Vegan Thai Iced Tea

from http://minimalistbaker.com/vegan-thai-iced-tea/

This was GOOD! I put in a couple of cubes of almond milk (frozen in an ice tray). Next time I want to try the 2nd recipe below with less sugar.

Serves: 4

• 4 cups (960 ml) filtered water
• 2 heaping Tbsp loose leaf black tea*
• 1/4 cup (60 ml) maple syrup or agave nectar (This was TOO sweet. Next time I will only use 1/8 cup and maybe less than that next time.)
• 1/4 cup (55 g) packed light muscovado sugar, organic brown sugar, or coconut sugar
• 1 tsp pure vanilla extract
• 1 14-ounce (414 ml) can light coconut milk (or sub vanilla almond milk, rice milk, or other milk of choice)
• optional: 1-2 Tbsp (15-30 ml) dark rum per serving (for a cocktail option)

Instructions

1. In a large saucepan, bring water to a boil.
2. Once boiling, remove from heat and allow bubbles to subside, then add tea and stir. Let steep for 5 minutes.
3. Pour tea over a strainer into a pitcher or bowl to remove the tea leaves. At this time add maple syrup, muscovado sugar and vanilla. Whisk to thoroughly combine and dissolve sugar crystals, then sample and adjust sweetness as needed. Set in the refrigerator to chill (2-3 hours).
4. Once tea is chilled, prepare serving glasses with generous portions of ice (see photo). Fill with tea until 3/4 full, then top with coconut milk. Stir gently and enjoy.
5. Recipe yields enough for 4 generous servings. Add dark rum to taste to make it a creamy cocktail!

Notes

*In place of the black tea, you can use a comparable amount of Thai Black Tea Mix (such as this one). However, these mixes typically contain yellow dye and I don't know how vegan-friendly they are. Based on my research, you can replicate the flavor by adding vanilla extract to black tea, as I've done above.
*Method adapted from White on Rice Couple.

Nutrition Information

Serving size: 1 glass (of 4) Calories: 147 Fat: 5.3 g Saturated fat: 4.9 g Carbohydrates: 26.8 g Sugar: 20.5 g Sodium: 38 mg Protein: 1.3 g

From White on Rice Couple:

• 4 cups (960ml) water
• 4 organic black tea bags
• 3/4 cup (150g) granulated sugar (again, I think this would be too much)
• 2 anise stars
• 1 green cardamom pod, smashed
• 2 whole cloves
• about 1 cup (240ml) half and half (some folks also use coconut milk, whole milk, sweetened condensed milk)
• ice

1. Bring water to boil and add the tea bags, sugar, anise starts, cardamom pod and cloves. Stir until all the sugar disolves. Gently boil tea for about 3 minutes. Remove from heat.
2. Allow tea to steep for at least 30 minutes and allow it to cool. The more concentrated the tea flavor, the better the Thai tea tastes. We prefer to allow the tea bags to seep for about 2 hours for maximum flavor. During this time, the thai tea can cool.
3. Remove the tea bags and spoon out the anise starts, cardamom pod and cloves. If tea is still warm, we will refrigerate it so it can be chilled.
4. You can make this ahead of time and have the organic Thai tea chilling in the fridge.
5. Fill glasses with ice and pour in organic Thai tea leaving enough room to fill in your half and half (or other creamer). For an 8 oz. glass we like to add about 2-3 tablespoons of half and half for a creamier flavor.