This new Thai tea shop is the first of its kind in Toronto
Toronto just got a new shop that serves Thai pulled tea — and it's the only one of its kind in the city.
I don't know about you, but Thai tea has to be near the top of my list of the best tea-based drinks money can buy. The combination of strong, earthy black tea and sweet condensed milk makes it almost impossible not to down in approximately three gulps, even if its sweetness makes it more like a dessert than a vehicle for caffeination.
If you share my affinity for the drink, Toronto is a great place to be. With the arrival of new favourites like Cha Tra Mue and Lamoon's opening on Queen West, Thai tea has never been in such ready supply.
This month, we've got yet another new place in the city serving brimming cups of the stuff, but it's got something none of the others do.
Khem Thai Tea is the latest business to join what can only be described as the Toronto Avengers of Thai food that make up Yonge and Wellesley's Thai Mart, and it also happens to be the only Thai tea shop in the city serving pulled tea.
Where, in Toronto, you'd typically see Thai tea made by simply stirring all the elements together, perhaps topping it with frothed milk at the end, pulled tea is created by "pulling" the milk and tea back and forth between two cups for lighter, more flavourful results.
Not for nothing, but it's also downright impressive to watch.
Though it only soft-opened on Monday, April 6, the tea shop (it may be more apt to call it a window) has already seen throngs of thirsty Toronto residents lining up outside its ochre facade, which fittingly matches the drink's ubiquitous hue.
If Thai tea isn't your, well, cup of tea, Khem also serves a selection of other drinks, like iced green tea, Thai iced coffee and a particularly vibrant pink milk. With temperatures only continuing to rise in the city, the shop is a shoo-in to become a summer staple.
Khem Thai Tea is located at Thai Mart, alongside 555 Boat Noodles, Hi Hoi Tod and Kati, at 496 Yonge St.
Sathit Jiarasuksakul/Shutterstock
