader: “Love this, its sweet but not to sweet. And the tapioca pearls really earned their flavor after you leave them in the dark brown sugar syrup. I would for sure give this a five star rating!”

Ingredients: Matcha, water, tapioca balls, brown sugar, oat milk, ice

5. Starbucks Iced Matcha Latte

One of the easiest drinks to recreate, the homemade Starbucks Iced Matcha Latte is made with just 4 ingredients and takes just seconds.

Matcha, simple sugar, milk, and ice are all you need. Everything but the ice is shaken in a co*cktail shaker, then poured into a cup with ice.

No co*cktail shaker? Use a jar with a tight lid.

To make it decadent, add cold foam!

Ingredients: Matcha, simple syrup, milk, ice

6. Strawberry Matcha Latte Boba Milk Tea

Sweet strawberry puree on the bottom with tapioca balls, oat milk in the middle, and matcha on top, this boba milk tea is refreshing and delicious.

Matcha and strawberries are a great combination of flavors and it’s not surprising it’s tasty in this drink.

The tapioca balls are store-bought and are cooked in water to get them soft, plump, and chewy.

Ingredients: Matcha, tapioca balls, strawberry syrup, oat milk, water, ice

7. Starbucks Iced London Fog Tea Latte

Recreate this easy copycat iced tea latte at home the same way it’s made at Starbucks.

London Fog is a tea latte that’s made with Earl Grey tea (and only with Earl Grey tea), vanilla syrup, milk, and ice.

Earl Grey tea has notes of bergamot, a citrus fruit. The Earl Grey tea that Starbucks uses to make their London Fog has a hint of lavender.

To make this drink, the tea is brewed hot first. It’s quickly chilled by shaking it in a co*cktail shaker with ice.

Ingredients: Earl Grey tea, vanilla syrup, milk, ice

8. Iced Brown Sugar Tea Latte

A layered iced tea latte with black tea, milk, and brown sugar. It’s sweet, refreshing, and so easy to make.

Brown sugar and black tea are a perfect pairing. English Breakfast tea is used to make this drink but you can use any black tea you have.

See my tricks to making this caffeinated, layered drink.

Ingredients: English Breakfast tea, water, milk, brown sugar, ice

9. Taro Boba Milk Tea

Taro, green tea, milk, sugar, ice, and tapioca balls all go into making this bubble tea.

Taro is a root vegetable and it has a nutty flavor. Taro powder is used in this recipe and it’s what gives the drink the natural purple color.

Get step-by-step instructions and tips on how to make this purple drink just like the bubble tea shops.

Ingredients: Taro powder, tapioca balls, green tea, sweetened condensed milk, milk, water, ice

10. Purple Sweet Potato Boba Milk Tea

Purple sweet potato is a lot like taro or ube, but it’s a different root vegetable.

Refreshing purple sweet potato bubble tea is a delicious iced beverage that’s made with 6 ingredients.

The purple sweet potato flavor and color in this drink comes from dehydrated purple sweet potatoes.

It’s caffeine-free since it doesn’t contain any tea but it’s still called a bubble tea since it contains tapioca balls.

Ingredients: Purple sweet potato powder, tapioca balls, brown sugar, milk, water, ice

11. Iced Earl Grey Tea Latte

Earl Grey tea is steeped in hot water then cooled down by adding cold water. Then heavy cream, sugar, and salt are lightly whipped until it forms soft peaks.

The cooled down Earl Grey tea is poured into a cup with ice then topped with the pourable whipped cream.

My trick is to use a handheld milk frother to make the lightly whipped cream in seconds.

The salt in the whipped cream brings out the sweetness from the sugar even more and it’s a perfect combination with bold and brisk Earl Grey tea.

Ingredients: Earl Grey tea, water, heavy cream, sugar, salt, and ice

12. Iced Black Sesame Latte

Black sesame is delicious iced latte with its nutty, toasty taste. It’s a popular ingredient in Asian desserts and drinks.

This caffeine-free drink is made with black sesame paste, brown sugar, milk, water, and ice.

Black sesame paste is made with finely ground black sesame.It gets mixed with hot water to loosen the thick paste to make the drink.

Black sesame seeds are high in iron, zinc, fatty acids, and antioxidants.

Ingredients: Black sesame paste, brown sugar, water, ice, milk

13. Jasmine Boba Milk Tea

Jasmine green milk tea is combined with tapioca balls (boba) to make this Jasmine Boba Milk Tea. This drink is also called Jasmine Green Bubble Tea.

There’s caffeine in this drink from the green tea.

Jasmine green tea is a scented tea usually made by combining jasmine petals with green tea leaves. It has a light floral taste.

If possible, use an electric kettle with temperature settings to take out the guess work with how hot the water should be to make green tea. Green tea can easily get bitter if not brewed properly.

Ingredients: Jasmine green tea, tapioca balls, water, sugar, ice, milk

14. Thai Iced Tea with Boba

Thai Iced Tea with Boba, or Thai Bubble Tea, is a sweet and refreshing drink made with a Thai tea mix, black tea, brown sugar, evaporated milk, sweetened condensed milk, ice, and tapioca balls.

There is black tea already in the Thai tea mix but I add more to boost the tea flavor in the drink.

The only way to make it authentic, like you would get it at Thai restaurants, is to use store-bought Thai tea mix, evaporated milk, and sweetened condensed milk.

The bright orange color of the drink comes from the Thai tea mix.

Ingredients: Thai tea mix, black tea, tapioca balls, water, brown sugar, evaporated milk, sweetened condensed milk, ice

15. Strawberry Butterfly Pea Flower Boba Milk Tea

Celebrate 4th of July all year with this layered red (strawberry syrup), white (milk), and blue (butterfly pea flower tea) drink with boba.

The blue layer is from butterfly pea flower tea, which is an herbal tea that’s naturally blue and caffeine-free.

This drink can be made with any milk you like, but it tastes great with oat milk.

Ingredients: Butterfly pea flower tea, tapioca balls, water, brown sugar, strawberry syrup, milk, ice

16. Iced Milk Tea

A refreshing iced milk tea recipe made with black tea, sweetened condensed milk, and half & half. It’s sweet, creamy, and hits the spot on hot summer days.

Half & half is combined with sweetened condensed milk to sweeten the robust, strong black tea.

A comment from a reader: “Tried to make this for this first time, it looks so pretty when you pour down the mixed milk.”

Ingredients: Black tea, sweetened condensed milk, half & half, water, ice

17. Milk Tea with Brown Sugar

A basic hot milk tea recipe made creamy with half & half and perfectly sweet with brown sugar.

This is the recipe that takes your average milk tea recipe and takes it up a notch.

Tip: Only use half & half if you want to get the pretty swirls since it won’t work quite as well with milk.

Ingredients: Black tea, brown sugar, water, half & half

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