Heyta (喜茶) is China’s most popular brand of tea and in some extreme cases, people have even queued up to seven hours to get their hands on a cup! There is one Heyta shop near where I stay in Guangzhou, so I popped by to see what the fuss was all about.
The outlet is in Tianhe Victoria Square and quite small. Lucky, there wasn’t much of a queue to order the drinks although it did take me about 45 minutes to get my cup. The menu offers up a wide range of drinks including Cheezo Tea, Season, Berry Mango Family and Fruity Burst. There are also desserts in the form of tea-flavoured ice cream.
I went for the classic King Fong Cheezo Tea (金凤茶王)，which is one of Heyta’s signature tea. I hear that Heyta uses premium Oolong tea leaves using a special "smoking" process to bring out the strong fragrance of the tea. I can definitely taste the depth and fragrance of a good quality tea the moment I take my first sip. This cup certainly hit all the right notes!
I was also really impressed with the savory layer of the cheese foam on the surface as it was super delicious too! I think the saltiness of the cheese foam help to get rid of the bitterness of the tea, which was an unexpected added bonus.
I did thoroughly enjoy my first ever Heyta experience and will surely go back to try out other favourite teas upon my next visit to Guangzhou!
Have you also tried Heyta? Please feel free to leave a comment below and share your experiences too.
Enjoy!
