Cocktail · Served at The Inauguration (#1)
Clarified Thai tea cocktail
Cha Tra Mue rum milk punch
This is a rum milk punch built on Cha Tra Mue Thai tea, and it's my attempt at recreating a drink I had at Bar Us in Bangkok.
You mix the tea, rum, condensed milk, evaporated milk, syrup and lime, then stir in whole milk and let it curdle on purpose. The curds trap everything cloudy, and after a slow drip through coffee filters you get a clear drink that still tastes like Thai tea.
The curdling and the drip take a few hours, so start it in the morning, or the day before.
- Yield
- About 2½ cups, roughly 5 drinks
- Time
- About 30 minutes of work, then 3 to 5 hours of curdling and dripping
Ingredients
Scale
Thai tea base
- 2 cupswater
- 5 tbspCha Tra Mue Thai tea mix (2.5 tbsp per cup)
Cocktail mix (before clarification)
- 2 cupsbrewed Thai tea, cooled
- ¾ cupPlantation 3 Stars rum
- 3 tbspcondensed milk
- 2 tbspevaporated milk
- 3 tbspsimple syrup, or to taste
- ¼ cupfresh lime juice
- ½ cupwhole milk (for clarification only)
Method
- Boil the water and take it off the heat.
- Add the tea mix. Stir, cover and steep 3 to 5 minutes, closer to 5.
- Strain through a fine mesh or a coffee filter. No particles should get through.
- Cool completely to room temperature, 1 to 2 hours.
- In a pitcher, combine the tea, rum, condensed milk, evaporated milk, simple syrup and lime juice. Whisk until the condensed milk is fully mixed in.
- Add the whole milk. Stir gently for 30 seconds. It will curdle.
- Cover. Leave 2 to 4 hours at room temperature, or refrigerate overnight.
- Strain very gently through coffee filters set over a fine mesh, or through cheesecloth. Do not break the curds. Give it 30 to 60 minutes. It should come through clear. If it's cloudy, strain it again.
- Bottle and keep in the fridge until you pour it.
Notes
- You can use coconut nectar in place of the simple syrup.
- It keeps a few days in the fridge and is better made a day ahead, with the curds left overnight.
