Hokkaido milk tea is popular Japanese milk tea made with black tea, milk and brown sugar (or caramel)! This Japanese style hokkaido milk tea is sweetened with brown sugar and it is so colorful and delicious with a very unique flavor!
Black tea leaves or tea bags or tea powder can be used to make this milk tea, whichever is easily available to you.
Adding brown sugar or caramel flavor is important in making hokkaido style milk tea, as this is a tea popular for it’s milky & creamy texture and also caramel or butterscotch flavor from the added brown sugar.
If you use white sugar, you wouldn’t get the exact same taste and flavor as using brown sugar.
What Is Hokkaido Milk Tea?
Authentic hokkaido milk tea is usually made with milk from the hokkaido island, however since it is not available everywhere else, I am using store bought whole milk to make this delicious milk tea.
Hokkaido milk tea is made using regular black tea leaves, oolong tea, earl tea etc and in this recipe, we use black tea since it is more popular and more easily available.
In this easy recipe for Japanese style hokkaido milk tea, I used black tea powder to make the milk tea.
Alternatively, you can use loose tea leaves or tea bags.
In fact, using loose tea leaves or tea bags is more convenient than using tea powder because when you use tea powder, you need to use a very fine mesh strainer or you will need to filter the tea multiple times to get rid of the residue from the tea.
However, the flavor is really great when you use tea powder, so feel free to use whichever kind of black tea you have with you, to use in this easy adapted Japanese style milk tea!
You may also buy hokkaido flavor tea to make the tea more easily, if you wish and compare the flavors with the homemade tea!
So here is how you can easily make hokkaido milk tea with black tea and brown sugar at home!
How To Make Japanese style Hokkaido Milk Tea With Brown Sugar?
For homemade Hokkaido milk tea, we use the following ingredients.
Ingredients To Make Hokkaido Milk Tea
black tea leaves or powder 2 teaspoons (or 2 tea bags)
whole milk 1 cup
water ½ cup
brown sugar 2 tablespoons
Step by step instructions
In a saucepan, add the water.
Also add the milk and black tea powder or black tea leaves (if using tea bags, do not add now).
Also add the brown sugar, mix well and heat the mixture.
Make sure to stir the contents often, as you heat the milk tea mixture or the milk may burn at the bottom of the saucepan.
Once the mixture is heated well and about to boil, turn off the heat and filter the tea through a fine mesh strainer (be very careful as the tea is hot), to a mug or tea cup.
If necessary, you may filter the tea a couple times more (this may be needed if you are using tea powder).
(If you are using tea bags, place the tea bags in the heated milk and brown sugar mixture and let it steep for about 4 to 5 minutes and then discard the used tea bags. If needed you may reheat the tea again. As you know, filtering the tea is not needed if you are using tea bags)
If you used skim milk (which is not recommended) or if you think the cremy flavor is not enough, you can also add about two tablespoons of heavy cream and stir in to combine with the milk tea.
If you desire more sweetness, feel free to add more brown sugar and stir well to dissolve in the hot milk tea.
Serve hot and enjoy the delicious hokkaido milk tea sweetened with brown sugar!
Variations to brown sugar milk tea:
In this recipe, we made a simple but delicious hot cup of brown sugar milk tea.
A very popular and delicious variation to this brown sugar milk tea is to add tapioca pearls or boba pearls to make it bubble tea (boba tea).
To make hokkaido style bubble tea, you can buy boba pearls (tapioca pearls for making boba tea) and cook the pearls according to the package directions.
Once the prepared tea is cooled to room temperature, you can chill the tea in the refrigerator and once it is cold enough, add the cooked boba pearls to a glass cup and pour the tea over, enjoy!
To simply make iced brown sugar milk tea, allow the tea to cool down to room temperature, then chill the tea in refrigerator.
Once the tea is well chilled, add ice cubes to a glass cup and pour the tea over the ice & enjoy the iced brown sugar tea!
Tips to make the best homemade Japanese Style Hokkaido Milk Tea
As you know, Hokkaido milk tea is traditionally made with fresh, locally available ingredients like milk from Hokkaido islands.
Since we may not have access to local ingredients, unless you live somewhere near to Hokkaido islands, we have to make the tea using the best ingredients available to us.
To make the best homemade Hokkaido milk tea, make sure to use the best quality, whole milk.
If the milk is not fresh, the tea will not taste good.
Also, if you use low fat or fat free skim milk, the tea won’t be creamy like Hokkaido milk tea and it may not have enough flavor.
The best thing about Hokkaido milk tea is it’s rich milky texture and caramel flavor from the brown sugar.
So make sure to also use enough brown sugar to sweeten the tea.
Once the tea is prepared, if you think it’s not sweet enough, you may add more brown sugar but make sure to stir well so the brown sugar will dissolve easily in the hot tea.
Also, you can add a little fresh heavy cream (about 2 tablespoons) and stir in with the tea, in case you want the tea to have more creamy texture.
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Below you can get the recipe for Hokkaido milk tea with brown sugar in detail.
Hokkaido Milk Tea – Japanese Brown Sugar Milk Tea
Ingredients
- 2 teaspoons black tea leaves or tea powder (or 2 black tea bags)
- 1 cup whole milk
- ½ cup water
- 2 tablespoons brown sugar
Instructions
- In a saucepan, add the water.
- Also add the milk and black tea powder or black tea leaves (if using tea bags, do not add now).
- Also add the brown sugar, mix well and heat the mixture.
- Make sure to stir the contents often, as you heat the milk tea mixture or the milk may burn at the bottom of the saucepan.
- Once the mixture is heated well and about to boil, turn off the heat and filter the tea through a fine mesh strainer (be very careful as the tea is hot), to a mug or tea cup.
- If necessary, you may filter the tea a couple times more (this may be needed if you are using tea powder).
- (If you are using tea bags, place the tea bags in the heated milk and brown sugar mixture and let it steep for about 4 to 5 minutes and then discard the used tea bags. If needed you may reheat the tea again. As you know, filtering the tea is not needed if you are using tea bags)
- If you used skim milk (which is not recommended) or if you think the cremy flavor is not enough, you can also add about two tablespoons of heavy cream and stir in to combine with the milk tea.
- If you desire more sweetness, feel free to add more brown sugar and stir well to dissolve in the hot milk tea.
- Serve hot and enjoy the delicious hokkaido milk tea sweetened with brown sugar!
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