Cha for Tea

The perfect place to indulge in Taiwan's national obsession, Cha for Tea teahouse restaurants exist all over Taipei and in other major cities in Taiwan. Offering tea in many, many varieties, shapes and forms, Cha for Tea also serve traditional Chinese and Taiwanese dishes, each cooked with a special tea twist. I had the pleasure of visiting one just the other day, and experienced my inevitable, long-anticipated, bubble tea baptism.

Invented in Taichung in the 1980s, bubble tea is a sweet, often milky, tea with added tapioca pearls, usually served cold. Bubble teas are beyond popular in Taiwan. They are almost mandatory, and have gained quite a following around the world. I hadn't tried one yet because, as I explained in an earlier post, I didn't even drink tea before coming here and have only recently developed a taste for unsweetened, plain green tea. My Taiwanese friend ordered me a bubble tea and I was pleasantly surprised by how nice it was. But very, very sweet, almost like drinking a dessert.

My friend's little girl enjoyed hers, too.

Cha for Tea has an inviting menu, including lots of dumplings cooked imaginatively with tea. We had old favourites and new dishes I hadn't tried before. 

Pork dumplings topped with shrimp.











                                           

Wonton soup. Deceptively delicious.












 I like these pork soup dumplings so much. You tear open the pastry with your chopsticks to let the steam escape, then drink the soup and eat the dumpling.
Something I hadn't tried before was this tofu and ham.

Cha for Tea even has deep-fried tea leaves with wasabi powder to nibble.

Dessert was a choice of green tea jelly or green tea cake. My son's become a big jelly fan so no trouble guessing which he went for.

Cha for Tea  - so many delicious dishes, so much tea!