Chayam milk tea 차얌 밀크티

While wandering around my city I spotted a bright purple shop that seems to always have a line. Usually my arms are full or I’m in a hurry and I don’t want to wait in that line, or I’ve already had more tea and milk tea that I should have so I don’t stop. But after a long day of visiting doctors and being out in the sweltering heat I decided to take a peek at how long the line was just in case. Lucky for me the line wasn’t that long and almost as soon as I got in line I heard calls of “Lauren teacher!” and I took a closer look at the line. I was the only adult in line. It was all students, some of which were my own.

Chayam milk tea is a chain that serves milk tea, regular tea, and coffee. It’s big draw is how cheap  it is. The average drink price is 900 won. Which is about 90 cents. Thus the swarm of students and the constant line. If you want to add tapioca pearls it’s an additional 300 won making it just over $1 for their smaller size. (1,200 won) They have touch screen machines but my students motioned for me to go up to the counter and order there because there was a longer line for the touch screen machines.

Their menu is mostly in Korean but if you can read Korean it’s fairly easy to navigate. Milk tea wise they offer: Chayam tea 차얌 밀크티 (a flavored tea/coffee with grains)  earl grey tea 얼그레이 밀크티, green (matcha) tea 말차 밀크티, black tea 블랙 밀크티, oolong 우롱 밀크티 (the oolong tea is a bit more expensive as 1,200 won for the smaller size), and taro 타로 밀크티 (the taro milk tea is the same price as the oolong). They also have chocolate, mango, strawberry and blueberry, the latter three of which seem to be fancier drinks with layers to them. You can add milk foam for 300 won, cheese foam for 500 won, coconut jelly for 300 won, and/or red beans for 300 won. They also serve non-dairy tea for those who are lactose intolerant or vegan (black tea, English breakfast, earl grey, and oolong for 900 won for a small or 1,500 won for a bit bigger size.)

They also serve coffee which is a bit more expensive. Americanos are 1,000 won ($1), cafe latte 2,000 won ($2), black sugar latte 2,300 won ($2.30), vanilla latte 2,500 ($2.50) and three different flavored espresso lattes that are 2,000 won each ($2)

It’s fairly cheap and there are locations all over Korea. I ordered a taro milk tea. It was a bit sweeter then I was expecting since I hadn’t specified sweetness level like I do when I visit Gongcha but I can see why it’s popular. You can check out their website (it’s all in Korean) here.  I don’t know about their other locations but this was a pick up spot only. There were no seats available.  Hours also differ depending on location.