Yuen Yeung

Yuen yeung, also known as yuanyang, yinyong, or yinyeung, is a super tasty and easy to make drink. Yuen yeung, named after the opposites-attract nature of Mandarin ducks, is milk tea and coffee mixed together, and can be served either hot or cold. This drink hails from Hong Kong, where it was originally served with street food, then at cafes. This drink has become so popular that Starbucks in Hong Kong had a Yuen Yeung Frappuccino!

To me, nothing is better before class than grabbing my favorite pineapple bun warm and toasty from the Chinese bakery next to my college and swiping a yuen yeung milk tea from the boba cafe next door. Fortunately for my waistline, I don't indulge in that combination as often as I'd like, but it is one that I suggest everyone try at least once.

Starbucks Ad!

I've made milk tea for this blog before, but traditionally yuen yeung is made with Hong Kong style milk tea, which is made with evaporated milk and sugar. This obviously will make the milk tea even creamier, so for this recipe I made it with condensed milk. There is some contention on using condensed milk versus evaporated milk and sugar, but I happen to have condensed milk in my cupboard so that's what I always use and I'm not too ruffled if I am not completely authentic.

Now if you find the yuen yeung too sweet, you can use the evaporated milk instead or tweak with the ratio of coffee to milk tea. I like mine roughly one part coffee to two part milk tea, but even one-to-one ratios are out there.

If you want to be lazy and have a keurig or some sort of instant coffee machine (or heck even Folgers I won't tell), you can get powdered milk tea at any Asian market. Just brew up a cup of coffee, pour in extra hot water, and then the milk tea powder: instant yuen yeung!

Yuen Yeung

2 cups water
2-3 tsp black tea
1 14 oz can sweetened condensed milk (or evaporated milk and then sugar to taste)
1/2-1 cup black coffee

Place tea in several tea bags, making sure to allow for expansion of the leaves. Conversely, you can just strain the mixture afterwards. Bring the water to a simmer, then place the tea leaves and simmer for 3 minutes. Turn off heat and pour in the milk. Return to the stove and simmer another 3 minutes. Remove the tea leaves, strain and pour in coffee. Stir and serve, or chill until cold and serve over ice.

I don't like pouring hot yuen yeung over ice to make iced yuen yeung because it will get diluted as the ice melts, so I will always make a batch and cool it in the fridge first. If you so choose, this is delicious made with boba.

See Also:
Bubble Tea
Milk Toast
Mugicha