Classic bubble tea stores you can try all over Taipei
Get started on your milk tea explorations with these long-established beverage brands
Taiwan is bubble tea crazy. More than 16,000 stores selling hand-shaken beverages operate across the country, and the market has continued to expand in recent years, according to Taiwan’s Ministry of Economic Affairs.
More than 3,400 of those shops operate in Taipei, where dozens of brands cater to the capital’s thirst for sweet milk teas and chewy tapioca pearls.
With fierce competition over a market worth more than NT$100 billion annually, brands have expanded their menus with colorful new flavors and toppings. For the uninitiated, the sheer variety of menus and customization options can be dizzying.
So if you’re new to the daunting world of bubble tea and don’t know where to start, here are three classic brands that have been shaking beverages for decades, along with some basic suggestions on what to order.
#1: Ching Shin
This massive brand has been selling pearl milk tea in Taiwan for nearly four decades
Ching Shin started out as a stall selling beverages in the southern Taiwanese city of Tainan in 1987. With over 900 outlets today, the company boasts the highest number of stores in the country’s bubble tea market, according to Business Weekly magazine in early 2026.
With it’s dark green and white logo punctuated with a red heart, Ching Shin stores may not be to most eye-catching on the street, but they are a highly familiar brand among Taiwanese.
In 2026, Taiwan’s quintessential hand-shaken drink — Pearl Tea with Fresh Milk (珍珠鮮奶茶, zhēn zhū xiān nǎi chá) — cost NT$55 for a medium and NT$70 for a large. It’s made with fresh milk and black tea.
If you fancy trying a more aromatic, slightly-toasted flavor, another good starter drink is Oolong Milk Tea (烏龍奶茶, wū lóng nǎi chá) at NT$50 for a medium or NT$60 for a large. This one doesn’t come with tapioca “pearls” as standard, but you can add them separately if you want that classic chewy texture.
#2: 50 Lan
A trusted brand focused on consistency with a huge market presence
Also founded in Tainan, 50 Lan has expanded to over 600 stores since its humble beginnings in 1994. There are currently more than 150 outlets in the Greater Taipei area alone, according to the company’s website.
With its bright yellow and blue brand colors, 50 Lan stores are easy to spot. The company has largely avoided excessive novelty, focusing instead on classic Taiwanese bubble tea flavors that customers have come to trust.
Keeping things simple, a Big Bubble Milk Tea costs NT$50 for a medium and NT$60 for a large, while a Big Bubble Oolong Milk Tea is priced the same. Choose “little ice” and “30% sugar” on the menu if you don’t know where to start.
The Big Bubble Oolong Milk Tea came with a pleasingly hefty portion of tapioca balls when This Is Taipei visited in March 2026, making it a great choice if you’re feeling hungry as well as thirsty.
#3: CoCo
Highly visible orange colors make this brand stand out in Taiwan and abroad
Founded in New Taipei City’s Tamsui District in 1997, CoCo has grown into one of Taiwan’s biggest bubble tea brands with more than 100 stores across the Greater Taipei area.
It’s also a global brand, with store locations in southeast Asia, Europe, the United States.
CoCo’s highly recognizable orange and white branding can be seen all over Taipei, and it has a reputation among many Taiwanese as delivering extra chewy textures in its pearl tea drinks.
When This Is Taipei bought a cup of regular-sized Milk Tea with Pearl Boba for NT$50 in April 2026, the drink indeed came with a large serving of squidgy tapioca balls.
Other drinks on the menu ranged in price from NT$30 to NT$85, and there were buy-two-for-NT$99 promotions as well, making CoCo a competitively priced choice.
In conclusion...
Ching Shin, 50 Lan, and CoCo have all been around for years, and their wide availability across Taipei and beyond makes them a great starting place for explorations into Taiwan's bubble tea culture.
