Hong Kong and asia Milk Tea

Hong Kong Milk Tea

Hong Kong had a rich culture of coffee and tea from their English dominance days, they had fused the traditional Chinese tea with the traditional English tea to something that is unique to this day; the Hong Kong "Milk Tea". There are a variety of "Milk Tea" around Asia, most notably the Taiwanese bubble (Tapioca) milk tea. There is also the Malaysian milk tea, Teh tarik.

Hong Kong milk tea is made with a cup of strong black tea, much like the English breakfast tea, and combine that with condensed milk to form a perfect cup of Hong Kong style Milk Tea. This category of tea has a very strong sense of Tea. Hong Kong being the ex English colony, had grown accustomed to afternoon tea. Milk tea is the national favourite relaxation beverage. Prices are usually around $2 USD in most local places.

Taiwanese Milk Tea is made a little bit different, they also start with a cup of hot strong black tea, however this is where the similarity ends. Milk powder is used instead of any kind of liquid, then if you ordered a cold one, ice is included before they finish it with some hand shake action, very much like a cocktail in a bar. The typical Taiwanese milk tea has a stronger milk flavor compared to the Hong Kong style. Milk feels smoother due to the shaking action, similar to a steam wan in an espresso machine, it adds that extra bit of froth into your milk tea. There is also the adding of Tapioca and different other form extras into your milk tea, which makes this type of milk tea very popular to dessert loving people. Ordering process can be quite difficult when you order milk tea in Taiwan, there are a number of attributes you can tweek to make your perfect cup of milk tea. You can alter the sweetness (5 levels) you can alter the ice (less, normal or none), you can also alter the different kind of sweets to be put in depending on the shop that you goto, some has big small tapioca, in that case you can order either or both. Prices generally fall between $1.50 USD to around $3 USD in most local places.


Malaysia milk tea shares the same basic principle with the Taiwanese when it comes to Milk Tea, they like some hand action to put some froth in it. However they do it just a bit differently. Teh tarik literally translates to "pull tea". It is done with 2 jugs, one in each hand, pull from one to another with great height, thus putting the froth into the milk.

I really love to drink tea and milk tea, and I don't prefer any one in particular. I prefer to drink good milk tea. I would always make the extra mile and extra room for a good cup of milk tea whenever I travel to different parts of Asia.