高山茶

One thing that I don’t see in Japan are the tea stations and they are all over Taiwan. I soon spotted the Chinese character that I know very well (茶) which identified little counters selling a choice of 50 types of tea, freshly made, shaken over ice and served with a straw in a plastic cup. I like my tea so I was very excited about this discovery. I was keen to have one immediately and walked up to the counter:

Me: Mihao
Tea girl: Mihao (plus lots more Chinese I couldn’t understand).
Me: Can I have a cup of tea please?
Tea girl: Blank stare
Me (wishing I could speak Chinese): Tea please

I know this was a stupid thing to say at a place that sells 50 kinds of tea, but I hoped I’d get the default tea of the day or something. It wasn’t that easy. The tea girl gave me a menu with lists of tea all in Chinese. I spotted three characters I recognized 高山茶　(high mountain tea) and pointed at it. 30 seconds later, I was drinking a gorgeous, slightly bitter iced green tea through a straw and was very pleased at my accomplishment.