#22: For the Love of Food (and Travel): My First Cheese Tea Was An Experience to Remember
What truly embodies a place is its food. And I've eaten a lot of good food in my country and abroad. I have a long way to go on my culinary journey. So, come along for the ride!
When I first heard about cheese tea, it was “China’s latest drink sensation” and the latest Instagram-worthy food trend. The combination of cheese and tea seemed incomprehensible to me.
Food trends keep changing every few months, and I figured this was one of them: just hype and no substance. I’d discovered and fallen in love with bubble tea during my time in Austin, Texas, so I thought cheese tea was yet another experimental concoction.
But then I read up on it, and I wanted to try it.
So, what’s cheese tea?
Cheese tea is essentially cold tea (usually green or black tea, with or without milk) that’s topped with a foamy layer of milk and cream cheese and sprinkled with salt. You can’t drink it using a straw because you’d only get the flavor of the tea and not the cream cheese.
Instead, you sip it from the top of the cup at a 40- to 45-degree angle so that you get the sweetness and bitterness of the tea and the saltiness and creaminess of the cheese at one go. It's a burst of flavors.
To people who don’t know me well enough yet, let me tell you when I plan a trip to another country or city, I always research the food options and look up restaurants I need to visit.
It’s one of those quirky things I do. I not only check my hotel's location on Google Maps about a dozen times but also make a list of local foods I need to try.
On my last trip to Bangkok in 2019, I had cheese tea on my list because I found out there was one place closest to our hotel serving cheese tea: Heekcaa.
After successful stints in South Korea and Vietnam, Guangzhou-born tea chain Heekcaa arrived in Bangkok in 2017. And based on my research, I knew they were in the Siam Discovery mall in Bangkok.
Siam Discovery looked like one of those smaller malls on the map. Little did I know that we’d have to walk for at least 40 minutes from the Siam BTS train stop through different connecting malls and stores to get to Heekcaa. I remember asking for directions from at least five people on the way.
But finally, we made it!
I wish I had taken a picture of every type of cheese tea they had, but the picture below is the best one I have. They had so many varieties of cheese tea; I was so confused!
I stood there in line wondering if I should order the bubble cheese milk tea, but I was here to try the original cheese tea.
So, I ended up ordering a Mango Strawberry Cheese Tea, and trust me, it was divine! Isn’t it drool-worthy?
As I had mentioned in my introductory post, I’m a foodie whose food adventures have only just begun. Stay tuned for lots more drool-worthy adventures, stories, and pictures.
See you next week!
P.S. Have you tried cheese tea? Did you like it?
Photo credits and copyright: Kritika Kulshrestha
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Cheers,
Kritika
Ooooooh and Ewwww at the same time! But would you say it's an acquired taste? Like you need to have a few and then you might like it. And what about you? Did you want o have more?
But I'm just as curious to try it now.
I have a feeling your blog is gonna be my Go-To, the personal Trip Advisor!
Interesting! I tried butter tea when I was in Bhutan and had a similar experience! It adds a delicious salty / creamy touch so I can imagine cheese tea being similar. Also I guess at the end of the day it is just another source of dairy you're adding to it, right! (like milk or cream!) Also totally relate with having to find the local foods / restaurants wherever I am going. It's the best way to travel :)