A Cold Find

During a weekend trip to Beijing, I found myself on a populated street with lots of food offerings and family owned crafts stores. If you’ve ever been to Miami, I can only compare this street to the Chinese version of Lincoln Road. Walking down this street, I saw dozens of people passing me with cups of drinks and frozen desserts in their hands. I began thinking to myself how if I got the chance to find the store where these all came from, I would definitely have to buy one based on the popularity. Lucky for me, I actually stumbled into one of the stores that sold these desserts/refreshments.

I began looking at the menu and had no idea what some of the things were. They all seemed to be variations on milk tea with certain additions to them. If there’s anything I’ve noticed about refreshments in China, it’s that people love their milk tea. This store had Milk Tea with Malt, Taro Milk Tea, Adzuki Bean Milk Tea, and even Aloe Milk tea. There were also other things on the menu, but due to some language barriers, I do not know what they were.

I ended up getting the Taro Pudding Smoothie just because it sounded like something I had never tried before and besides, it was purple. How could I not try it? It ended up not being as sweet as I thought it would be, but it was very refreshing. It was different than any smoothie I’ve had in the states in that it is made with no sugar, so the flavor is just that of the taro. At the bottom of the cup, there were about five pieces of pudding, which had an unexpected texture. I actually enjoyed it though.

This was a treat I really enjoyed, and I can see why they are so popular. If you get the chance to try something different like this, I highly recommend it.