Updated on December 27, 2022
Currently we are in the middle of the year’s summer season. It’s very normal that the temperature goes beyond 30°C, occasionally touching 35°C or even more. One of the coolest things to deal with the summer season is to drink something cold, may be cold tea or soft drinks. If you are in China, you may want to buy tea (茶, chá), or cold drinks (软饮料, Ruǎn yǐnliào), natural drinks (天然饮料, Tiānrán yǐnliào), or some other drinks (饮品/饮料, Yǐnpǐn/ Yǐnliào).
Do you know how to order drinks at a Chinese drinks shop (饮料店, Yǐnliào diàn)?
Well, I prefer to drink Peal Milk Tea (珍珠奶茶, Zhēnzhū nǎichá), also known as Zhen Zhu Nai Cha, and Bubble tea. Not to mention, Bubble tea is very famous in Taiwan. 🙂
Welcome to Ming Mandarin. In this lesson, let’s learn how to buy your favorite drinks in China, especially the Peal Milk Tea, aka, the Bubble tea.
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In China, When you go to buy Peal Milk Tea or some other milk tea (奶茶, nǎichá), or any other drink, you may have to specify a few personal preferences before you order a drink.
Ice Level (冰度, Bīng dù)
- Normal ice/full ice (正常冰/全冰, Zhèngcháng bīng/quán bīng) – More than half of the cup is filled with ice cubes. If you don’t specifically request the store to reduce the amount of ice, almost “full ice” is used. In winters, if you choose normal/full ice, the drink may turn out to be very cold. Moreover, “full ice” causes the beverage to be sweet.
- Less ice (少冰, Shǎo bīng) – Most customers will choose “less ice” to avoid the sweetness of the beverage.
- Tiny ice/very little ice (少少冰, Shàoshào bīng) – also known as micro ice. The ice cubes are placed on only one to three layers floating on the upper layer of the cup. Often, requested by the customers who finish drinking fast.
- Ice free (去冰, Qù bīng) – virtually no ice cubes in the drink, or add only some ice cubes so that the beverage will feel cold. However, the ice cubes will generally not be visible. In some stores’, the beverages are already cold, so they don’t put any ice cubes.
Temperature level (温度, Wēndù)
You may also want to specify the hotness of the milk tea (奶茶的热度, Nǎichá de rèdù).
- Normal temperature (常温, Cháng wēn): Room temperature– neither cold nor hot, but a relatively comfortable temperature. It generally refers to a temperature of 15-25°C.
- Warm (温, Wēn)
- Hot (热, Rè)
- Boiling hot (烫, Tàng)
Sweetness Level (糖度, Tángdù)
The sweetness of milk tea is divided into several types. The sweetness of milk tea from high to low includes:
- Full sugar (100% sugar): (正常糖, Zhèngcháng tang) – whole/full sugar (normal sugar)– This is the choice of people who like to eat sweets.
- 90% sugar (九分糖, Jiǔ fēn tang)
- 70% sugar (七分糖, Qī fēn tang) also known as Qi Fen Tang Tian (七分糖甜, Qī fēn táng tián)
- 50% sugar (五分糖, Wǔ fēn táng)
- 30% sugar (三分糖 , Sān fēn tang)
- No extra sugar added (不另外加糖, Bù lìngwài jiātáng)
Keep in mind that the normal sweetness (first option) is sweeter than 90% sugar/sweetness. As such, normal sugar means “very sweet” (十分糖, Shífēn táng).
Consumers can choose the sweetness according to their preferences and taste. Milk tea itself has some sweetness, so consumers who don’t like sweets (or wish to avoid sweets, such as diabetic people – 糖尿病人, Táng niào bìng rén), may choose sugar-free (the last option) — it should not affect the taste too much.
Extra Add-ons
When you buy the bubble tea or other drinks, you may also specify some of the following to be added to the tea/drinks:
- Pudding (布丁, Bùdīng)
- Ice cream (冰淇淋, Bīng qí lín)
- Cream (奶霜, Nǎi shuāng)
- Oat (燕麦, Yànmài)
- Replace sugar with honey (去糖改蜂蜜, Qù táng gǎi fēngmì)
- Coffee jelly (咖啡冻, Kāfēi dòng)
- Mango jam (芒果酱, Mángguǒ jiàng)
I hope now you can buy Peal Milk Tea in in the mainland China, Taiwan, or anywhere else without any problem.