A bubble tea a day keeps the doctor away

yah I just made that up to make me feel better.  Seriously though I've had a bubble tea almost everyday since I've been here.  A few flavours that I've tried the past 2 weeks:

• Honey Green Tea (fooh me lu cha)
• Taro Milk Tea (don't know nai cha)
• Jasmine Milk Tea (don't know nai cha)
• Green Milk Tea (liu nai cha)
• Yakult Green tea (duo duo liu cha.  sort or like a yogurt green milk tea.  Yakult is the brand of yogurt)
• Kumquat Green Tea (don't know liu cha)
• Oolong Milk Tea (don't know nai cha)

So I just realized I should learn the proper names for these.  I think jasmine and oolong will be easy to remember.  Kumquat was... a bit sour so probably won't order that again.  Taro maybe will be the hardest to remember?  I don't know.  Either way it's about $1.5 - $1.75.  So I figure I'm not breaking the bank.  And usually Johan and I just go to get bubble tea because it's an excuse in the afternoon to go for a walk (the place is a 5 minute walk away).  Gives us some fresh air and we usually chat business.  It's basically a business strategy/update meeting!  So really.. it's work :)

Deliciously smooth green milk tea... mmm

The symbols at the top of the cup say "wu shu lan". Wu shu = 50, and the second character is pronounced "lan".  The sound "lan" can mean multiple things including the colour "blue" and "basket".  So we usually just call this place "50 basket".  Their website is: www.50lan.com if you want to check out the menu.  Beware, no english!

Ps - I should mention that they have an ordering system here in Taiwan.  You can't just order a bubble tea and be done with it.  First you order the bubble tea and what size you want (xiao bei = small drink, da bei = large drink).  Then depending on the flavour you pick, you get asked about what level of sweetness you want and also, what level of ice you want.  You can respond with actual percentage values.  Anne just taught me all of the specific sugar and ice classifications this evening.  Apparently the classifications are not that old.  Maybe only 5 years old.

Ok so going to try and recap my Chinese lesson from memory:

"tongue" = sugar

"bing" = ice 

???  = 100% (normal) 

sow = 70 %

baan = 50 %

wei = 30 %

??? = 0 %

ok 3/5.  Could be better but I didn't really expect to quiz myself tonight.  At least I know what to study tomorrow.  Johan was proud of me today cause I went through all the questions and ordering in Chinese.

"ee da bei liu nai cha.  sow tongue sow bing. xie xie!"

one large green milk tea.  70 % sugar, 70 % ice.  Thank you!