Chun Shui Tang (Chinese: 春水堂人文茶館; pinyin: Chūnshuǐtáng Rénwéncháguǎn) is an international teahouse chain based in Taichung, Taiwan. Founded in 1983 as the name Yanghsien Tea Shop, it is known for the origin of bubble tea.[1] Besides bubble tea, Chun Shui Tang also serve traditional Taiwanese dishes and snacks.

Chun Shui Tang
Native name
春水堂
Formerly陽羨茶館
IndustryRestaurant
FoundedMay 20, 1983; 41 years ago (1983-05-20)
FounderLiu Han-chieh
Headquarters,
ProductsBubble tea
Websitechunshuitang.com.tw

Aside from restaurants, Chun Shui Tang owns TP Tea, another chain of take-out stores that mainly sell bubble tea.

History

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Chun Shui Tang was founded as Yangmu Tea Shop (陽羨茶館) on May 20, 1983, by Han-chieh Liu (劉漢介) on Siwei Street in Taichung. Fascinated by formalities of Chinese tea culture, Liu was very insistent on his decor and placed old paintings and burnt incense in his shop. In the summer months, hot tea doesn't sell as well, so Liu began experimenting with cold tea drinks using a cocktail shaker, which sold unexpectedly well.[2] He was inspired to serve cold tea by a trip to Japan on which he saw coffee being served cold.[3] The chain claims to have invented bubble milk tea in March 1987[4] when Lin Hsiu Hui [5] (林秀慧) poured tapioca into a tea drink on a whim.[6]

In 2013, Chun Shui Tang established their first store outside Taiwan in Daikanyama, an upscale shopping district in Tokyo, Japan. Since then, more stores have opened in Japan, causing a boom in bubble tea's popularity in Japan.[7][8] In 2018, Chun Shui Tang opened another store in Hong Kong's West Kowloon railway station.[9][10] Till late 2020, Chun Shui Tang has already opened 8 branches in Hong Kong, including Causeway Bay and Mong Kok.[11]

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A cup of bubble tea in Chun Shui Tang.

Chun Shui Tang specializes in bubble tea, but they also serve a wide variety of East Asian food, including gaifan dishes, beef noodle soup, lu wei, dougan, pig's blood cake, mochi, and more.[2][10] It takes six months for a bar worker to learn to make the 80 or so drinks on the menu.[3] Chun Shui Tang offers different seasonal products by time to time, e.g. Uji Matcha series, Herbal Jelly series etc.[12]

See also

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References

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  1. ^ Chang, Derrick (2017-07-12). "Bubble tea: How did it start?". CNN. Retrieved 2023-11-28.
  2. ^ a b 謝明玲 (June 21, 2017). 台味之光I/春水堂 一杯正宗珍奶 打敗日本星巴克 (in Chinese (Taiwan)) (625 ed.). CommonWealth Magazine. Retrieved November 14, 2019.
  3. ^ a b Chang, Derrick (12 July 2017). "Bubble tea: How did it start?". www.cnn.com. CNN. Retrieved 15 November 2019.
  4. ^ Johnson, Tim (3 April 2019). "Bubble Tea Got Me Through College, So I Went to Where It All Started". The Daily Beast. Retrieved 15 November 2019.
  5. ^ "Meet The Inventor Of Boba In Taiwan | EVERYDAY BOSSES #16". Youtube. Asian Boss. Retrieved 29 April 2024.
  6. ^ 彭杏珠 (November 6, 2018). "一杯珍奶 搖出台灣新經濟奇蹟" (in Chinese (Taiwan)). United Daily News. Retrieved November 14, 2019.
  7. ^ "台湾発カフェチェーン「春水堂」、代官山に国内1号店" (in Japanese). シブヤ経済新聞. July 25, 2013. Retrieved November 14, 2019.
  8. ^ 易起宇 (October 21, 2019). "日本珍奶熱絲毫不見退燒跡象 連黑道都參一咖" (in Chinese (Taiwan)). World Journal. Retrieved November 14, 2019.
  9. ^ "春水堂於觀塘APM開人文茶館 2,800呎堂食店 台式牛肉麵+珍珠奶茶|區區搵食" (in Chinese (Hong Kong)). Weekend Weekly. August 7, 2019. Retrieved November 14, 2019.
  10. ^ a b 鄧穎琪 (March 1, 2019). "【觀塘珍珠奶茶】春水堂2千呎堂食店開幕 珍珠熔岩蛋糕香港限定" (in Chinese (Hong Kong)). HK01. Retrieved November 14, 2019.
  11. ^ "香港餐廳搜尋: 春水堂 | OpenRice 香港開飯喇". www.openrice.com (in Chinese (Hong Kong)). Retrieved 2020-09-15.
  12. ^ "春水堂 Chun Shui Tang HK". www.facebook.com. Retrieved 2020-09-15.
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