
I am grateful that I work and learn on the ancestral and unceded lands of the hən̓q̓əmin̓əm̓ and Sḵwx̱wú7mesh Nations in Burnaby and on the ancestral and unceded lands of the xʷməθkwəy̓əm (Musqueam), Skwxwú7mesh (Squamish), Stó:lō and Səl̓ílwətaʔ/Selilwitulh (Tsleil-Waututh) Nations in Port Moody

THE FRAGRANCE OF MILK TEA
Original (published on Evergreen News): 1997-02-01
Rewritten: 2025-05-23
In the blink of an eye, it is already 2025. Although my wife who loved milk tea is no longer with us, milk tea stalls are everywhere in Greater Vancouver, including Hong Kong-style milk tea, Taiwanese-style bubble milk tea, and coffee shops like American-style "Starbucks", allowing customers to upgrade from the level of filling their stomachs to the level of enjoying life.
In 1990, a friend who was born in Canada tried Hong Kong-style milk tea for the first time. He looked at the full teacup and said, "This is soup, not tea." The characteristic of Hong Kong-style milk tea is that it has more milk and thicker tea. Hong Kong people use evaporated milk. A friend from China likes to use cream because she found it a bit goaty. Every time my wife and I order drinks, we always remind the waiter: "More milk in the milk tea." To be honest, I don't drink milk tea, I drink "tea" milk, mainly the milk, and the tea is only used as a seasoning.
I didn’t drink milk tea before I started dating. The breakfast that my brothers and I “ate” at home was very simple, just two spoons of condensed milk and a cup of hot water per person. Occasionally, my mother would add butter to bread. In the later period of primary school, breakfast improved. She would mix a few spoonfuls of milk powder with a large cup of hot sugar water, and occasionally add an egg and beat it into egg drops. Later I heard that skipping breakfast would affect my math grades, which gave me an excuse.
My wife has been accustomed to going to restaurants for breakfast since she was young, and she always drinks milk tea. Since I often have breakfast with her, I also started drinking milk tea. Milk tea has a strong taste and is a bit bitter, not as strong as coffee. But after drinking it more and more, I got used to it, and I had more opportunities to drink it after marriage.
The time I comforted my soul by drinking milk tea happened in September 1988, after I immigrated to Canada. We arrived in early autumn and lived in the south of Vancouver. It was often cloudy and rainy, and I didn't go to school, which made us quite depressed. To relieve homesickness, we took Lun, who was not even two years old, and took a bus at eight in the morning to a tea restaurant in Chinatown to drink milk tea and reminisce about the breakfast we had at the fast food restaurant on Leighton Road in Hong Kong.
The 1989 semester ended and I returned to Hong Kong to visit my family shortly after the summer vacation began. When I woke up on the first day, I groggily wanted to go to Chinatown to drink milk tea. When I opened my eyes wide, I realized that I was in Hong Kong. It turned out that a cup of milk tea told me that I had left footprints in Canada and was connected to both places.
After returning to Canada, I became busier with my university studies and drank milk tea less often in Chinatown, but my tea addiction became stronger. The reason was that I was attending school full-time that year, and although I lived near the university, I had to return to the college at 7 a.m., so I worked a one-hour part-time job, responsible for opening the door and cleaning the bathroom, to earn some extra money to buy books and make photocopies. In order to sustain my energy and avoid hunger, I must drink a large cup of very mellow sweet milk tea for breakfast. I have been doing this for a year and I cannot live without it.
In addition to my tea addiction, I had more white hair and a bigger belly. I started to reduce the amount of tea I drank, which showed some results. The amount of tea I drank has decreased, but there were more places to drink milk tea. In the past, we had to go to Chinatown. A year later, we can taste authentic Hong Kong-style milk tea on Third Road in Richmond. Since parking is free, we simply go to Richmond to enjoy milk tea. After moving to Coquitlam, we still do so. Although there are many mountains and long roads, drinking tea is a big deal, so driving is like traveling.
Although there are tea restaurants in Coquitlam, the flavor is inferior, the tea is astringent and the milk is thin. After a few more years, we finally got a good quality milk tea in the area, and my wife no longer asked me to go to other areas to have tea. Supermarkets also sell milk tea bags, the quality varies, but they are still popular.
In the blink of an eye, it is already 2025. My wife who loved milk tea is no longer with us, but milk tea stalls are everywhere in Greater Vancouver. Hong Kong-style milk tea, Taiwanese-style bubble milk tea, and American-style coffee shops such as "Starbucks" are everywhere, elevating customers from the level of just eating to the level of enjoyment. However, the place I visit the most is still the milk tea restaurant.