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Author:
Franco Salzillo
You’ll find this coffee specialty spelled differently: yuenyeung, yinyong or yinyeung; it’s all the same thing — a terrific combination of coffee and tea.
People in China love their tea. The ancient drink is more than a thirst-quencher; it has social, medical and spiritual connotations. Tea is one of the country’s pillars.
Coffee, a bolder, also caffeinated drink, comes from Sub-Saharan Africa, but we all know how fast it became an international phenomenon. Interestingly, Asian countries have caught up on the trend just recently.
The first tea and coffee combination was allegedly created in the 1950s in Hong Kong. Still, others say the combo might have originated in Tennessee, where a nun began experimenting with both drinks in the 1930s. What we do know is that, when done right, Coffee and tea are delicious together.
There are many ways of combining coffee and tea. Different proportions and methods are endless, so what’s the best way to merge the most famous drinks on the planet?
Browse the web, and you’ll probably find someone combining one cup of coffee with one cup of tea. In my opinion, and based on my extensive research, including several hits and misses, I concluded tea is too weak to be paired 1:1 with coffee. It just doesn’t work.
How do they do it in Hong Kong? Well, that’s an interesting question. Every vendor has its trade secrets, so no two yuanyangs taste the same.
Let me show you how I do mine. Instead of using twice as much water from coffee and tea, I infuse a cup of black coffee with tea bags. The result is beautiful. This is still very much coffee, but it’s also tea. Now pour that over a thick layer of sweetened condensed milk, and you’ve got yourself a winner.
By the way, that’s how I make my tea lemonade in summer too. Not combining tea and lemonade but steeping the tea bags in my lemonade. You should try that too!
Brew your black coffee as strong as you want and steep the tea bags in the coffee for at least 5 minutes and squeeze them with a spoon before removing. Allow the coffee to cool down to room temperature.
In two glasses filled with ice, pour the tea-infused coffee and top with the sweetened condensed milk. Stir briefly until marbled.
For a hot yuangyang, pour the coffee in a mug immediately after infusing it with the tea and top with the condensed milk.
