tea/coffee: i strongly recommend GENKI Q MILK

GENKI Q MILK or YUAN QI Q NAI
No. 21, Lane 51, Da An Road, Sec 1
(02) 2777-5200

website: genki.ecoda.cc

$

Visit reviewed: 8/13/2008

Is the boba milk tea craze over? Will it ever be over? While I was in LA, there was a big scare all over Asia of powdered milk from China being toxic and not only affecting a lot of moms who formula feed their babies, but foods that might have been made with the tainted powdered milk and in Taiwan, the boba milk tea business was hit hard as well with business down by as much as 50 percent. I think everyone knows by now that boba milk tea is not that good for you, but can you imagine if it had poisonous milk powder in it too!?

I still feel like drinking one every now and again and I think I might have found a place to knock off my favorite, 50 LAN as my go to spot.

In August, after getting some pho to-go from PHO HOA,I asked the hostess if the boba place across from them was any good. She said, you have to try this place around the corner.. it’s really good.

And so I did. And I was soo glad I did.

Genki Q Milk or Yuan Chi Q Nai makes their boba milk tea (NT$40) from fresh cow’s milk rather than condensed or powdered milk. They also boil their boba or tapioca pearls with brown sugar. The result? The milk tea is not that sweet- you can actually taste the tea. It’s the big chewy tapioca pearls that have a carmelized sweetness and it’s gratifying to chew each one like candy, rather than because they’re there. And it helps me drink the whole thing slower because I’m savoring the boba rather than mindlessly sucking them down.

Their menu is filled with the letter ‘Q’, denoting boba since the Chinese word for chewy sounds like Q. The menu is in Chinese so I can’t tell you everything on it, but there are hot, cold, slushy drinks and teas from NT$20-45. An extra NT$5 will get you extra brown sugar QQ, green beans, red beans, or extra NT$10 for pudding. Like the other milk tea places, you can request less sweetness, ice or boba.

Genki Q Milk is only in a few locations in Taipei, so I don’t know if I would have found it if I didn’t ask since it’s just a tiny shop with no seating or lines or streetfront location. Look for it alleys near Zhong Xiao/Dun Nan intersection (and pick up some pho on the way home) or the other locations below. Maybe you’ll rediscover your cravings for boba milk tea if you’ve given it up.