Chi Cha San Chen — Restaurant in Taichung

I have been to other locations before but decided to come here on a whim as I randomly searched for drinks in my area. I didn't even know it was so popular at the time. I just saw that it seemed more like a concept store and had multiple floors with displays of tea bricks and canisters, almost like a wine tasting room, but for tea.

I prayed the drinks would taste better at this location and I think it was. There was also a free tasting that my friend was thrilled with because he loves to nerd out about this stuff. The girl helping us was Allie and thank god, because she was far more professional than any of them even though she has only been there for 3 weeks. Surprising to observe!

The pearls are really sweet which actually makes it more flavorful and chewy. They did advise my friend to get no sugar because they said the pearls were sweet enough. Obviously, he did not listen because while the taste of the tea and pearls are not exclusive, there should be only a little overlap if you make it right. And sometimes a spoon of sugar is what brings out the different notes in the tea.

I was about to order a drink in their Top 10. I knew you couldn't customize the sugar nor ice on the drink I wanted but note this: you can't even add toppings. But whatever they think is best is just what you have to go with. So I decided to order a more customizable drink. They had samples of a light citrus tea which just tasted like juice, everyone agreed. One worker said it was juice. I guess she forgot there was tea! Joking aside, it tasted like high quality, hand squeezed juice with pulp. But I surely wasn't going to order that. I did oolong with passionfruit. I really think they should put that on the menu. The drinks are so orthodox, I am starting to think they have no new creative concepts.

You can sip tea on floors 2 and 3 but you are not allowed to bring it in the greenhouse (good thing I asked). You need to take a tab to sample the tea and then they call your number. They are Nazis about taking back their printed papers with numbers so don't lose it. Good thing I dug the tiny papers from the depths of my purse so it didn't trouble me at all. They said it would be a 10 minute wait since there was another couple sampling at the time but it actually took a little longer as they took the opportunity to do some "training" later. There was also no line when we ordered our boba and we got our drinks within minutes. The little to no wait helped contribute to our good experience. Hope yours...

I found this store few months ago and wanted to go here for a long time😄 finally yesterday I made it there after our whole day foodie tour😊 We arrived around 19:45. Being a famous store, the queue was huge👀

I placed the order in Chinese, 😛 We thought it may take 15-20 minutes to get our order looking at the crowd in the store😬 While waiting for the order I went around to take pics😂 Came back at 20:00 and wanted to check the order. I found that, I lost my number receipt😶 Finally, realized that I threw it in dustbin accidently while throwing the garbage😶🥺. LOL, the epic scene 😂 My friends and I were laughing badly and they asked me to go and get the order done😶. I said okay, the worst can be I have to pick it from trash👀.

I talked to the staff about the matter. She was so kind and immediately helped to tell my order number❤ It was 20:15 and my friends had a reserved train back to Taipei at 21:00😶 I asked the staff, how much more time it will take to get our order😬 The staff told us around 20 minutes since they have many orders before 🥺 I told them my friend's situation👀 And it was wonder to see the staff nature and reply❤. They were really amazing and said, okay don't worry, give us 5-10 minutes and we'll prepare your order first❤ I was flattered seeing their service and I really appreciate their attitude and professionalism❤ Seeing the matter, instead of giving us excuse, they prepared our order first even though they were already occupied with other early orders❤ Finally we got our order and were able to make to get the train in time❤

Having such a lovely gesture towards customers, I would definitely go there again and will also recommend that you should try it if you haven't❤ The tea, staff and ambience, all...

I walked in with no expectations—I was just searching for a tea shop on Google Maps and saw that this place had a lot of reviews and a high rating, so I decided to give it a try. The moment I opened the door, the rich aroma of tea hit me—like, TEAAAA! It was honestly impressive.

I went in the evening, and while it was busy, the queue wasn’t too long. The staff managed the orders efficiently, and the shop itself had a beautiful, open, and airy ambiance.

I ordered 決明烏龍奶蓋 (Cassia Black Tea Mousse) since I’m a big fan of milk foam, while my friend went for 凍頂烏龍鮮奶茶 (Dong Ding Oolong Tea Latte). The drinks here are on the sweeter side—even though I ordered mine with 微糖 (less sugar), it was still quite sweet. My tea was fragrant and delicious, with the creamy, slightly sweet, and rich milk foam balancing out the tea’s depth.

But my friend’s Dong Ding Oolong was on another level—so good! It had this refined, elegant aroma that I highly recommend trying.

The wait was a bit long, but there’s a tea brewing demo session at the circular counter while you wait. Each session accommodates about six people, where they share tea knowledge and let you sample different varieties. It felt like a mini workshop, making the wait much more enjoyable.

Also, the tea brewing equipment they use is their own brand. You can tell they’re true tea...