Why it works: Black tea and condensed milk work together. They rank in the top 27% of all ingredient pairs, and 7 recipes mention both. Both carry ethanol, which smells alcoholic, ethereal. The science ↓
The recipe
About 6 (4-ounce) ice popsIngredients
Contains: milk (auto-detected from the ingredients and method; we can miss things, so check labels)
Directions
Method written by CompKitchen from the ingredient list. Not the original author's method, not kitchen-tested.
Combine 3 1/2 cups water and the brown sugar pieces in a saucepan. Bring to a boil, stirring until the sugar dissolves, about 10 minutes.
Remove from heat, add the tea bags, and steep for 10 minutes. Discard the tea bags and let the tea mixture cool for about 60 minutes.
Bring 1 3/4 cups water to a boil in a separate pot. Add the black tapioca pearls, stir, and simmer uncovered for 30 minutes.
Turn off the heat, cover the pot, and let the pearls rest for 30 minutes until soft and chewy. Drain and rinse under cool water.
Stir the sweetened condensed milk into the cooled tea mixture until smooth, then stir in the cooked tapioca pearls.
Spoon the mixture into ice pop molds, filling each about 4 ounces, and insert sticks if using. Freeze for about 7 hours until firm.
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.
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Black tea + condensed milktop 27% of all pairsAroma overlaplowMentioned together7 recipes
Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).
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Tapioca pearl + condensed milktop 1% of all pairsAroma overlapstrongMentioned together2 recipes
Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).
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Tapioca pearl + sugartop 7% of all pairsAroma overlaplowMentioned together13 recipes
Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).
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Sugar + condensed milktop 8% of all pairsAroma overlaplowMentioned together804 recipes
Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).
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Sugar + black teatop 19% of all pairsAroma overlaplowMentioned together113 recipes
Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
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