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Being able to buy hot drinks from a vending machine is one of the things about Japan that never gets old – especially if you’re traveling in the winter months and you just need to warm up on the move – but among all the cans of coffee and bottles of hot green tea, you’ll also find creamy hot milk tea – also known as Royal Milk Tea. And, in my opinion, it’s THE best drink in a Japanese vending machine. Here’s why…
Article by Helen Foster. Disclosure: Some links in this post are affiliate links. See our Affiliate Disclosure.
Japanese Milk Tea – A Love Story
The best tea I’ve ever drunk was on a train in Japan.
It was May 2018.
My friend Kendall and I were in Kyoto. We’d spent the morning at Fushimi Inari shrine and we were going to Nara to bow at the deer.
Rain had been forecast, but it was fairly warm, so we thought we’d be fine heading out to stand in a park.
The first shower hit when we left the train station to walk to the deer park.
It stopped long enough for us to supply the deers with enough deer cookies to get butted, bitten, and bowed at – and we were on our way back to the station when the ‘proper’ rain started.
Biblical rain.
The type of rain where there are rivers of water running ankle height into your trainers.
Where even an umbrella isn’t going to help you because somehow the water is going upwards as well as downwards.
The first heavy shower had taught me that my raincoat while looking singularly unstylish enough to be waterproof, was nothing of the sort – and by the time we got to the station from which we needed to catch the train, I was literally soaked to the skin!
Nothing about my person was dry.
Next to the train ticket machine though was a vending machine. And in said vending machine, were hot bottles of milk tea. We couldn’t feed the coins in fast enough.
We might have looked like drowned rats on the train. I might have had to sit on a magazine to avoid making the seat wet, and it took about two days for my trainers to recover – but, oh that tea!
Creamy, warm, comforting, suddenly everything was alright in the world again.
It’s been five years since that bottle of tea – Kendall and I still talk about it!
A bottle of Milk Tea is now the first thing I reach for at any Japanese vending machine.
What Makes Japanese Milk Tea So Good?
The reason I’m writing this post is that today, I was reading a book – Tokyo Stories: A Japanese Cookbook by UK Masterchef winner Tim Anderson – and it explained what makes Japanese milk tea so good.
I just thought it was normal tea with some kind of extra creamy milk in it.
But no – apparently, Japanese milk tea is black tea where the leaves (usually a stronger tea like Assam) are steeped directly in milk (sometimes with a little bit of water) – rather than tea steeped in water with just a splash of milk added at the end.
Anderson describes it as ‘almost like a tea-flavored milkshake,’ and he’s not far wrong.
You can also make it with a milk/tea powder which is a mix of tea and powdered milk that you just add water to.
Either way, the milk/water ratio is much higher in Japanese milk tea – and, in the type called Royal Milk Tea, no water would be used at all – which is why it tastes soooo good and creamy.
It’s pretty obvious now you think about it, but I’ve been too busy slurping it down before now to analyze the ingredients!
Types of Milk Tea
You wouldn’t think that something with just three or four ingredients – tea, (water), milk, and sugar could have many variations, but you’d be surprised.
The bottled type is the one you’ll probably see most often on your travels, and you’ll find these in both hot and cold versions.
You’ll also find a version called Royal Milk Tea, usually sold in cafes. This is even creamier than bottled milk tea as little to no milk is used to make it – the leaves are literally just steeped in milk, kind of like the way they make chai.
If you travel around Japan you might even find regional versions of milk tea that are made with local milk.
Hokkaido is known for this, as are the islands of Okinawa.
And, watch out in convenience stores as you’ll quite often find seasonal versions of milk tea on offer. For example, there will usually be a cherry blossom one to launch Sakura season – but you might also find other seasonal flavors like pumpkin spice
Note – as language and trends change, you might see Boba, or bubble tea (milky tea with chewy bubbles in it) called Milk Tea – but that’s not quite what we’re talking about here. Ours has no chewy bits!
What’s Royal About It?
As I said, milk tea comes in a version known as Royal Milk Tea and so I started wondering why – what was Royal about it?
But this is where my research so far has drawn a blank.
But from what I can work out, erm, technically nothing!
The story goes that the product was invented by tea company Lipton in the 1960s as part of their royal range.
This is a sentence repeated over and over in posts such as this, but I can’t find any original source for it so, it may or may not be true, but …
I did discover that Lipton has been in Japan since the 1930s when they opened a tea house in Kyoto and it’s suggested that this is where the concept came from.
It’s said that they wanted a product that emulated British tea – which meant adding milk.
The Royal thing was possibly, therefore, just an extension of the fact that it was British rather than anything to do with actual British, or Japanese, royalty. Or maybe it was because it was richer than normal milky tea.
In Anderson’s book, he has another possible reason. He talks about a brand of milk tea called Gogo no Kocha, sold in Japan and which started his personal love of milk tea.
Gogo no Kocha, which is made by Kirin, translates as ‘Afternoon Tea’, and the brand has a drawing of the Duchess of Bedford on it – and cites the fact that she started the tradition of afternoon tea in the mid-19th Century.
So there may also be something to do with the nobility angle there. Who knows, I can’t find out for sure…
But I do know that you can still visit the teahouse, which is located in the Sanjo area of Kyoto – and, it does have Royal Milk Tea on the menu.
Lipton also has two other teahouses in Kyoto, if you want to try milk tea by the people who seem to be the originators of the yumminess.
How Do You Make It?
According to the Japanese milk tea recipe in Tokyo Stories, this is what you need to do to make a cold version of milk tea.
Makes 1 litre of Milk Tea
1 litre of full-fat milk
4 black tea bags (he doesn’t specify but Assam or Darjeeling are traditional)
4-6 tablespoons of golden caster sugar
Take a quarter of the milk and put it into a saucepan with the milk and sugar.
Bring to a simmer and stir to dissolve the sugar.
Remove from the heat and add the rest of the milk.
Transfer to the fridge and leave to infuse for 2 hours.
Remove the tea bags and pour the mixture into bottles.
If you want to drink it hot, then you could half all of the ingredients and simmer it for a bit longer so the flavours infuse. Then just pour it into a cup.
So there you have it – a quick guide to the Japanese marvel that is milk tea.
I’d definitely suggest trying at least one bottle on your travels especially if it’s cold.
For a list of other small fun things to try on your trip, you might also want to check out our guide to the 17 Small Things Not to Miss on your Trip.
Or, if you want to know more about another cult Japanese food you might want to try on your travels, have a look at our guide to the Convenience Store Sandwich!
A Quick Note About Tokyo Stories
Because the book inspired this post, it only seems right that it gets a bit of a mention.
I don’t really cook and didn’t even realize that Tokyo Stories was a cookbook when I first picked it, otherwise, I probably wouldn’t have read it – and this post would never have been written!
But despite my lack of culinary prowess, I absolutely loved everything about it.
From Anderson’s obvious enthusiasm about Japan (he lived there for a number of years) to the way he describes things, I couldn’t put it down.
I also loved the fact that it’s part cookbook, part travel guide – if there’s the perfect restaurant or shop to try a particular dish he’ll tell you where it is.
And, it doesn’t just cover the classic Japanese dishes you might expect – it covers some seriously cult items that you might find yourself craving on your return.
He even tells you how to make your own version of the adorable Totoro puffs from the Shirohige’s Cream Puff Factory.
If you have any interest in Japanese cooking, then you might want to check it out too.
Who Writes This Blog?
My name is Helen Foster, and I’m a journalist and author. My travel articles have appeared in publications including The Australian, Escape, RAC Horizons, Jetstar Magazine, Sainsbury’s Magazine, and more.
I’ve traveled to Japan eight times before – solo and with my partner and visited over 25 towns and cities. My last visit was November 2024 so, everything here is pretty up to date.
