Milk Tea with Cheese

My booster appointment was on the edge of Chinatown: fortuitous planning, I’d say.

After my shot, I thought I’d walk over to pick up my favourite Hong Kong-style milk tea and a few delicious things to eat on recovery day, just in case.

My usual HK tea place was a bit of a distance. My bag was heavy. By the time I had walked a few blocks, my arm was hurting.

We’re still in lockdown here. Still? Again? Our numbers are going up, so amongst other things, restaurants are closed— takeout and delivery only.

I wouldn’t be able to have my tea and breakfast inside anyway. Favourite HK style was still quite a hike. #2 favourite place was closed. #3 milk tea place was still a ways away.

Decided to stop into a bubble tea shop I’d been to before. Not HK-style but mainland China-style.

I ordered a milk tea hot. Would you like cheese? Huh?

The last time I was there they asked if I’d like the cheese topping on my tea and I had declined. It must be a thing. This time I thought well, why not.

It turns out the that the cheese is whipped cream with the slightest tang—maybe a bit of cream cheese added?

The milk tea was milky and mellow. More creamy now with the hint of whipped cream on top. No punch of strong black tea base. The surprise was the addition of a thinnish jelly that kind of slimed itself into sips through the fat straw. Not boba, but something like the gentle almond jelly you can sometimes have in Cantonese dim sum restaurants, usually accompanied with fruit cocktail.

Yeah, it was good. Unexpected composition but good. I’d have it again, more as a dessert rather than a caffeinated beverage.

Oh, and my tea was served to me in a lovely paper bag with a trio of what looked like white chocolate truffles. It turned out that they were sweet chewy rice balls. Not as chewy as mochi, but along the same lines.