Caffeine culture in Hong Kong

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

This article needs additional citations for verification.
Please help improve this article by adding reliable references. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (July 2007)

Caffeine culture in Hong Kong is different from our general conception of coffee or tea as it had taken in a much different form in Hong Kong since the colonial era began in the early 18th century.

Inherited and modified based on traditional English tea, the different forms of 'teas' that Hong Kong people invented have gradually contributed to the evolution of caffeine culture that does not fit into the West's schema of tea or coffee at all.

For example 'milk tea' is a tea which is boiled in leaves more than 7 times, leaving an intense flavor, not to mention its intense level of caffeine. Milk tea tastes like the Indian Chai tea but is more milk-based and is very strong.

A more peculiar form of caffeine drink in Hong Kong is 'Yuan Yang'. Yuan Yang is a drink that mixes milk tea with coffee. It is welcomed by many locals and is an especially popular drink during workers' teabreaks, usually around 3:15 PM. Yuan Yang is usually served with an egg tart or other sweet buns.

Many tea houses in Hong Kong serve 'milk tea' and 'Yuen Yeung' as well as other peculiar drinks, like iced lemon coffee (without milk) and hot lemon coke (which is believed to alleviate the flu or its related symptoms).