Rich, sweet, and deeply satisfying, it’s no wonder that caramel is a popular flavor among milk tea enthusiasts. That’s probably why you’re here. You want to make caramel bubble tea right at home!
In our opinion, delicious caramel milk tea is fantastic both hot and cold. Plus, its creamy texture is perfect for customizing with your favorite milk tea toppings and add-ins.
You know… boba pearls or tapioca pearls, egg pudding, jelly, popping boba pearls, lychee etc.
The beauty of the caramel milk tea recipe we’re sharing today lies in its simplicity. You’ll only need 3 ingredients. You can add more or less milk than what we will mention in order to match your preference of sweetness.
Let’s get to making our drink, grab your favorite black tea, a bit of sugar, your preferred milk, and let’s make a caramel milk tea right at home! See the ingredients list below.
Prep Time
1 Minutes
Cook Time
10-15 Minutes
Total Time
15-20 Minutes
Yield
2-4 Servings
Ingredients you'll need
for making
Caramel Milk Tea
- 2 tablespoons granulated sugar
- 2 cups of your preferred milk or dairy
- 2 black tea bags (or equivalent loose leaf black tea)
How to Make Caramel Milk Tea
Step 1
Up first, make your caramel.
Pour the granulated sugar into a saucepan set at medium heat, and as it warms, begin to stir gently. Your dry sugar will gradually dissolve into a liquid.
Note that this process requires both patience and attention. At first, it may seem like nothing is happening, but once the sugar begins to liquify it can burn quite easily. Stir often!
Continue stirring slowly as the sugar turns from a clear or translucent syrup into familiar shades of caramel.
*Quick tip – Reduce the heat if the liquid is bubbling too vigorously or begins smoking.
Step 2
Once your viscous sugar has transformed into a lovely caramel color, briefly remove the pot from the heat and stir in your milk. Oat milk works great here as the natural flavor complements the subtle nuttiness of caramel. Feel free to use what you prefer the most!
Don’t be alarmed if you feel the caramel hardening in the pot as you stir; the hot syrup is simply reacting to the cooler milk and will re-dissolve in the next step.
Step 3
Add your black tea bags or loose leaf black tea, then place the pot back over medium heat and bring to a gentle boil. Continue stirring slowly until the caramel has fully dissolved into the milk.
When your caramel milk tea has reached the low boil and the tea is aromatic, remove from heat, cover with a lid, and allow it to steep for 1-3 minutes, depending on how strong you like your milk tea.
You can find our favorite loose leaf black tea here if you want to try some new teas.
Step 4
Your caramel milk tea is ready!
Remove and discard the tea bags, or pour your milk tea through a strainer if you’ve used loose leaf tea.
This milk tea is deliciously comforting served hot, so feel free to carefully pour into a mug and enjoy straight away.
If you prefer an iced caramel milk tea, allow the fragrant concoction to cool to room temperature before pouring over ice. That wasn’t too bad, right?
Variations of Caramel Milk Tea
While caramel milk tea is wonderful as-is, the sweet, adaptable flavor lends itself nicely to fun variations.
Caramel Milk Tea with Boba Pearls
Make it a caramel milk bubble tea with the addition of boba pearls. You can learn how to make boba pearls from scratch at home or you can find ready-made boba pearls in 5 minutes.
Caramel Milk Tea with Whipped Coffee
Caramel and coffee is a classic flavor combination, so try topping your caramel milk tea with a dollop of whipped coffee. Otherwise known as Dalgona coffee. We have a full recipe for this in our blog.
Caramel Milk Tea with Sea Salt Cream
Love salted caramel? Make a sea salt cream topping for your caramel milk tea by whipping 60 mL (1/4 cup) of heavy cream with 2-3 pinches of sea salt flakes.
Vanilla Caramel Milk Tea Combo
As you’re preparing the caramel milk tea, snip off a small piece of a vanilla pod, drop it into the warm milk, and let it steep with the black tea. The best of both worlds!
Add Personality to Your Caramel Milk Tea
Top your milk tea with a sprinkle of cocoa powder, cinnamon, or freshly grated nutmeg.
Caramel Milk Tea Cocktail
Turn your tea into a tipple with a splash of bourbon or whiskey.
Let us know if you try any of those variations above! With its minimal ingredients and quick preparation, it’s easy to make a delicious caramel milk tea any day of the week.
Thanks for reading with us here at Talk Boba. Have a recipe suggestion? Please comment it down below and we’ll make it happen! If you haven’t already, join 42,000+ boba lovers on our Instagram page and join the conversations. We also have a Facebook group that people share recipes and tips.
Thank you Summer R. for contributing this article for Talk Boba. Have a look at her awesome blog Eat Something Go Somewhere. She has a big appetite for culture and different cuisines. If you like food, her articles are worth a taste!
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3 thoughts on “How to Make Caramel Milk Tea”
How much water do we need to this recipe?
This recipe doesn’t call for any water. Instead, we steep the black tea in milk so we don’t lose any creaminess. Hope this helps!
This was nice.
I tried to not follow the recipe by cooking the sugar with water and with corn syrup and it didn’t work. So when I finally just followed the recipe, Surprisingly*sarcasm*, it worked!!!
Sometimes, I need to stick to the recipe…
I loved the burnt-ish notes in the drink and the strong tea flavor. It is truly a beautiful drink. Next time, I will add boba.