So, what’s the trend in Taiwan and China now? Cheese tea! People are queuing up hours upon hours for this sensation (in the early days 7 hours!). It has taken the imagination and taste buds of this region by storm and completely changed what people perceive as a drink or a bubble tea or a fruit tea drink. Hey Tea, from China, are the pioneers of this drink, but the question is what is it? It is basically a cold black or green tea with a layer of cream cheese at the top. You can also get it in a fruit flavoured drink, which is what I prefer. I tried the green tea version from the original spot in the original spot i.e. Hey Tea in China, and I really didn’t like it much. But when I had the strawberry version in Manchester (of all places), I totally fell in love!
What does it taste like? It is basically like drinking cheesecake and if you get the strawberry cheese tea (which you absolutely should), it’s like drinking strawberry cheesecake. Now, I don’t know if this makes it sound more or less appetising. This drink is completely different to traditional bubble teas; you’ll taste the fruity drink (maybe like a refreshing watered down slushy?) plus the slightly saltiness of the cream cheese at the top of the drink. There’s actually a particular way to drink them and if you don’t drink them that way, you’ll have a completely different (and maybe not as pleasant) experience. There are probably 3 stages to the drink. The first few gulps, then the middle ones and then the final few. In the first few, you have to ensure you use the drinking hole (and not the straw hole) and consume it at a particular angle to get the drink and a bit of the cream cheese with each gulp. The middle gulps will take in more cream cheese and so this will depend on how much you like the cream cheese flavour and also the amount will depend on how you took the first gulps. And the final few gulps will need to be drunk using the straw as now it will be more of the drink than the cream cheese. I know I know – I’ve made it sound like some science project, but how you drink the drink is definitely going to affect the overall taste of the drink. So, it is crucial!
Anyway, let’s talk about where the best places in London are where you can try this awesome drink!
Machi Machi
These guys do our favourite cheese tea in London. In my opinion, their quality is top tier and even though I’ve only tried one of their flavours, I can’t wait to try the rest. They’ve got 4 tea flavours cheese tea drinks and they are black, four seasons, jasmine green and oolong. But as mentioned above, we prefer the fruit cheese tea drinks. They’ve got two options here: one is strawberry and the other is blueberry and strawberry. We actually tried the blueberry and strawberry one and felt the addition of the blueberry was genius. It provided a fresh ever so slightly tangy twist. The quality of the drink was second to none.
The Whale Tea
The Whale launched an excited cheezo series recently where they decided to venture into the cheese tea game. They have four exciting flavours to pick from: strawberry, mango and passion fruit, peach and kiwi. Our favourite was the kiwi one. It was super refreshing and the lovely sweet and tangy kiwi flavour was complimented perfectly by the very slightly salty cream cheese. We were surprised by how much we actually loved this drink considering how full we were at the time and that our usual favourite is strawberry. Superb!
The Alley
They have to be featured on this list due to their status and their quality. Quite possibly the most popular bubble tea spot in the capital. But they aren’t only known for their bubble tea, in fact from their top 5 best selling drinks, one of them is the strawberry cheese tea drink. This one is my wife’s favourite in London. Unfortunately, it isn’t mine and actually it may be my least favourite. The reason is simple. There’s strawberry bits / largish chunks in there and it makes for awkward sips where sometimes you end up with a chunk of strawberry stuck on the end of the straw or lid. I didn’t like that. I much prefer a smoother blend.
Jen Tea
May not be the biggest name on in this nor the most popular, but we definitely love a hidden gem here. And this is a proper hidden gem in London. Jen Tea is a bubble tea spot (that does a mean cheese tea too) in London straight from the home of bubble tea, Taipei Taiwan. Tucked away in a hidden corner of an alley in Spitalfields, blink and you’ll miss it. If you don’t know of it, you probably won’t come across it. They probably have the most extensive cheese tea menu on this list. They’ve got a few options including black, green and oolong, and strawberry, grape and passionfruit. We tried the strawberry one and were impressed, but looking back now, the passionfruit one and the grape one sound super interesting.
Our favourite cheese tea in England
Our favourite cheese tea in England is actually in Manchester. I can’t write a cheese tea post and not mention them here. They are the ones that truly made me fall in love with the drink despite actually trying it years ago in the home of cheese tea, China. The name of the place in Manchester is none other than Ohayo Tea. In the heart of Chinatown and a home grown name too, we have to promote and endorse its greatness. If you’re ever in Manchester or nearby, make sure to pay them a visit. They’ve got a couple of cheese tea flavours: strawberry and pineapple.
