Easy Iced Brown Sugar Tea Latte

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A layered iced tea latte with black tea, milk, and brown sugar. It’s sweet, refreshing, and so easy to make.

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Brown Sugar iced Tea latte

A layered iced tea latte that’s made sweet from the brown sugar, caffeinated from the tea, and creamy from the milk.
Easy to make with easy-to-find ingredients.
It’s layered — the secret is sugar and ice.
Made with English breakfast tea but any black or oolong tea can be used instead.
English breakfast tea is blended to be had with milk and sugar so it’s the perfect tea for this drink.

What You’ll Need

My Royal English Breakfast Tea Pick

Photo Credit: Harney.com

Harney & Son’s variation on English Breakfast made with Ceylon and Kenyan black teas.

BUY ON HARNEY.COM

How to Make Iced Brown Sugar TEa latte

1: Make tea

Boil water on the stovetop or in an electric kettle. Use filtered water if possible since better tea is made with better water.

Combine tea sachet and hot water in a glass container. Steep for 5 minutes. Discard tea sachet and let cool.

Tea Sommelier’s Tip: Only have loose tea? Use 1.5 teaspoons of loose tea instead of 1 tea sachet.

2. Make quick brown sugar syrup

Stir brown sugar and hot water until sugar dissolves.

3. Assemble drink

Put brown sugar simple syrup into a cup and add ice then slowly pour milk directly on top of the ice.

Slowly pour cooled down tea directly on top of the ice.

Stir before drinking.

Iced Brown Sugar Tea Latte Tips

You can adjust the sugar but if you use too little sugar, the layering won’t work as well.
Slowly pour milk and tea directly onto the ice, not into the liquid to help separate the layers.
Because there isn’t as much of a difference in sugar content in the milk and tea, they’ll be less of a clear separation of layers. If you use a milk alternative with some sugar like oat milk, the layers will separate more.

Questions You May Have

How does sugar and ice make this drink layered?

When making layered drinks, the liquid with the highest sugar content should at the bottom since it’s the heaviest and will sink. The more of a difference there is in sugar, the more separated the layers will be. The ice helps to separate the layers even more when you pour the next layer. Make sure to slowly pour the next liquid directly onto the ice.

I don’t have English breakfast tea — what else can I use?

Any strong, dark tea would work well. Try an Assam black tea or hojicha, a roasted green tea.

Can I use cold brewed tea?

You can, but make it double the strength than what you would normally cold brew. Use 1 tablespoon of tea for every cup of water.

What else can I use instead of brown sugar?

Honey, maple syrup, or date syrup will all work well. Just make sure to make it into a simple syrup by stirring it in hot water first to make it easy to incorporate into the iced drink.