Iced Irish Breakfast with Milk Foam
Strong Irish Breakfast over ice, topped with a salty-sweet milk foam—a creamy iced tea inspired by the Asian milk-cap trend, with proper Assam muscle.
Iced Irish Breakfast might sound heretical to a purist, but bear with us—the malty Assam base is precisely what lets the tea keep its character on ice. Lighter teas vanish behind milk and ice; Irish Breakfast walks right through both.
The trick is brewing a strong concentrate—doubling the leaves and dropping the steep time to three minutes. This pulls out body and flavor without astringency. Cool it quickly by pouring over ice, which locks in the flavor instead of letting it grow bitter slowly.
The milk foam on top is borrowed from Taiwanese milk-cap teas. Whisk cold cream, a little milk, sugar, and a pinch of salt until it's just thick enough to float—that pinch of salt is what transforms the foam from sweet into addictive, and it brings out the malt in the tea below.
Drink it without a straw, letting the foam coat your upper lip with each sip while the tea hits cold underneath. It's the iced-tea version of Irish Breakfast that doesn't betray the original—just gives it summer clothes.
Ingredients
- 3 Irish Breakfast tea bags (or 3 tbsp loose)
- 1 cup hot water (95°C)
- 1 tbsp brown sugar
- Ice cubes (plenty)
- 60 ml heavy cream (cold)
- 30 ml whole milk (cold)
- 1 tsp powdered sugar
- Pinch of fine sea salt
How to make it
- 1Brew strong: place tea in hot water and steep just 3 minutes. Stir in brown sugar while still warm.
- 2Fill a tall glass with ice. Pour the hot tea directly over the ice to flash-chill it.
- 3Make the foam: in a small bowl, whisk cream, milk, powdered sugar, and salt by hand for 30–60 seconds until soft peaks form (or use a frother). It should be pourable but thick.
- 4Slowly spoon the milk foam on top of the iced tea—it should float in a clear white cap.
- 5Serve without a straw so each sip pulls foam through the cold tea.
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