Yuenyeung (Hong Kong-Style Coffee Milk Tea)

This hybridized drink delivers a sweet caffeine jolt by combining the world’s two most popular beverages.

Serves
4 servings
Time
15 minutes

PHOTOGRAPHY BY PAOLA + MURRAY; FOOD STYLING BY OLIVIA MACK MCCOOL; PROP STYLING BY SOPHIE STRANGIO

By Megan Zhang

Published on October 18, 2022

In Hong Kong, you don’t have to choose between the world’s two most popular beverages. Yuenyeung, or coffee milk tea, gives you the best of both worlds. The drink is a hallmark of cha chaan teng, Hong Kong-style diners that emerged around the 1950s. Serving affordable hybridized Canto-Western dishes and beverages, the establishments became an emblem of the unique cultural confluence that characterizes this former British colony.

In Cantonese, yuenyeung also refers to mandarin ducks. The birds, which are believed to mate for life, are a symbol of marital union in traditional Chinese culture and are an apt namesake for the harmoniously blended drink that will amp up your mornings.

Featured in "These Humble Diners Embody the Unique Hybridized Culture of Hong Kong" by Megan Zhang.

Ingredients

3 Tbsp. loose black tea leaves (such as Ceylon, orange pekoe, pu-erh, or a combination), or 6 tea bags with strings removed
¾ cup evaporated milk
2 Tbsp. (1¼ oz.) sweetened condensed milk
2 cup hot black coffee

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Instructions

Step 1

In a small pot, bring 2½ cups of water and the tea leaves to a rolling boil. Turn the heat to medium and cook at a strong simmer until the liquid is dark and fragrant, about 5 minutes, then remove from the heat and stir in the evaporated and condensed milks. Turn the heat to medium-high and continue cooking until the milk is steaming, about 3 minutes more. Remove from the heat. Set a fine mesh strainer in a teapot and strain the milk tea into it. (If using teabags, simply remove them.) Stir in the coffee, pour into mugs, and serve hot; alternatively, pour over ice and serve chilled.