Street Eats: Rich, Creamy, and Smooth – Tea by the Bay in Running for the Best Milk Tea at Jiuxianqiao

Yes, we here at the Beijinger are, at this point, basically emotionally dependent on milk tea, cheese tea, and the somehow eternally trending matcha (Japanese green tea). So, whenever we see a new milk tea shop spring up, no matter how determined we are to stick to whichever diet we're on (especially as we recover from the 2017 Pizza Cup), we drop what we're doing and immediately head out for a heartwarming cup of milk tea. This time, we visited Tea By The Bay.

Tucked away in the basement of Indigo, Tea By The Bay sits opposite Wall Street English with lovely, if not a little out of place, nautically themed décor: light blue sofas, neon yellow chairs, a large professional tea-making counter with shining silver wallpaper and pre-brewed tea kept in pots, little tchotchkes like seashells and starfish, and lamps in the shape of jellyfish. Yes, they seem completely committed to the seaside premise.

There are several categories on the menu, and the prices are friendlier than at the downtown establishments, such as solo tea (RMB 10), milk tea (RMB 12-20), iced milk tea, fruit tea (RMB 15-16), and cheese tea (RMB 17-23). You can also choose to add bubbles, pudding, sago or grass jelly for an additional RMB 2-4. We settled for Lapsang Souchong (black tea) with milk (RMB 14).

The tea was served quite slowly due to the number of deliveries ahead of us. Who could have predicted that someone would order 15 cups of milk tea? Is one of the offices nearby having a milk tea party?! We wouldn't blame them, we do the same just about weekly in our office. Thankfully, the smokey and bitter notes from the quality black tea and the rich and creamy milk made the drink mellow and smooth. To make it even better, they added bubbles for free. About 25 people can sit here, and it seems they are benefitting from their proximity to the neighboring Wall Street English – it seemed that almost every student couldn’t attend class without a cup of milk tea in hand.

Even though the place is a bit too oceanic for us, the delightful Korean pop songs did help. It might be the prettiest bubble milk tea we’ve had for this price in Beijing, making us wonder how the cheese tea would taste – reason enough for us to travel back up to Jiuxianqiao for more of these addictive drinks.

Tea By The Bay
Daily 10am-10pm. LG28, Indigo, 18 Jiuxianqiao Lu, Chaoyang District (8418 2811)
牧茶湾：朝阳区酒仙桥路18号颐堤港商场LG层LG28

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Email: tracywang@thebeijinger.com
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Photos: Tracy Wang