Pearl Milk Tea (珍珠奶茶)

I went to ShauKiWan to eat fish ball noodles (魚蛋粉) at the famous On Lee (安利) yesterday. But this post is not about fish balls nor noodles.

After fish balls, we wandered down the street and stopped at a small shop selling Taiwan style pearl milk tea. The stall looked clean and tidy and was manned by a young lady and a young man. We ordered three cups of milk tea with different flavours. Then the young lady started making the tea. There was only one other customer, yet we had to wait for a long time. So I tried to find out what the young lady was doing. She took a cocktail shaker, added ice cubes, black tea, powder for flavour, “pearls”, and milk one at a time. She then shook the shaker for a long time, taking several minutes to make a cup of tea. No wonder we had to wait for so long, much longer than at the other shops that I visited before.

I started to wonder. The young lady was clearly doing a fine job, seemingly taking her job quite seriously. If she had taken the same serious attitude in her studies, she should have done reasonably well academically. At her age, she should be entering, or already in university. Why is she then working at a milk tea shop? I sincerely hope that this is only a summer job for her, and then she would be returning to school soon.

By the way, if you are looking for (安利). It is on (筲箕灣東大街), across from the Tin Hau Temple (天后廟).