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Home » Drinks and Syrups » Vegan Thai Iced Tea Concentrate

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Vegan Thai Iced Tea Concentrate

June 18, 2019 by Kathy Hester 12 Comments

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Making your own Vegan Thai Iced Tea Concentrate is easy. All you need is some tea, a few spices, and little time. You can make it with sweetened condensed coconut milk to make it in the traditional style or make it sugar-free with just some unsweetened nondairy milk. The choice is yours!

Iced Thai Tea Concentrate with Sweetened Condensed Coconut Milk in an I Love Vegan glass

How Do You Make Vegan Thai Iced Tea Concentrate?

The concentrate isn’t hard to make and the ingredients aren’t as unusual as you might think. My homemade version doesn’t have is artificial colors like the Thai tea mixes have. Instead, my concentrate uses beets to give it that red color.

I have two sets of directions so  you can make it in your slow cooker or on the stove top.

Blue pottery plate of cut beets, cinnamon sticks, cardamom pods, and star anise

Can Vegans Drink Thai Iced Tea?

If you go to a Thai restaurant, chances are the iced Thai tea will not be vegan. Typically it’s made with sweetened condensed milk.

Some places will use regular canned coconut milk in its place, but my favorite one does not. But that’s okay it’s easy enough to make my own. 

Iced Thai Tea Concentrate colored with beets and infused with spices

What is Thai Iced Tea Made Of?

You can buy Thai tea at the Asian market, but it usually has artificial colors and sometimes even artificial flavors. You can make a vegan Thai iced tea even just using brewed plain or vanilla black tea, but my recipe adds a few spices too.

The tea is important but the sweet creamy part is what turns the tea into a milky Thai tea. I have a recipe to make a sweetened condensed coconut milk that really is rich and makes it as far as I’m concerned.

Iced Thai Tea Concentrate with Sweetened Condensed Coconut Milk | HealthySlowCooking.com

Iced Thai Tea Concentrate

Yield: 6 cups
Prep Time: 10 minutes
Cook Time: 20 minutes
Additional Time: 4 hours
Total Time: 4 hours 30 minutes

This is much easier to clean up if you put the spices in a re-usable muslin tea bag. It takes more work to get all the cardamom seeds out without it. You can throw the whole bag into the slow cooker and it's easy to take out.

Ingredients

  • 6 cups 1500ml water
  • 1 small red beet, quartered (optional for color)
  • 2 whole cinnamon sticks, about 3 inches long
  • 4 whole star anise
  • 4 whole cloves
  • 1 teaspoon cardamom seeds
  • 8 teabags black, green, or rooibos (or about 8 to 10 teaspoons of loose tea in a very large tea ball or muslin tea bag)
  • 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
  • 2 teaspoons orange flower water
  • 1/2 cup coconut sugar (or other sweetener to taste, or leave unsweetened if you prefer)

Instructions

Stove-top Method

  1. Put water, beet and spices in a large pot. Bring to a boil, then turn heat to low and simmer for 20 minutes.
  2. Add the tea bags and steep for 5 minutes. Remove tea bags and strain tea.

Slow Cooker Method

  1. Put water, beet and spices in the slow cooker. Cook on low for 4 hours.
  2. Remove spice bag and beets. Add in tea bags to the slow cooker and turn to high. Let steep 5 minutes. Remove tea bags and add vanilla, orange flower water, and sweetener.
  3. Store in the fridge for 1 to 2 weeks. Use about ½ concentrate and ½ non-dairy milk (less if you are using the condensed coconut milk).

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Nutrition Information
Yield 6 Serving Size 1
Amount Per Serving Calories 79Total Fat 0gSaturated Fat 0gTrans Fat 0gUnsaturated Fat 0gCholesterol 0mgSodium 19mgCarbohydrates 19gFiber 1gSugar 17gProtein 0g

Nutrition information is provided from nutritionix.com as a close estimate. If you have specific health issues please put the recipe information, including the exact ingredients you use, into the nutritional calculator your Dr. recommends.

© Kathy Hester
Cuisine: asian / Category: Drinks

Can You Make Your Own Sweetened Condensed Coconut Milk to Use in Vegan Thai Iced Tea?

Back in the old days there was no other way but to make it yourself. You can buy premade Sweetened Condensed Coconut Milk, but it’s still cheaper to make your own. 

Look below this for my easy recipe to make your own. It just used two ingredients coconut milk and coconut sugar.

The other recipe I’m giving you today is for a vegan sweetened condensed coconut milk. While you can substitute any sweetener for the coconut sugar, be aware that it will thicken more with sugar rather than stevia or monk fruit.

It’s delicious in iced coffee and has enough caramel undertones that it’s at home over your vegan ice cream too.

Vegan Thai Iced Tea

Is There a Way to Make This Without Sugar?

If you want to avoid sugar, you can get evaporated coconut milk and use it or full fat canned coconut milk to make your Thai Iced Tea.

Sweetened Condensed Coconut Milk

Sweetened Condensed Coconut Milk

Yield: 16 servings (1 tablespoon)
Prep Time: 5 minutes
Cook Time: 20 minutes
Total Time: 25 minutes

This is vegan liquid gold! Sweet, rich, and creamy this homemade sweetened condensed milk substitute is perfect for a vegan Thai tea or a Vietnamese coffee.

Note: You can now buy this in many health food stores, but it is still cheaper to make.

Ingredients

  • 1 can 14.5 to 15.5 ounces coconut milk (light or regular)
  • 1/2 cup coconut sugar

Instructions

  1. Add the coconut milk and sugar to a saucepan. Bring almost to a boil, then lower the heat to medium-low and simmer for 20 minutes.
  2. Store in the fridge for up to a week.

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Nutrition Information
Yield 16 Serving Size 1
Amount Per Serving Calories 189Total Fat 20gSaturated Fat 18gTrans Fat 0gUnsaturated Fat 1gCholesterol 0mgSodium 12mgCarbohydrates 4gFiber 0gSugar 1gProtein 2g

Nutrition information is provided from nutritionix.com as a close estimate. If you have specific health issues please put the recipe information, including the exact ingredients you use, into the nutritional calculator your Dr. recommends.

© Kathy Hester
Cuisine: American / Category: Staples
Homemade Sweetened Condensed Coconut Milk in a mason jar

Vegan Thai Iced Tea
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Filed Under: crockpot, Drinks and Syrups, Gluten-free, No Added Oil, Slow Cooker Recipes, Soy-free, Summer Tagged With: Beet, coconut milk, Concentrate, iced thai tea, Sweetened Condensed Coconut Milk, vegan thai tea

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Comments

  1. Natalie @ Feasting on Fruit says

    June 16, 2015 at 11:18 am

    This is such a unique recipe, I’ve never even heard of it before! It looks delicious and gorgeous, and I love that turquoise plate too 🙂

    Reply
    • Kathy Hester says

      June 16, 2015 at 11:51 am

      Thank you so much!

      Reply
  2. Heidi says

    June 16, 2015 at 12:38 pm

    I love that glass! Can you tell me where you got it?

    Reply
    • Kathy Hester says

      June 16, 2015 at 1:27 pm

      I got it at Vida Vegan Con, but you can purchase it online here:

      Reply
  3. Ellen Allard says

    June 16, 2015 at 1:29 pm

    Oh, this looks divine, and so easy. And how clever to use beets for the red color. Thank you for sharing!

    Reply
    • Kathy Hester says

      June 16, 2015 at 1:31 pm

      You’re so sweet to say that!

      Reply
  4. River says

    June 16, 2015 at 5:18 pm

    Hi, just wondering how you make the actual final tea? How many parts concentrate to milk? Haven’t had it before but sounds interesting so I’d love to try x

    Reply
    • Kathy Hester says

      June 16, 2015 at 6:42 pm

      If I’m using nondairy milk, I do 1/2 tea concentrate and 1/2 nondairy milk. With the sweetened condensed coconut milk, I use 3/4 tea concentrate and 1/4 sweetened condensed coconut milk.

      Reply
  5. Annie says

    June 17, 2015 at 12:22 pm

    Just harvested a few small beets from the garden – which we grow mainly for the greens – so I’m making this TODAY and I can’t wait! I’ve missed Thai iced tea!

    Reply
  6. Rachel @ athletic avocado says

    June 19, 2015 at 6:17 pm

    this looks so refreshing! Love that there is a beet in there for natural color!

    Reply
  7. Nancy says

    June 29, 2018 at 1:29 pm

    Orange flower water isn’t something I keep on hand or will have any other use for. Is there a more practical substitute, like orange rind?

    Reply
    • Kathy Hester says

      June 29, 2018 at 10:46 pm

      You can leave it out completely. It’s not really an orange flavor though, it’s closer to rose water if you have that.

      Reply

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