Chun Shui Tang

The original Chun Shui Tang tea-house sits on Siwei Street in the West District, in a converted wooden building that doubles as a small museum of the bubble-tea origin story. The signature drink is the classic pearl milk tea — black tea, milk, white sugar syrup, tapioca pearls — served either iced and shaken or hot.

The menu also runs to a full range of Taiwanese teahouse food: dumplings, noodle dishes, lu rou fan, and small sweets. Prices are higher than the chain bubble-tea stalls but the place itself is part of the visit. Open from late morning to late evening.

eating out drinks
A story
Chun Shui Tang is widely credited as the birthplace of bubble tea: in 1983, the owner Liu Han-chieh started serving cold sweetened tea in the Japanese style, and four years later one of his staff dropped tapioca pearls into her tea during a meeting. The chain now has dozens of branches, but the original on Siwei Street still operates as a tea-house in the older, more formal style.