Teh Tarik and Sarabat tea

The calories rich but tasty teh tarik (or teh tarek) or pulled tea is a unique milk or 'sarabat' tea found in Malaysia and Singapore. It is made of black tea in combination with condensed milk, and tossing or dragging (tarik) the tea from one container to another at a height. This tea is usually drank while having roti prata. Well you can drink it with about any snacks or dishes or you can just sip it on its own. There is also teh masala or spice tea, but for the locals here we tend to stick with either teh tarik or teh halia.

These teh tarek stalls are traditionally owned or operated by Indians. A glass or a cup of teh tarik usually cost between $1 to $1.80 depending if you get them at hawker centres or air-conditioned food-courts.

Teh tarik seller

You can get a fix of teh-tarik not only in Little India but all over Singapore. Obviously it is cheaper and tastes better at the road-side stalls or at hawker centres. We locals like to say it feels shiok having a cuppa of teh tarik.

There is another variant of teh tarik, one that contains ginger. It is called teh halia. Halia is a malay word for ginger. The term sarabat tea originally refers to teh halia, though it is commonly used to mean an Indian stall selling teh tarik. Ginger is believed to have some herbal effects and so is good for the stomach. With all the sugar and fatty condensed milk, ginger is supposed to balance the calories!

Be aware that if you drink teh tarik late at night you may have problem sleeping after that as we all know tea contains caffeine and teh tarik can be quite strong in that department. Personally I would avoid drinking teh tarik late in the evening but some people may be just fine.

Teh tarik and şaraba tea

A popular teh tarik stall is at

Kampong Glam opposite Kampong Glam Cafe, which also serves a a nice cuppa of teh tarik with a great view of Bussorah Street as seen on the left photo, along Baghdad Street, and that stall has no name. So it is aptly named as no name teh tarek stall. No name but tasty and delicious teh tarik.

After many years with no name, this stall is now named as Bhai Sarabat stall. They advertised themselves as 'the best chai shop in Singapore'. You will usually find long queue at this stall. And due to its limited space it is sometimes hard to find a seat.

Bhai Sarabat tea at Kampong Glam

The top photo shows teh tarek is done. This photo is taken at the teh tarek roadside stall at Lau Pa Sat. Lau Pa Sat is an iconic hawker centre built a century ago and located in the heart of financial business district near Raffles Place MRT station.

During the evenings, you can find road-side stalls selling skewered meat satay. And this teh tarek stall is the one and only teh tarek stall there, as iconic as the hawker centre. Post note: I noticed this stall is now operated by another drink seller. Well, there goes history.

The word 'tarik' is also spelled as 'tarek', depending if one uses the newer or the older Malay spelling version.