Milk tea refers to several forms of beverage found in many cultures, containing some combination of tea and milk. Beverages vary based on the amount of each of these key ingredients, the method of preparation, and the inclusion of other ingredients. Instant milk tea powder is a mass-produced product.
Shahi haleeb, a Yemeni milk tea served after chewing qat
Masala chai, also known as masala tea, is a spiced milk tea drunk in the Indian subcontinent
Irani chai, a type of milk tea made with pure milk mixed with mawa, prepared in Iranian-style cafes in Hyderabad, India
Thai tea, a sweet tea-based drink popular in Southeast Asia
Royal milk tea, a Japanese preparation that involves decocting tea in milk
Dalgona milk tea, milk tea sweetened with traditional Korean dalgona, a honeycomb-like toffee
In Britain, when hot tea and cold milk are drunk together, the drink is simply known as tea due to the vast majority of tea being consumed in such a way. The term milk tea is unused, although one may specify tea with milk if context requires it. This may cause confusion for people from cultures that traditionally drink tea without milk.
Popular culture
Milk Tea Alliance
The Milk Tea Alliance is a term used to describe an online democratic solidarity movement made up of netizens from Thailand, Hong Kong, and Taiwan. The Milk Tea Alliance arose in response to the increased presence of Chinese trolls and nationalist commentators on social media. Milk tea is seen as a symbol of anti-China solidarity by southeast asians because in many southeast asian countries tea is historically consumed with milk while in China it is not. Australia has also been suggested to be a member of the Milk Tea Alliance, however the relation to milk tea is tenuous with the milk product Aptamil standing in for an actual variety of milk tea in imagery. The "Milk Tea Alliance" moniker emerged in 2020 after Chinese nationalist Internet commentators criticised the Thai actor Bright for "liking" an image on Twitter which referred to Hong Kong as a "country", and called for a boycott of his TV programme. Twitter users in Taiwan, Hong Kong, and the Philippines joined Thai users in what The Telegraph called "a rare moment of regional solidarity". Following the 2020 China–India skirmishes India has also been included in some formulations of the Alliance with masala chai being their representative variety of milk tea. Pallabi Munsi, writing in OZY, described the Milk Tea Alliance taking on 50 Cent Party and Little Pink as "Asia's volunteer army rising against China's internet trolls."
