PrintSugar Rush: Normal Milk Tea Vs. 'Hong Kong' Milk Tea at Hon Cafe
At our beloved Chinatown hangout spot, Hon Café (home of the Tiger Roll and Sponge Cake Bag), I often keep my order simple with a hot cup of nai cha (milk tea) and a pineapple bun. Sometimes I switch it up, but it's good to have certain consistencies in life. At our last visit with friends, Robyn pointed up at the menu and asked, "what's the difference between milk tea and Hong Kong milk tea?"
Good question! No one knew.
I pulled my rusty Cantonese out of the closet, and asked the bakery women. She responded in what roughly translates to "stronger, more tea."
So we tasted cups of both our normal milk tea side by side with the Hong Kong milk tea, and indeed she was right. Notice the color difference in the photo? The cup on the left is normal milk tea, while the darker version is Hong Kong-style, made with a stronger, borderline bitter brew of tea with less milk, and most noticeably, a substantially lighter hand of sugar. The majority of our group favored the invitingly sweet and gentle (or "normal") milk tea, though the Hong Kong-style is ideal for a morning wake-up call.
Hon Cafe
70 Mott Street, New York NY 10013 (b/n Canal and Bayard Streets; map) 212-219-1431
Related: Hot Sesame Milk Bubble Tea at Green Tea Cafe
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3 Comments:
How does this relate to the delightfully bizarre beverage "Hong Kong Style Tea With Coffee" that's also available in the area? (The bakery on Mott between Bayard & Pell on the East side of the street does it, among others.) It seems to be made up of about 1/3 milk, and then an amount of coffee and a teabag. I'm not sure if there's hot water involved. Do the good people of Hong Kong have a special relationship with caffeine?
coleslaw at 2:05PM on 01/29/09
hong kong milk tea is usually prepared with a stocking or a bag now, it's definitely a stronger brew. They also don't use regular milk or cream, they use evaporated milk which makes it a smoother finish when drinking it. i love hk tea though.
fobbyamerican at 6:09PM on 01/29/09
HK Style Tea & Coffee is called yuan yang(yin yang). I don't think there's a place in NYC that makes it as good as real HK diners.
maportofu at 7:26PM on 01/29/09