Evaporated Milk vs Condensed Milk: What Each Is, Sugar Content, and Uses in Hong Kong Milk Tea, Thai Tea and Bubble Tea

Quick Answer

Evaporated milk is milk heated to remove about 60% of its water, then canned and sterilized. It is unsweetened, rich and slightly caramelized, and essential for Hong Kong milk tea. Sweetened condensed milk is concentrated milk with a lot of added sugar, roughly 40–55 g per 100 g, thick and syrupy, used in Thai tea, condensed milk black tea and desserts. Both make milk tea richer, but their sweetness is completely different.

Evaporated milk, condensed milk, fresh milk and creamer

	Evaporated milk	Condensed milk	Fresh milk	Creamer powder
Process	Concentrated, canned, sterilized	Concentrated with added sugar	Pasteurized milk	Vegetable oil, syrups, etc. dried to powder
Sugar	No added sugar	Very high (about 40–55 g per 100 g)	Lactose only	Depends on formula
Texture	Richer than milk	Very thick	Light	Powder, smooth when mixed
Common uses	Hong Kong milk tea, coffee	Thai tea, condensed milk tea, desserts	Fresh milk tea, lattes	Classic milk tea

Using them in bubble tea

Hong Kong milk tea: strong black tea + evaporated milk, sweetened to taste; see Hong Kong vs Taiwanese milk tea.
Thai tea: Thai tea + condensed milk + evaporated or fresh milk; see why Thai tea is orange.
Condensed milk black tea or latte: condensed milk is already very sweet; test before adding sugar.
Desserts: drizzled on shaved ice, snow ice and toast.

Things to know

Names vary by region; some places call evaporated milk “condensed milk”, so check ingredients and sugar.
Once opened, transfer to a clean container, refrigerate and use soon as labeled.
Count condensed milk’s sugar when calculating a drink’s sugar content.
For creamer, see what is non-dairy creamer and creamer balls vs creamer.

How Tang Sugar can help

Tang Sugar supplies non-dairy creamer, Thai milk tea powder, classic milk tea powder and black tea, and can source evaporated and condensed milk through our sourcing service in the same shipment.