Yin Cooks - 3 Layer Tea

I love tea, and I really wanted to try making the 3 layer tea at home so that I can drink it anytime I want to. The 3 layer tea, 'teh c special', in Malaysia Kopitiams (coffee shops) is made up of tea, evaporated milk and palm sugar. The special ingredient here is the palm sugar (gula melaka) which has a distinct flavour which is perfect for desserts.

For my homemade version, I used lipton red tea, FarmFresh fresh milk and some palm sugar. The palm sugar comes in cylindrical blocks and has to be dissolved over heat on the stove so that it can be mixed into the tea. To dissolve the sugar, I put a block of sugar into a small saucepan, added a bit of water and heated it on a small flame. Once the sugar dissolved, I poured it into a glass jar so I can use it when I want to. 

For the 3 layer tea, get a tall glass, pour some sugar to fill the bottom of the glass. Next, add ice cubes to the brim. Milk will be poured into the glass over the ice cubes. This allows the milk to flow in gently and sit on top of the palm sugar layer at the bottom. finally, pour the tea over the ice cubes at the top. As the tea also flows in gently, it will not mix immediately with the milk and will sit on top of the milk layer. This gives a distinct 3-layer.