Cheese and tea doesn't exactly sound like a food partnership on par with PB & J, or fish and chips...but it's a real thing. Now salted sweet "cheese tea" is becoming not only more popular, but also readily available at bubble tea shops across Metro Vancouver.
So is it a cup of tea with a chunk of cheese sitting on top? Not quite.
The floating cheese part on the surface is melted cream cheese with whipping cream, milk and a little salt, which creates a very savoury taste.
Cheese tea got started in China around 2011, then spread in popularity there and in Malaysia and Taiwan. A tea shop in New York started serving the novelty item in 2017, and other spots across the US and Canada have since gotten on board.
There are two schools of thought on enjoying cheese tea, and it often comes down to how much of a cheese lover you are. Big time cheese fans will want to keep the cheese and tea separate to get more cheese flavour. But if you'd like to have a more uniformly refreshing drink, mix the cheese and tea up.
Happy Lemon
CoCo Fresh Tea & Juice
Address: Multiple locations in Metro Vancouver; check website for details
Pearl Castle
Address: 2 Richmond locations, 1 Burnaby location; check website for details
With files from Kacy Wu - Richmond News.
