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Drink

Butter Tea

A beverage made by boiling black tea with milk, then adding butter and salt.

From the Wikibooks Cookbook · 4 ingredients
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Why it works: Black tea and butter work together. They rank in the top 15% of all ingredient pairs, and 21 recipes mention both. Both carry 3-hexenal, which smells apple, fruity. The science ↓

The recipe

Serves 2
Time2–10 minutes

Ingredients

Contains: milk (auto-detected from the ingredients and method; we can miss things, so check labels)

Directions

Make the tea

  1. Boil tea with milk for 2–10 minutes, depending upon the strength of tea desired.

  2. Strain into tea cups.

Finish and serve

  1. Add butter and salt.

  2. Stir thoroughly, ideally by carefully using a blender.

  3. Serve.

Recipe from the Wikibooks Cookbook.

Steps grouped into stages for easier reading; the method is the source's own.

Explore the science

The flavor team

The pairs that carry this dish. Each one is judged two ways: how much aroma chemistry they share, and how many recipes mention both.

  1. Black tea + buttertop 15% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapmoderate
    Mentioned together21 recipes

    Shared aroma: 3-hexenal (apple, fruity).

  2. Milk + buttertop 3% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapstrong
    Mentioned together81,222 recipes

    Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).

  3. Black tea + milktop 5% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapstrong
    Mentioned together43 recipes

    Shared aroma: 4-heptenal (creamy, biscuit).

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

What each ingredient does

Black tea leaves
Provides the main flavor and tannins, which deepen in color and bitterness the longer they boil.
Whole milk
Adds body and creaminess, softening the tea's bitterness.
Unsalted butter
Adds fat for richness and a smooth, velvety mouthfeel.

The step that matters

Stir thoroughly, ideally with a blender. Butter is fat and will separate and float on hot liquid unless it is broken into tiny droplets. Vigorous mixing emulsifies the butter into the tea, giving a smooth, frothy, evenly creamy cup instead of a greasy layer on top.

“What each ingredient does” and “The step that matters” were written by Claude from this recipe’s own method and reviewed in samples by CompKitchen.

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