Top 10 Must-Try Drinks in Taiwan

As the shou-yao beverage kingdom, it is hard to leave without tasting some of its famous beverages. Shou-yao is when you mix all your drink’s ingredients in a shaker. It’s like having cocktails but without alcohol and with so much more flavor to choose from. There is a drink for everyone, from tea to organic juice, fresh-cooked bubbles to mini taro and yam balls. Most cups cost somewhere around NT$50–90, and almost every shop lets you choose the sugar and ice level. Here is a must-try list you definitely want to work through!

50 Lan 

You can see 50 Lan almost everywhere in Taiwan. It is one of the most popular go-to shou-yao shops among Taiwanese. Not only they are cheaper in price but they also have great quality. It is famous for its classic signature bubble milk tea which is one of the most loved bubble milk tea in Taiwan if you’re going for a low price and good quality. 

Try: Classic signature bubble milk tea

Kebuke

Founded in Taichung in 2008 and known for its retro, British-style shops. Most of their drinks are based on aged black tea, and you can add their signature white pearls, Bai-yu, which are lighter and less chewy than black boba.

Try: Shou-Cheng (aged) black tea, with Bai-yu pearls added

Hua Da

One of the oldest milk tea shops from Southern Taiwan which you can also get in Taipei. They are known for its cooling method where they store their tea in a cooler once it is made, so there is absolutely no ice in your drink that will water it down, every sip will be 100% the same flavor. They mix different drinks by using different proportions of their signature teas and fresh milk. All their drink’s sugar is non-adjustable because they use their black tea to sweeten the drinks. If you don’t have a sweet tooth, you can try out their Yi-shou milk tea which is less sweet.

Try: Hua Da milk tea, with or without bubbles

Read More: Food Adventure in Taiwan: Looking for the Best Seafood

Jen Ju Dan

Inspired by the tasty and nutrient-rich indigenous Taiwanese brown sugar. It started from Taipei’s most famous night market: Shilin Night Market. They perfected their brown sugar pearls over a year with perfect gumminess and well caramelized smoky brown sugar flavor and has expanded their branch all over the world. If it’s all over the world, then it is THAT good!

Try: Brown Sugar Pearl with Milk

Chun Shui Tang

If you want to taste bubble tea where (by most accounts) it began, this one’s for you! Chun Shui Tang is a Taichung teahouse chain that is widely credited, together with Hanlin Tea Room in Tainan, with inventing pearl milk tea in the 1980s. Unlike the grab-and-go shops, it is a sit-down teahouse, so you can enjoy your drink with Taiwanese snacks like braised tofu or beef noodles.

Try: Pearl milk tea

Wanpo Tea Shop

Known for turning some of Taiwan’s most popular desserts into drinks, and they are SO good at it. They have so many options, reading through their menu is like taking a trip around Taiwan. Their number one drink is Red Bean Jelly Milk, It is inspired by a traditional Taiwanese dessert with a base of red bean soup and some yellow jelly on the side mixed in with some milk. You can taste the sweetness of the red bean soup and how it is boiled to that soft mushy texture, the yellow jelly has its own unique flavor and it is all combined with rich creamy milk. They also offer soy milk tea. Wanpo Tea Shop is the most Taiwanese flavored tea shop you could possibly ask for.

Try: Red Bean Jelly Milk

DaYungs

This is one for our Juice lovers around the world. DaYungs makes fresh juice with fresh fruits in every drink they make! Taiwan’s hot weather can be overwhelming sometimes, and a big cup of fresh juice to wash away that heat is just what people need. They have various fruits for you to choose from, and the bonus is they have a lot of Taiwanese fruit too, which isn’t easy to find around the world. And it’s not just that simple, they also mix their juice with teas! Adding that kick of refreshing into your summer afternoon. Apart from their regular-sized cup, they also offer bottles for some of their drinks for those who just can’t get enough!

Try: Fresh Orange Green Tea

Macu

One of the most popular tea chains in Taiwan. Offering fresh juice and tea, you can also get bubble milk tea and all the other usual ones. But what makes it stand out is their selection of cheese tea! Cheese and tea? It’s a combination you have never thought of but is unexpectedly good. During strawberry season you can get strawberry cheese tea, and their grape cheese tea is a favorite whenever grapes are in season. So what is cheese tea? There is grape jelly at the bottom of the cup, then freshly made grape smoothie in the middle, and last, topped with a layer of special cream cheese. And it doesn’t end just here, there are two steps to drink this properly. First, you drink directly through the lid so you can taste the cheese and grape smoothie mixed together giving you a sweet and salty flavor, then you drink with a straw which allows you to get to the jelly in the bottom, mixing all three flavors together. It is not just a drink, it is ART. 

Try: Grape cheese tea

Milksha

Founded in Tainan, Milksha uses fresh milk for all their milk drinks. People have gone insane for their Taro milk because it is said to be so rich and smooth. For milk tea lovers, this is the place to have a good cup of boba milk tea. They use white chewy bubbles.

Try: Taro Milk

SOMA

SOMA blends several teas into its drinks, giving them a more complex, mocktail-like flavor, and its drinks are less sweet than at most other shops, with some blends served unsweetened only.

Try: one of their signature black tea blends

Read More:8 Things You Should Know Before Traveling to Taiwan