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Famous Taiwanese Snack Brands That Should Have Space In Your Luggage

2 April 2021

Taiwan is very famous in their Bubble Tea, Beef Noodles, Sticky Rice Dumplings, and many more, but what most tourists don’t know yet is that Taiwanese has snacks that you shouldn’t miss bringing back home, snacks that you should make space in your luggage.

Below are just a few famous Taiwanese brand snacks that surely you will enjoy:

Kuai Che Pork Paper

Kuai Che Pork Paper also known as Bak Kwa, a cripy paper-thin strips of pork jerky mixed with almonds for a nutty and crunchy twist. You will not be able to imagine its taste and texture until you eat it. These snacks have no MSG added.

It is abundantly available in Taiwan and you can find them at some night markets. Kuai Che is most famous for its quality and is the most convenient because of its packaging.

Sugar and Spice Nougat

These snacks come in a variety of flavours including original French Nougat, Strawberry, and Toffee. It has no preservatives and uses top quality ingredients. Sugar and Spice only uses natural butter from the Normandy region of France and Californian Almonds. Because of it made up of natural ingredients, the milk fragrance from the butter will fade eventually and the firmness will change according to the temperature of its storage location. But whatever the texture, they will still taste wonderful!

Fruit Jellies

These snacks will remind you of your childhood. They are made of natural flavors of domestic fruits, such as litchi, plums, and mangoes among others. Each bite is a burst of flavour!

You can buy them in night markets and souvenir shops.

Zeng Noodles

Don’t forget to bring home a taste of Taiwan with their delicious and popular Zeng Noodles. The noodles looks peculiar because of it’s handmade ribbon style ramen and the quality and chewy texture which is different from the regular instant noodles.

Chia Te Pineapple Cake

Chia Te Bakery is famous for its pineapple cakes as a souvenir from Taiwan. Pineapple Cakes have a buttery pastry enclosing dollop of pineapple filling with a good balance of sweet and sour. Although there are many famous brands in Taiwan that makes pineapple cakse but Chia Te proves to have achieved the key ratio of pastry and filling that satisfy the taste buds of the consumers.

Sun Biscuits or Sun Cakes

Sun Biscuits / Sun Cakes at Taiwanese Newspaper.

Sun Biscuits or Sun Cakes is the popular pastry from the famous shop Tai Yang Tang which is adored by locals and the tourist. It is a round flaky pastry with maltose usually sold in gift boxes.

Grandma’s Iron Eggs

Iron Eggs are eggs which have been repeatedly stewed in a mix of spices and air dried which results to its dark brown color, chewy, and about half its initial size.

Good news is you no longer have to go to Taiwan to buy and taste these snacks, you can now order them via website.

The rise of bubble tea, one of Taiwan’s most beloved beverages

1 April 2021

What do a sexy Hong Kong icon, a bankrupted entrepreneur and a failed military defense campaign have in common?

They all contributed to the rise of bubble tea, the insanely popular Taiwanese drink that’s taken the world by storm in recent years.

Invented in the 1980s, bubble tea (also called “black pearl tea” or “boba tea”) is a beloved Taiwan classic. Though there are dozens of different variations, at its core it’s a combination of tea, milk and the ‘bubbles’ — which are essentially little balls made of anything from tapioca to fruit jelly.

A star item in Taiwan state banquets for three consecutive years, bubble tea is one of the new official emojis of 2020 and in recent months has taken on new forms, appearing on top of pizzas and inside cheesecakes.

In honor of National Bubble Tea Day (April 30), we take a walk back in time to explore how the humble drink rose from a local delicacy to become an international phenomenon.

A global addiction

According to a recent study, the bubble tea industry is expected to grow by almost $2 billion to a whopping $4.3 billion by 2027.

Bubble tea orders in Southeast Asia recorded a 3,000% increase in 2018 alone, while the drink has been popping up in menus outside of Asia for quite some time as well. Germany, for instance, added bubble tea to its McDonald’s menu back in 2012.

How devoted are fans of the drink? Recently in Singapore, when bubble tea shops were ordered to close temporarily to contain the spread of Covid-19, anxious crowds rushed to get their last sweet fix and bid their favorite beverage a temporary farewell.

The origins of bubble tea

So where did it all begin?

The roots of bubble tea can be traced back to the 1940s.

After working as a mixologist in an izakaya in Taiwan under Japanese rule during WWII, in 1949 Chang Fan Shu opened a tea shop selling unique shou yao (hand-shaken) tea made with cocktail shakers.

The result was a rich and silky iced tea with fine air bubbles on top — dubbed foam tea in Taiwan.

Today, shou yao is an essential bubble tea element. No shou yao, no bubble tea.

It was a revolutionary invention at that time — not only were cold drinks not common then, but the idea of consuming food and beverages for pleasure had only begun to grow in post-war Taiwan. In the coming years, the island’s passion for tasty cold beverages intensified.

“The trend of tea beverages prospered together with the rise of the leisure food trend in the 1980s as Taiwan was experiencing rapid economic growth,” says Tseng Pin Tsang, a Taiwanese food historian.”

In addition to the industrial pre-packaged tea products, there were more tea shops on the street and tea restaurants in the suburbs.”