Thai Iced Tea

This iced tea is transliterated as "Cha Yen" in Thai, a language of the Tai Kadai language family (also known as Kra Dai languages) of southeastern Asia. Use black tea for this recipe and the tea should be fairly strong, as the ice will dilute the tea. Real loose leaf "Thai tea" is available in some supermarkets and Asian stores, and from what I understand, most, if not all, brands contain the food dye that gives the tea its "orangish" color. I've tried to duplicate the color by using regular red and yellow food coloring, but it didn't work. Understand, the dye doesn't really change the taste of the tea; it just alters the color, and certain types of food dye makes some people uneasy about health side effects. Of course the sight of food does influence our perceptions, and if you've bought Thai tea in bottles or cans, it has the orange color to it. Also, chances are, if you've ordered Thai tea in a Thai restaurant, it likely had the orange color. When I first made the tea, I added some red and some yellow food coloring (just regular food coloring), but it didn't really make the tea orange in color. Now I don't use food coloring very often, so I thought my coloring might have been  in the kitchen cabinet too long, so I went out and bought some fresh food coloring, which was also another brand from what I'd had. I made the tea again, but the food coloring just didn't do it. No matter the color, Thai iced tea is sweet and sort of creamy.   

Ingredients (per cup):

1 tablespoon black tea
1 cup + of boiling water
2 tablespoons sweetened condensed milk
2 tablespoons evaporated milk
1/2 teaspoon sugar
dash of vanilla
(optional) red/yellow food coloring
ice cubes or crushed ice

In a pan, bring the tea and water for whatever amount you are making to a simmer for 2 to 3 minutes. Remove from the heat and let the tea steep for 15 minutes. Strain the tea into a large dish or a large cup (whatever can hold the amount you've made, and remember, it needs to be able to hold HOT liquid) and add the sugar, the vanilla (just a drop or two per cup only) and the sweetened condensed milk, then stir to dissolve the sugar and mix the ingredients. You can also try food coloring at this time, if you'd like (good luck!). Let the tea cool for about 10 minutes, then fill each glass about 2/3 of the way with crushed ice (about half way, if using ice cubes), and pour in the tea. Add the canned evaporated milk on top. Best to use a straw for drinking. I read 20 to 25 recipes for Thai iced tea, and some people drizzle in both the sweetened condensed milk and the evaporated milk, leaving a bottom layer of the dark tea. Other people whisk the tea to give it some froth. 
  

WORD HISTORY:
Chest-This word is closely related to "cistern," a word borrowed from Latin-based French, and Latin  borrowed it from Greek. "Chest" goes back to Indo European "kisteh," which meant, "container of woven twigs;." thus, "basket." This gave transliterated Ancient Greek "kiste," meaning, "basket, box." Latin borrowed the word as "cista," meaning, "box, chest (having a hinged top);" thus also, "casket." It was borrowed by Germanic in the 3rd Century as "kistah," with the same meaning. This later gave Old English (Anglo-Saxon) both "cest" (box, chest) and "cist" (casket, chest), which melded into "cheste," before the modern version. By the second half of the 1300s, the word also began to be used for "upper torso," from the idea, "protective box for the upper torso," which gradually began to replace "breast" as the word for the upper torso (German still uses their form of the word breast, "Brust," with that meaning). Relatives in the Germanic languages: German "Kiste" (box, chest, crate), Low German "Kist" (chest, box, casket), West Frisian "kiste" (chest, crate, box), Dutch "kist" (box, chest, casket), Swedish "kista" (casket, chest), Danish and Norwegian "kiste" (chest, crate), Icelandic "kista" (chest, trunk).