If you've never had Thai iced tea before, it's a black tea brewed with warm spices of anise, clover, and cardamom. The strong blend is sweetened with sugar, poured into a glass over ice, and some sort of heavy cream is added to it, swirling it all up into a gorgeous burnt orange color.
Thai iced tea goes down as my favorite drink up to date. It's refreshing, and surprisingly indulgent for a tea. Last summer, it was my go-to for ending my week off on the right note. Every Friday after school I would stop by the local Thai restaurant near where I was staying, and pick up an extra large styrofoam cup full of it. After weeks of allowing myself splurge on this tea, I knew I had to create a "not-so-guilty" version.
So what makes this tea so "bad" anyways? The first thing that comes to mind is the sugar. Thai tea is unusually strong to emphasize it's bold flavors. But with extremely strong black tea, comes extreme bitterness. And to mute extreme bitterness an extreme amount of 46 grams of sugar (per every 12 ounces) is used. That's an incredibly unnecessary 11 teaspoons of sugar.
There's also an unnecessary amount of fat in thai iced tea. I have to admit, i'm not one to completely forego full fat ingredients like butter and cream. Our bodies require a minimum of about 25 grams of fat a day to keep our skin and nails healthy, to absorb fat-soluble vitamin A, D, E, and K, to regulate our temperatures, inflammation, and our brains. But with double the calories of protein and carbs, and 8 grams (5 tbsp) of it in 1 serving of thai iced tea, i'm just going to say I would rather eat my fats in a day than chug them down in one binge sitting. I was also shocked to learn that about half of the sugar in this recipe comes from the half and half as every tbsp contains about 4 grams of sugar.
My "not-so-guilty" version of thai iced tea swaps sugar for Splenda, and the full fat stuff for fat-free half and half; substitutions that will sacrifice the calories but not the flavor. Below is a comparison:
Restaurant Style Thai Iced Tea:
Serving size: 12 ounces
Calories: 250
Total Fat: 8 grams
Saturated Fat: 5 grams
Cholesterol: 25 mg
Carbohydrates: 48 grams
Sugar: 46 grams
Protein: 0 grams
VS "Not-So-Guilty" Thai Iced Tea:
Serving size: 12 ounces
Calories: 47
Total Fat: 1 grams
Saturated Fat: 0.5 grams
Cholesterol: 2.5 grams
Carbohydrates: 6.5 grams
Sugar: 4 grams
Protein: 2.5 grams
Ingredients:
6 tbsp dry thai tea leaves
12 ounces water
6 tsp splenda
5 tbsp fat free half and half
Instructions:
1. Boil water in a pot on the stove. Once boiled, add in dry thai tea leaves and let seep for 5 minutes.
2. Pour seeped tea over a strainer to remove leaves and place in the fridge to cool for 1 hour.
3. Add splenda and desired amount of ice to a tall glass. Then pour thai tea over the ice and mix well to dissolve splenda.
4. Add fat-free half and half to the tea, and enjoy!
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