Half sugar, less ice: learning to order milk tea in Taiwan

Bubble tea is one of Taiwan's best-known exports, and it was invented here in the 1980s. Two tea houses, Chun Shui Tang in Taichung and Hanlin in Tainan, both have a claim to being first, and the debate is part of the story. Living in Tainan, I find it fitting that the city where I study is one of the possible birthplaces.

A drink you design yourself

What surprises many newcomers is not the tapioca pearls but the ordering. At almost every tea shop you choose:

• Sugar: full sugar (全糖), less sugar (少糖), half (半糖), light (微糖) or none (無糖)
• Ice: regular, less ice (少冰), light ice, no ice (去冰), or even hot
• Toppings: pearls (珍珠), smaller pearls, grass jelly, pudding, coconut jelly, and more

Then there is the tea itself: black, green, oolong, roasted, with fresh milk or with creamer. The menu is long, but people tend to settle on one combination and order it the same way for years.

More than a drink

Tea shops in Taiwan are everywhere, sometimes several on one block. They are where people pick up something on the way to class or the lab, where colleagues order for the whole office in the afternoon, and where students wait in line chatting. A cup in a sealed plastic bag with a handle is a familiar sight on any scooter.

Coming from Vietnam, where trà sữa became a youth trend in the 2010s, it is interesting to see the drink at home in its original culture. Here it is less a trend and more an ordinary habit, like coffee in Hanoi or Saigon.

A small habit of my own

If I had one tip for a new student, it would be to learn the four words for sugar and ice first. They are some of the most useful Chinese you will speak each day, and getting them right feels like a small step towards belonging.

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Photos: sam651030, nicolagiordano on Pixabay, used under the Pixabay Content License. These are not my photographs.