Another bubble tea post (陳三鼎)

This'll be a short post. My head is killing me (from eating too many cookies...) and I was debating whether or not to bother posting tonight, but my inability to sleep convinced me to do something aside from watching random videos on Youtube. Anyhoo, I'm gonna be a hypocrite and completely go against something I said the other day about blogging about bubble tea. It's true that if I wanted to write about every cheap tea spot in Taiwan, this blog would be way more stupid. This spot is different though, since they are the only place to offer (as far as I know) bubble tea with bubbles made from hot brown sugar. Located across from 台大 (NTU) in what I guess is called 公館夜市 (Gong Guan Night Market) is a small corner stand called 陳三鼎 or Chen... uh 3 top? I don't actually know what their name is supposed to mean, I'm guessing some guy with the last name Chen invented this and started a shop. Whatever the name isn't important, only the tea is. Onto the drink!


For 30 NT (slightly less than $1) you get a ladle of pearls made out of a mix of tapioca and brown sugar that sits in a pot of melted sugar. Directly over the hot pearls, a generous serving of cold milk is poured to the brim. I don't think I ever mentioned this before, but Taiwanese milk is different. It just... tastes richer. I can't explain it, but it tastes like you're drinking cream. This is no different. In any case, once the top is vacuum sealed you end up with a cup of milky white pearls like seen above. Once you shake and turn the cup to your hearts content, you end up with what, in my eyes, is the greatest cup of bubble tea milk you can find in Taipei. There, I said it.