Here are two words you might not ever have expected to hear together: cheese tea. People are now swearing they go deliciously hand in hand.
So, what is cheese tea? Well, it’s tea with cheese in it. Yes, at first blush, that sounds gross. But we’re not talking stinky cheese — your Limburger, Taleggio or Stinking Bishop. The cheese in question is actually cream cheese — either sweet or salty — and the effect sounds more like a thick, cheesecake-y version of milky teas or bubble tea than anything else.
The trend has been on the rise for a few years in countries including China, Malaysia and Taiwan, Food & Wine notes, and has recently traveled to the United States, where a cheese-tea shop opened in Queens earlier this year. Happy Lemon’s cheese teas “start with brewed black or green tea … and are topped with a creamy cheese foam made with whipped cream, milk and cream cheese, finished with a pinch of rock salt,” Metro reports, adding that stirring before sipping is recommended at Happy Lemon.
In China, however, where people line up for cheese tea for hours outside an ever-increasing number of tea shops offering it (hot or iced), patrons are encouraged to sip their cheese tea without stirring, Star2 reports. Furthermore, they are urged not to use the straw with which they are provided, but rather to risk a messy face and sip straight from the cup.
And after all, why order cheese tea if you don’t want to taste the cheese?
Chances are good that these have all happened to you.