The drink - Yours truly version.

The scorching weather in usually-wet-Kuching for the past week sucks. I can’t believe I’m still bloody perspiring under the ceiling fan spinning on full speed.

And the fact that Cindy (and not Hanis) won in MDG isn’t any help. But um, that’s totally non-relevant.

So anyway, back to the weather-bashing. Not that I could get the heat of the weather off my mind though. Bloody sunny days. Good for the trees, birds, butterflies and flowers but so not for me and the rapidly melting ice in my glass of teh-C peng. =(

Well that other day, during one of those very, very rare trips of mine to the supermarket with my parents, I managed to get mom to buy a whole bottle of syrup off the shelves of Choice Premier. Not just any syrup, but one that could only be used to make one drink - teh-C peng. No points for guessing right. =P

I also managed to find the Carnation brand evaporated milk, which is from where the C in ‘teh-C peng’ originates. Call me a caveman but that was really the first time I ever recall seeing that particular brand. =\ I really didn’t know the C stood for Carnation. Caveman, I know.

So it was one of those really hot afternoons when I thought I’d make myself that drink I’ve been so used to order everytime I eat out.

First, I attempted to brew the tea. I could’ve boiled the whole kettle of water by placing it under the sun outside but I did otherwise. Not wanting to fail my first attempt in making my own teh-C peng, I used two tea bags for that added oomph. The cup of tea turned so dark I wondered if I accidentally submerged Kopi-o bags into the cup instead.

Then I made a cup of syrup peng, followed by another cup of Syrup-C peng.

No seriously, I had no idea the proportions required of each ingredient. I poured the syrup until it felt like it should be enough, roughly with the help of mental images of how three-layer teh-C peng glasses looked like. But when pouring in the milk, I got too immersed in making sure the two ingredients didn’t mix until, well, you decide if that’s too much milk. =\

As for the grand finale, the tea I brewed earlier was introduced into the concoction. This part was tricky, I got lazy and forgot all about retaining the distinct three-layer effect when I poured the tea in too fast. Thus, mixing up much of the milk and tea. As a result, I had to scoop the remainder of the tea into the cup, spoon by spoon, to make up for the loss.

After a whole hour spent in the kitchen, with amazing productivity, I produced a grand total of .. one glass. And that’s not even including the time I left the tea (and the teabags) to brew.

Gee, I didn’t know making a glass of teh-C peng could be this painstaking.

P.S.: Check out my page on the drink here. I added a reference to this post under the header on how to make yourself a glass of teh-C peng. =)

P.P.S: Be forewarned, this post only serves as a very very brief walkthrough and is by no means a complete guide. Never ever use it as a benchmark.. unless you like tasteless teh-C pengs. =P Seriously man. =(