Have you found that the ingredients of the cup of milk tea in your hand are more and more, more and more like porridge?
Ancient pearls, coconut fruits and pudding have long since ceased to be glorious, taro balls, sago, red beans these former milk tea darlings are difficult to get a lot of attention, milk tea shops rack their brains to continue to develop new products, today is high-end ice cream, tomorrow is seasonal fruits, the hottest milk tea ingredients are changing at any time.
In this trend, more and more ingredients in milk tea, and even squeezed the space of milk tea, milk tea from the original drink, began to gradually approach the direction of porridge, after drinking a cup of milk tea full of ingredients, may be more than eating a meal.
The popular Blood Glutinous Rice Milk Tea | Screenshot from Little Red Book
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Milk tea "porridge"
/ Stacking of various ingredients /
In the previous milk tea, most of the ingredients were only pearls, and the three brothers of milk tea with pearls, fairy grass and pudding were already the top match at that time. And today's milk teacups, more and more things are added, more and more outrageous and bold.
Brown Sugar Bobo, Osmanthus Jelly, Bobo Crisp, Taro Balls, Boba, Blood Glutinous Rice, Crystal Balls, Bean Flowers, Zhenbo Coconut, Fairy Grass, Red Beans, Oats, Peanuts, Sago, Barley, Oreo, Cheese, Mochi, Sesame, Coconut Meat, Soy Milk, Taro Paste, Milk Tofu, Small TangYuan, Coffee Jelly, Tea Jelly, Q Bullet Crisp Beads, Exploding Bacteria, Horseshoe Burst Beads, Collagen Elastic Wave Crisp, Probiotics, Double Pulp, Hand-Pounded Taro, Mini Pearl, Custard, Rice Potato, Sesame Taro Balls, Oats, Pecans, Pecans... Milk tea is a basket, and anything can be put into it.
Milk tea with the main theme of "half a cup is material" | Sina Weibo @ book also burns fairy grass
Especially the blood glutinous rice, barley, oats and other grains, but also sit on the trend of "milk tea porridge"; the kind of milk tea that adds a lot of taro mud to the bottom, sucking with a thick straw is difficult; even some brands have played out the "half a cup is the material" slogan, with a rich amount of ingredients to attract customers; some brands will give away ingredients for free, in addition to the ingredients contained in the product itself, but also provide one or two additional ingredients for selection, there are buys and gifts, so that users feel that they really have earned.
Blood glutinous rice appears in milk tea, more like porridge | Sina Weibo @ Shanghai Auntie
In the early days of the milk tea market, most merchants did not even have to rent a storefront, and a small stall could be opened. The raw material of the product is milk tea powder, brewed with water and then add some pearls, 3 to 5 pieces can get a full cup, I believe that many 80, 90 years after the student era have drunk this milk tea full of flavor.
The milk tea I drank when I was a child was very cheap and of poor quality| flickr huuang
Now the milk tea market competition is becoming more and more fierce, in order to stand out from the big environment, milk tea shops began to work products, constantly pushing new products and adding ingredients. Personalized customization is also an important promoter of more and more milk tea ingredients, do you want pearls? Do you want coconut fruit? How many copies do you want? They are also added as you like. The order column also has a special column "add some small materials". In this case, each cup of milk tea is filled with ingredients that customers like or want to try, and the amount + variety is many, as if it has become the standard of milk tea.
After Internet marketing became the main means of brand publicity, the process of turning milk tea into porridge was also fueled, as long as it was labeled as an Internet celebrity, it was not worried about sales. And the products with gimmicks and outstanding appearance are obviously more out of the circle, so the ingredients began to add a whole ice cream, a large piece of wafer biscuits, a hill of fruit piles... The ingredients are even more hearty than some delicate desserts.
Who sees this face value is not wow? | Sina Weibo @ and Peach Peach
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Milk tea to dessert "stealing"
/ Is it a drink? Or eat dessert? /
The trend of milk tea becoming porridge is becoming more and more intense, without the slightest intention of stopping, and the ways of changing porridge are also different. In addition to superimposing various small ingredients, there is also a way - to move closer to desserts and "borrow" from desserts.
The most famous example is the poplar nectar.
Originally a classic Hong Kong-style dessert, milk, coconut water, mango, sago, grapefruit are paired together, which have a smooth taste and the aroma of dairy products, and carry the refreshing sweetness of fruit.
Hong Kong-style dessert poplar manna | flickr Jessie Yin
In order to successfully "drink" it, the milk tea shop "slimmed down" on the volume of the material so that customers can easily eat it through a straw, and will also add their own innovations and put some other ingredients - pearls, cheese, tea jelly...
Various milk tea shops have launched poplar nectar | A belly shot
In this wind downward, the classic materials in Chinese sweets are also "difficult to escape the poisonous hand". Add a spoonful of mash, and then a little osmanthus flower, is a cup of osmanthus wine with a strong autumn style of milk tea; small tangyuan, mochi, will push the thickness of the ingredients to the peak, so that a cup of milk tea down, almost can eat a half full.
There is also the idea of learning from the snow top coffee, putting a large lump of light cream and milk lid on the surface of the milk tea, and then sprinkling some cookie crumbs, powdered sugar or nuts, which not only looks good and triggers appetite, but also tastes more delicate when drinking.
Myriscoa Treasure Tea | Sina Weibo @ Nai Xue Tea
Several other treasure teas are also fully | Sina Weibo @ Nai Xue Tea
Some shops directly open the "Drinking Cake" series, using a large amount of cream layers in the cup, and then adding various seasonings to simulate the sweet and rich taste of the cake.
Happy Lemon's "Cake Series" is also quite acclaimed | Screenshot from the takeaway platform
This way of loading dessert elements under the portable form of borrowing milk tea not only makes the content of milk tea more and more thick, but also makes the boundary between drinks and desserts begin to blur, and every time you order a single to get your hands on it, you don't know whether you are drinking a drink or eating desserts.
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The original intention of milk tea?
/ Who remembers the first taste of milk tea? /
In the milk tea porridge wind downward, although consumers enjoy a variety of delicious experience, but "wool out of the sheep", the price of milk tea is also rising, now drink a cup of milk tea often 20-30 yuan a cup, has long bid farewell to the "10 yuan era".
In terms of taste, adding ingredients and innovating can enrich the level of taste and meet everyone's new needs. However, from a health point of view, it is less enjoyable.
The sugar content of milk tea itself is not low, and these delicious ingredients are mostly composed of cream, sugar and starch, and the calories should not be underestimated. Even if you choose the "no sugar" and "no additional sugar" options, these ingredients have already piled up the sugar content and calories. If you drink like this for a long time, although a happy smile will appear on your face, your weight will definitely rise.
How many people are beginning to miss the "simple" milk tea | flickr Robyn Lee
In the face of this increasingly rolled ingredient situation, milk tea has changed from the original protagonist to a supporting role, and the role has changed from a beverage to a base - just to accommodate all the ingredients. It seems that the combination of milk and tea is no longer important, what matters is whether the ingredients added are innovative enough, whether they are attractive enough, and whether they are visually impactful.
In fact, milk tea with ingredients is not a completely bad thing, but this "degree" needs to be grasped. People are not disgusted with moderate, finishing touches, but they don't want a mess of inexplicable stacking.
Are you a "porridge milk tea school" or a "fundamentalist milk tea school"? (Source: The Paper)
Editor: Feifei Sun
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