How to make red bean milk tea: simmer adzuki (red) beans with a little sugar into a soft, sweet red-bean mix, brew black or oolong tea strong, then layer the sweet beans, chilled tea, and cold milk over ice and stir. The mellow, nutty, gently sweet, almost chestnut-like bean flavour comes through the milk, while the soft whole beans settle at the bottom as a chewy topping you scoop up with a wide straw or a spoon.
This is the recipe page. For the full background on what the drink is and how it tastes, see what red bean milk tea is. It builds on the same idea as any other milk tea — strong brewed tea softened with milk and a little sweetness, a base we cover in full in how to make milk tea. Here we stay focused on the beans and how to build the cup.
How to make red bean milk tea, step by step
The whole trick is the base: sweet cooked red beans. You make them by simmering soaked adzuki beans with sugar until they are soft and sweet, or you take the shortcut of a good sweetened red-bean paste or a can of sweet adzuki. Either way, the beans do double duty — they sweeten and flavour the drink and they are the chewy topping. Brew the tea stronger than you would for a plain cup so the milk and ice cannot wash it out.
- Cook the sweet red beans (or use paste). Rinse about 1/2 cup dried adzuki beans and soak them for a few hours or overnight. Drain, cover with fresh water, and simmer gently for 60 to 90 minutes until very soft, topping up the water as needed. Stir in 3 to 4 tablespoons of sugar toward the end and cook a few minutes more until glossy and lightly syrupy. For a shortcut, skip all this and use a few spoonfuls of ready-made sweet red-bean paste or canned sweet adzuki.
- Brew and chill the tea. Brew about 1 cup (8 oz / 240 ml) of black or oolong tea strong — roughly 1.5 to 2 teaspoons of loose leaf or 1 to 2 bags, steeped 3 to 5 minutes. Strain, then cool it and chill it in the fridge so it does not melt your ice on contact.
- Spoon the beans into the glass. Add 2 to 3 tablespoons of the sweet red beans, with a little of their syrup, to the bottom of a tall glass.
- Add ice. Fill the glass with ice over the beans.
- Pour in the tea and milk. Add the chilled strong tea, then about 1/2 to 3/4 cup (120 to 180 ml) of cold milk — dairy, or a barista oat or soy milk.
- Stir and taste. Stir well so the bean sweetness blends through the milk and tea, then adjust: more beans or syrup for sweeter, more milk for creamier, more tea for a bolder brew.
That is the entire red bean milk tea recipe. Serve it iced, with a wide straw or a long spoon so you can catch the soft beans at the bottom of the glass. Because adzuki is the specific bean at its heart, you will also see this exact drink called adzuki milk tea — same cup, different name.
Ingredients at a glance (one tall glass)
| Element | What to use | Amount |
|---|---|---|
| Sweet red beans | Simmered sweetened adzuki, or a paste/canned shortcut | 2-3 tbsp per glass (from ~1/2 cup dried beans + 3-4 tbsp sugar per batch) |
| Tea base | Strong black or oolong tea | ~1 cup / 8 oz / 240 ml, brewed strong then chilled |
| Milk | Whole, 2%, or a barista oat/soy milk | ~1/2 to 3/4 cup / 120-180 ml |
| Ice | Cubed | Fill the glass |
What red bean milk tea is (and why the beans matter)
Red bean milk tea is a milk tea flavoured with sweet cooked adzuki beans — the same beans behind so many East Asian desserts. It tastes gently sweet, earthy, and nutty, with a rounded, dessert-like quality closer to a red bean bun than to a fruity boba. Sweet red bean (adzuki) is a classic dessert base right across East Asia — Japan, China, Korea, and Taiwan all fold it into buns, cakes, and shaved-ice bowls — and this drink simply pours that beloved flavour into a glass. We keep the deeper definition and tasting notes in the red bean milk tea explainer linked above; if you enjoy this dessert-leaning style, its closest cousin is taro milk tea, which trades the nutty bean for a smoother, vanilla-like root.
Homemade sweet beans vs the paste shortcut
Both routes give you sweet beans to build with, so the choice really comes down to time versus texture.
| Method | Time | Texture & flavour |
|---|---|---|
| Homemade simmered adzuki | Longer: a few hours of soaking plus a 60-90 min simmer | Whole, soft beans you control; you can keep them less sweet, with a fresh nutty taste and beans that hold their shape as a topping |
| Sweet red-bean paste or canned adzuki | Quick: ready in minutes, just spoon and go | Smoother and often sweeter; paste melts into the milk, while canned whole beans still give some chew. Handy when you want a cup fast |
Storage and make-ahead
Both parts keep well, which makes this an easy drink to batch. Store the sweet beans covered in the fridge for 3 to 4 days, or freeze them in small portions for longer and thaw before using. Keep the strong tea base covered in the fridge and use it within 2 to 3 days (green-leaning bases are best within a day or two). Then build glasses fresh over ice whenever you want one, so the beans, tea, and milk all go in cold and the drink never sits out warm.
Caffeine and a few safety notes
Be honest about caffeine: a black or oolong base contains caffeine, in an amount that varies with the tea and how strongly you brew, so treat any figure as a rough estimate. Oolong tends to run a touch lighter than a bold black tea, and a cooler or shorter steep pulls a little less. On food safety, keep fresh milk cold and build the drink cold rather than leaving warm tea to sit for hours; cook the beans through until soft, and refrigerate any leftovers promptly. Sugar, simple syrup, or the beans' own syrup all sweeten it well — and never give honey to infants under 12 months. Caffeine and sweetness affect everyone differently, so ease in and adjust to taste. Responses vary from person to person, and this is general information, not medical advice.
The bottom line
Red bean milk tea comes down to three moves: make sweet adzuki beans (or open a jar of paste), brew the tea strong, and build it over ice with cold milk. The beans carry both the flavour and the chew, so once you have a batch resting in the fridge a fresh glass is only a pour away. Adjust the sweetness, the milk, and the tea until the balance is exactly yours.