Sweet and savory flavors are gaining traction in the food and beverage industry, and one beverage earning a lot of praise lately (by those lucky enough to try it) is cheese tea. It’s a combination of brewed or bubble tea topped a with fluffy, sweet and salty topping made of soft cream cheese, condensed or evaporated milk, and whipping cream..

Cheese tea is popular in parts of China, Taiwan, and Malaysia, and is a very niche, emerging trend in the United States. In fact, there are only a few cafes around the country that offer it, including Boba Tree (Mesa, AZ), Little Fluffy Head (Los Angeles, CA), Tea Arias (Huntington Beach, CA), STEAP Tea Bar (San Francisco, CA), Happy Lemon (Flushing, NY), and Bingo Tea (Chicago). According to several news sources, people are willing to wait in line for up to several hours just to try it.

Despite being a novel offering, it’s earned a lot of recognition on Instagram and in the media. There are more than 23,287 k posts on Instagram using #cheesetea, and it’s been the focus of articles in Food Network, Food & Wine, Washington Post, Huffington Post, Shape, Hello Giggles, local news, and more.

The fascination with cheese tea suggests that consumers are looking for beverages that are as innovative as they are delicious. We’ll continue to watch this trend.

Have an innovative beverage in mind for your next project? Email us at thedrinktank@imbibeinc.com to talk to our beverage experts.