Cheese brûlée milk tea is milk tea with cheese foam and topped with caramelized sugar. The cheese foam milk tea in this recipe can be served with or without the brûlée.
Equipment
- culinary torch – We use this butane torch we bought from Amazon. It’s really small and compact, so it’s perfect for lil projects like milk tea!
- electric mixer
- mixing bowl
- heat-resistant cup
As a reminder, it’s always good practice to have a fire extinguisher in your kitchen. If you’re playing with fire, do so responsibly.
Ingredients
Milk tea
- 1 cup water
- 3 bags tea of choice
- milk any kind, adjust to your preference
- ice
You can make any type of milk tea you like! We used black tea in this recipe, but oolong, green tea, jasmine, etc. are also great options. We suggest to use at least 3 bags of tea per 1 cup of water, because the tea could easily get diluted by milk and ice.
Cheese foam
- 1 tbsp sugar
- 1 tbsp cream cheese
- ¼ cup whipping cream refrigerated overnight
brûlée
- 1 tsp sugar for brûlée
How to make milk tea
There are two ways we enjoy making milk tea at home: the hot method and the cold method.
- Hot method: heat water and let tea steep for 5 min.
- Cold method: refrigerate cold water with tea overnight.
The hot method takes much less time, but we find that we get a bitter tasting tea. Be aware that if you use hot tea, it’ll easily melt the ice and dilute your milk tea. To balance this out, you may have to adjust the number of tea bags, add more ice, or add more sugar.
The cold method takes overnight, and we find that the tea tastes much smoother. And since the tea is already cold, it won’t melt the ice too fast and dilute your milk tea right away.
Either of these methods work very well with this recipe, and it’s really just a matter of preference. We prefer to use the cold method, but when we’re in need of milk tea ASAP we just brew it hot!
Finally, add milk of your choice and adjust to your preference. You can use regular milk, soymilk, oatmilk, almond milk – you name it! The milk you choose will affect the taste and creaminess of your milk tea.
How to make cheese foam
With only 3 ingredients, making cheese foam is surprisingly easy.
- Mix the sugar and cream cheese together with a spoon or hand whisk. Mix for 3 min or until it becomes smooth.
First, you want to mix the sugar and cream cheese together. Use a spoon or hand whisk to mix them thoroughly. It’ll take a few minutes to soften the cream cheese, but keep mixing until the sugar and cream cheese are completely united with a smooth texture.
We’ve tried using an electric mixer at this step, but found that the sugar and cream cheese wouldn’t mix together properly and we just ended up with chunks of cream cheese in our foam. Use the spoon to press it all against the sides of the bowl – this will get rid of any chunks.
- Add whipping cream and use an electric whisk for 2-3 minutes until you get a thick foam.
You can whip this to different consistency to your preference [soft peak, medium peak, stiff peak] – each one has its own characteristics and can be achieved by altering the whipping time.
Soft peak – whisk 1-2 min. The cream will be slightly runny and will “leak” into your milk tea when you add it. It’s very easy to pour into the milk tea, very aesthetically pleasing, and it likes to fall down to the bottom of the cup. You may need to add more foam though, because you need enough to stay on top for the brûlée.
Medium peak – whisk 2-3 minutes. The cream is thicker and will sit comfortably on top of your milk tea, then will become runny with time and heat.
Stiff peak – whisk 3-3.5 minutes. Similar to medium peak, but a little stiffer. It holds its shape if you want to shape a design to your topping.
We made medium peak foam. We liked how the sugar easily sits dry on top of it instead of getting too wet, and that after caramelizing it won’t get soggy right away. If you’re unsure of how you want the consistency, go for this.
How to brûlée the cheese foam milk tea
Now that you’ve poured a glass of iced milk tea and topped it with your cheese foam, you’re ready for the fun part!
- Top the cheese foam with sugar. Torch for 5-10 seconds or until the sugar caramelizes into a golden brown color.
It’s best to use the torch as fast as possible [