Unsweetened cinnamon milk tea

Name: Unsweetened cinnamon milk tea
Total time: 10 min
Yield: 2 servings
Ingredients: Black tea leaves 2 tsp (or 2 tea bags); Milk 300 ml; Water 200 ml; Cinnamon stick 1; Ginger 2–3 slices

Milk tea made without sugar. A single bottle of the shop-bought kind routinely carries more than 30 g.

2 servings10 min

Ingredients

Black tea leaves2 tsp (or 2 tea bags)
Milk300 ml
Water200 ml
Cinnamon stick1
Ginger2–3 slices

Method

Bring the water, cinnamon stick and ginger to the boil in a pan, then let it bubble two more minutes.
Take it off the heat, add the tea leaves and steep for three minutes. Longer draws out tannins and turns it astringent.
Strain out the leaves and spices.
Pour in the milk and warm it over low heat. Do not boil it — a skin forms and the flavour changes.
When small bubbles appear at the edge, it is ready. A dusting of ground cinnamon is optional.

Cooking note

The point of this recipe is the absence of sugar. Bottled milk teas routinely exceed 30 g a bottle — seven or eight sugar cubes. An unsweetened cup of black tea is 2 kcal; add sugar and it becomes a different drink.

Three minutes of steeping is about tannins. Longer turns it astringent, and tannins interfere with the absorption of plant (non-haem) iron. If you are anaemic or eat no meat, leave 30–60 minutes between tea and a meal.

The milk is not boiled because of its proteins. Boiling denatures whey protein, forming a skin and flattening the taste. Around 65–70 °C is right.

Cinnamon and ginger supply the impression of sweetness without sugar. That said, cinnamon's effect on blood glucose and ginger's anti-inflammatory effect are not established in clinical trials. Here their job is aroma.

Black tea's blood pressure effect is 1.04 mmHg systolic. Statistically significant, and not a size one person feels. A cup holds about 48 mg of caffeine — add it to your coffee and stay under 400 mg a day, or 200 mg in pregnancy.