If your idea of a Chinese tea drink still begins and ends with milk tea and tapioca pearls, the menus in China may surprise you.
Here, pearls are no longer the star of every cup. Oolong, jasmine, Tieguanyin, fresh taro, purple sticky rice, fermented rice, grapes and Chinese gooseberries can all find their way into a drink. And sometimes, a single cup can capture the flavor of an entire city.
Here are ten drinks you are far more likely to encounter in China—drinks distinctive enough to become part of how you remember a place.
This list reflects Tatia’s personal taste. Menus vary by city, location and season, and some drinks may be temporarily unavailable. Check the brand’s mini-program or a local delivery app before making a special trip.
1. Youlan Latte | Chayan Yuese
Taste: Black tea, milk, whipped cream and chopped pecans. Lightly sweet at first, with a rich tea finish.
Tatia’s take: It is practically a flavor landmark in Changsha. Rather than classic bubble tea, think of it as a cream-topped dessert built on a Chinese tea base.
How to order it: Try the standard recipe the first time, without adding extra toppings.
2. Creamy Fermented Rice Drink | YeYeBuPaoCha
Taste: Gentle milk and rice flavors with a lightly fermented sweetness, giving it more depth than an everyday milk tea.
Tatia’s take: Sweet fermented rice is a familiar taste in many Chinese homes. Reworking it as a modern tea-shop drink feels both deeply local and genuinely inventive.
Good to know: Drinks made with fermented rice may contain a small amount of alcohol. Ask the staff before ordering if you are pregnant, buying for a child, driving or avoiding alcohol completely.
3. Supreme “Duck Shit Aroma” Tea | Naixue
Taste: A floral Phoenix Dancong oolong with a clean, refreshing finish, usually paired with milk or a creamy foam.
Tatia’s take: “Duck Shit Aroma” is the folk name of a Phoenix Dancong tea cultivar—it contains neither duck nor anything else the name might suggest. Still, plenty of people, Tatia included, remember the drink precisely because the name is impossible to forget.
How to order it: Choose a lower sugar level if you want to taste more of the tea itself.
4. Double Fresh Taro Milk Green Tea | CoCo
Taste: Milk green tea with real mashed taro—thick, soft and surprisingly filling.
Tatia’s take: CoCo has plenty of overseas locations, but its fresh-taro combinations in China are not always the same as those abroad. If you love taro, this is an easy yes.
How to order it: The taro is already sweet, so less sugar is usually enough.
5. Purple Sticky Rice Milk Tea | Auntea Jenny
Taste: Milk tea filled with soft, chewy grains of deep purple-red sticky rice—almost like turning a bowl of Chinese sweet porridge into a drink.
Tatia’s take: Grain-based tea drinks are one of Auntea Jenny’s signatures, and this particular cup is substantial enough to stand in for a snack.
About the name: The Chinese name literally means “blood glutinous rice,” but it simply refers to the grain’s dark reddish-purple color. It contains no blood.
6. Yunling Jasmine White | Guming
Taste: Delicate jasmine fragrance and soft milkiness, usually much lighter than a rich pearl milk tea.
Tatia’s take: If you want to shift the focus from toppings to the tea itself, jasmine milk tea is one of the most approachable places to start.
How to order it: Less sugar and less ice make the floral notes easier to notice.
7. Yi Kou Lao Tie | Molly Tea
Taste: The roasted, floral character of Tieguanyin softened by a smooth, rounded milkiness.
Tatia’s take: It takes a traditional-sounding oolong and turns it into an easy drink for walking around the city. , the idea will feel immediately familiar.
How to order it: Start with less sugar; too much sweetness can bury the Tieguanyin.
8. Black Tea with Ice Cream | A Little Tea
Taste: Slightly brisk black tea topped with vanilla ice cream. As the ice cream melts, the drink gradually shifts from tea to milk tea.
Tatia’s take: Nothing in it sounds unusual on its own, yet the combination is unexpectedly memorable. The contrast between brisk tea and creamy ice cream simply works.
How to order it: Drop the sugar level by one step, since the ice cream will sweeten the tea as it melts.
9. Boya Juexian | CHAGEE
Taste: Jasmine green tea and milk, with a pronounced fragrance, a clean finish and a lingering aftertaste.
Tatia’s take: CHAGEE already has stores outside China, but menus, sweetness levels and seasonal releases vary from country to country. This drink is one of the clearest examples of China’s recent fresh-milk-tea trend, where brewed whole-leaf tea is meant to lead.
How to order it: If you usually drink unsweetened tea or coffee, begin with a low sugar level.
10. Milk Green Tea | Mixue
Taste: A simple, sweet and budget-friendly jasmine milk green tea.
Tatia’s take: It may not be the most refined drink here, but it shows another side of China’s tea-drink culture: stores everywhere, low prices and an unmistakably everyday feel. Travel is not only about premium experiences; ordinary favorites tell you something too.
How to order it: Enjoy it as a cheerful street drink rather than judging it by specialty-tea standards.
Not in the Mood for Milk Tea? Try These Five Fruit Teas
This is not a consolation list. In China, fruit tea is a full category of its own, often combining fresh fruit, brewed tea, tart flavors and chewy toppings in the same cup.
1. Chinese Gooseberry Tea | Naixue
The first sip is tart and slightly astringent. A few seconds later, a distinct sweetness seems to return to your mouth. That sour-then-sweet turn is exactly what makes the drink fun.
2. Fresh Grape Tea with Cheese Foam | Guming
Grape flesh, slush and a creamy cheese cap make this cold, sweet and intensely fruity—the kind of drink that leaves a strong flavor memory.
3. Lychee and Fermented Rice Drink | YeYeBuPaoCha
Fragrant lychee layered with the mellow sweetness of fermented rice tastes more like a southern Chinese summer than an ordinary lychee refresher. It is still worth checking the alcohol information before ordering.
4. Passion Fruit Tea with Pearls and Coconut Jelly | CoCo
Tart passion fruit tea meets chewy tapioca pearls and crisp coconut jelly. If you want a fruit tea that still delivers the playful textures people love about boba, start here.
5. Fresh Smashed Orange Tea | Mixue
A refreshing mix of orange slices, tea and ice. It is not a complicated drink, but on a hot day it delivers exactly the cool, lightly sweet lift you want.
Three Things to Decide When You Order
1. Sugar first. “Regular sugar” may be sweeter than you expect. Less sugar or 30% sugar is a sensible starting point. 2. Then ice. Less ice does not always mean more drink; policies vary by chain. 3. Toppings last. Pearls, taro, purple sticky rice, coconut jelly and cream foam can dramatically change the sweetness, texture and how filling a drink is. Curiosity is not a reason to add everything at once.
If you have allergies or need to avoid dairy, nuts, caffeine or other ingredients, do not rely on the photo alone. Recipes and cross-contact practices can vary by location, so ask the staff to confirm.
And if one of these drinks stays on your mind long after the last sip, pass the recommendation on to a friend.
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