China’s milk tea lovers keep on drinking despite findings that show high calories and caffeine

Stay calm and drink on. That’s how some consumers in Shanghai are confronting the latest findings that show a cup of milk tea can contain a meal’s worth of calories or caffeine equivalent to eight cans of Red Bull.

It comes as a relief for businesses that are riding on the growing popularity of freshly brewed tea in China as consumers dig deeper into their pockets for products perceived as healthier than packed ones.

For instance, a cup of creamy tea from Le Le Cha contained calories equivalent to one third of an adult’s suggested daily intake, while a cup from Letangkou, a Hong Kong style lai cha seller, contained the caffeine equivalent to four medium cups of Café Americano or eight cans of Red Bull.

Yet some milk tea aficionados, especially those who love a thick layer of cream on their tea, said they are not discouraged.

“I never assumed the creamy cup would be low fat,” said Brenda Sun, a Shanghai white-collar worker in her 30s who consumes at least two to three cups a week. “I will keep drinking as long as the raw materials are good quality.”