Okay, so in the city I live near (Memphis) there used to be a terrific coffee place called The Map Room. I used to go there a fair bit and my very favorite drink was called a Jasmine La-Tea. It’s a play on the word latte. It was hot jasmine tea with milk, or cream, or steamed milk… I don’t know what it was, but it was amazingly delicious. Sweet and floral and creamy… mmmmmmmm. But, alas! They are gone now, and so is Jasmine La-Tea. I’ve tried to make it since, but it never works right. And the thing is, I’m a total American. Making tea at all is tricky for me. So, here’s the thing; is anyone here familiar with a drink like this? Do you know how to make it? And, if not, do you have any suggestions? Whenever I add milk to the tea, it kind of curdles and gets funky; what am I doing wrong?
This has been bothering me a long time, and just today I realized the Dope could be my salvation. Help me please!
p.s. any Memphis dopers, feel free to reminisce about the Map Room, or other long lost downtown treasures. Stupid trolley!!
Non dairy creamer maybe? How about soy milk, or rice milk?
The thought of adding milk to a nice jasmine tea makes me cringe…but if you’re having problems with curdling you can try those options. I don’t know if they’ll work. shrug
Sounds like you’re referring to a version of chai.
Check this out & follow a few links. It appears there are several ways of making chai. Boil water with milk? Boil water with tea? Boil water with spices, add tea and/or milk?
I curious if anyone else has had the problem of milk curdling in their tea. I regularly put milk into my tea and have never had that problem except once when I hadn’t realized that the milk was already bad. I’m also American, but I’m not sure what that would have to do with anything. Is regular cow milk that much different in other countries?
I drink a mug of black tea with milk every afternoon, and the milk has never curdled. So I don’t know why and in what circumstances that would happen.
About the flowery, perfumy taste: really good tea that is handled correctly does, indeed, taste perfumy, and the farther along on the black–>green–>white scale it is, the more perfumy it tastes. I suggest that you buy the very best whole-leaf Jasmine tea you can get, and read up on storing it properly to keep it fresh, and brewing it properly. You may need to acquire thermometers and timers. Adagio.com’s UtiliTEA kettle supposedly boils water to the correct temperature for green tea, but I haven’t tested it myself.
If all this doesn’t produce a similar product, then it’s possible that they were using an aromatic blend, with other flowers and spices in it… in which case it might just be lost to you forever.
Edit after doing some more homework: Jasmine tea IS aromatic–it has Jasmine flowers in it. Duh . It’s oolong, not green, too. Here’s Adagio’s page: Jasmine teas
Try different jasmine brands/grades if you are having curdling problems. If it is an “herbal” tea, as opposed to a green tea or oolong based tea, then you will be more likely to get curdling. I don’t know why, chemically, but that has been my experience.
I love cream/milk in my teas, and stay away from anything that says “herbal” on the box.
Hey, thanks you guys. I’m going to try ordering some of the tea Sattua suggested, and start experimenting again. I’m pretty sure I have used herbal tea in the past, and that was probably my problem. Maybe I just need better tea!
. It’s oolong, not green, too. Here’s Adagio’s page: