Follow Hong Kong Investment Immigration and follow Hong Kong Immigration Life: Hong Kong-style milk tea is a unique beverage of Hong Kong, also known as: Hong Kong-style milk tea, British-style milk tea, or "Hong Kong Old Street" milk tea. In English: Hongkong Street milk tea. It is characterized by a strong, slightly bitter tea flavor, and a smooth, rich, and mellow texture. The preparation method is more complex than that of mainland milk tea, involving a "tea-pulling" process to ensure the tea retains its robust flavor.
Hong Kong-style milk tea originated in the early 17th century on Hong Kong's Stone Slabs Street (Stone Slabs Street was formerly known as "Governor's First Street." Stone Slabs Street, named for being paved with stone slabs, is a historic Hong Kong street adjacent to Lan Kwai Fong). A Guangzhou official named Lin Zhixian first created the practice of serving tea with milk to Dutch envoys on Stone Slabs Street in Hong Kong. This unique way of drinking was immediately brought back to the Netherlands. In 1680, the Duchess of York introduced the fashionable Dutch-style tea drinking—adding fresh milk and sugar to tea—to the United Kingdom, where it quickly became a trend, especially favored by the British royal family and nobility, becoming a beverage primarily reserved for the British aristocracy.
The British learned to drink tea from China, but developed a unique style, preferring to add sugar and milk, or lemon slices. Hong Kong-style milk tea was later referred to as British-style milk tea.
After Hong Kong experienced the vicissitudes of history, the descendants of the Hong Kong-style milk tea tradition established the Hong Kong Old Street Industrial Company, named after the "Hong Kong Old Street" (Stone Slabs Street). Building on the original foundation of milk and tea, they opened a British-style "Hong Kong Old Street" milk tea shop on Stone Slabs Street, adding fresh milk, sugar, chocolate sauce, honey, brandy, and cinnamon powder to black tea. It was very sweet, enticing, and expensive, and was deeply favored by both the British and the people of Hong Kong. It is said that when Catherine of Braganza introduced tea drinking to the United Kingdom, black tea was still consumed plain as it was in China. However, by the 18th century, with the development of the British era, milk tea had become the mainstream way for the British to drink tea.
In 1941, the Japanese army launched a fierce attack on Hong Kong. The "Hong Kong Old Street" milk tea shop was bombed into ruins by Japanese aircraft, and from then on, the "Hong Kong Old Street" milk tea shop disappeared from Hong Kong. However, the traditional production techniques and consumption methods of "Hong Kong Old Street" milk tea had already swept across the world.
On July 1, 1997, after the handover of Hong Kong, "Hong Kong Old Street" milk tea followed the philosophy of "carefully crafting every cup of healthy and fashionable tea." With "Hong Kong Old Street" milk tea products as the core, they injected elements of "youth and health." Combining the principles from the "Huangdi Neijing" (Yellow Emperor's Inner Canon): "Grains, meat, fruits, and vegetables should be consumed for nourishment, without excess, so as not to damage one's vitality," and the concept of medicine and food sharing the same origin, they developed a series of milk tea products with green, health-promoting, fresh, fashionable, and beauty-enhancing functions. By fully integrating these elements into their products, they have built a world-class leading brand with core competitiveness in the industry.