Dig Your Face Into These Trendy Dirty Drinks
If you love munching on “dirty buns” — those chocolate dusted desserts prompting long queues at Bad Farmers Our Bakery, your local 7-Eleven, and seemingly everywhere in between — then brace your taste buds for the perfect liquid accompaniment: dirty drinks.
Recently launched by Lelecha (which has a branch in Shuangjing's Viva Mall) “dirty tea (脏脏茶, zangzangcha)” is essentially an updated version of regular old milk tea, replacing conventional sugar with hot brown sugar that is combined with cold milk, boba (tapioca pearls), and sometimes mesona (仙草, grass jelly). The “dirty” bit refers to the layer of brown sugar that slowly mixes and swirls with the milk when you shake it up.
Unfortunately (unlike many other milk tea varieties) Lelecha has yet to offer a delivery service for this dirty tea. Thankfully, we found a substitute rendition from Yifang, a popular Taiwanese milk tea shop from Shanghai that just opened its first outlet in Beijing. Their signature brown sugar milk tea with pearls (RMB 22) is a fantastic summer drink. Its caramelized boba (tapioca pearls) are small, sweet, and bouncy with a not-so-smooth surface, the latter being proof that they are handmade. Meanwhile, its mesona (仙草, grass jelly) gave the drink a slightly bitter finish. This drink is cold and lighter in texture than heavy flavored cheese tea. It offers five sugar levels, and six variations of temperature. Be warned, though: don’t expect the beautiful marble pattern that can be found in-store if you order delivery (how can the shīfu guarantee that after the bumpy ride to your door, after all?).
Yifang Taiwan Fruit Tea
Daily 10.30am-9.30pm. 19 Chaowai Dajie, Chaoyang District (152 0110 0490)
一芳台湾水果茶：朝阳区朝外大街乙19号
Aside from ”dirty tea”, “dirty coffee (脏脏咖啡, zangzang kafei)” is also becoming popular at a bunch of cafés in Beijing. Prime examples include Metal Hands, Barista Specialty, Coffee Cuore, and Greybox. Lazy as we are, we ordered a cupful of Greybox's version delivered, which arrived within 20 minutes. Dirty coffee is made by pouring a shot (30ml) of hot espresso into cold milk to give it eye-catching lines. Waiting and watching those colors coalesce will leave your taste buds tingling in anticipation. Sadly, we were robbed of that aesthetically pleasing in-store feature by ordering delivery, so we highly recommend you drink dirty coffees on site. And, more importantly, getting it delivered renders the combination of cold smooth milk with hot espresso into a chilly, mixed-up coffee with a disheartening roasted flavor.
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Email: tracywang@thebeijinger.com
Twitter: @flyingfigure
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