Can You Get Drunk From Coffee? Sorting Out the Drink Debate

No, coffee and black tea drinks cannot get you drunk, because the alcohol content in a standard Starbucks customized milk tea is zero. The viral recipe mixes black tea with two pumps of brown sugar syrup, two pumps of pecan syrup, whole milk, and heavy cream. It mimics brown sugar pearl milk tea in flavor, but it delivers caffeine and sugar rather than alcohol, so the answer to the search question is a clear no.

The drink's composition explains why comparisons to Chagee spread online. International students in Canada, Japan, and elsewhere adapted the order because milk tea shops are far less dense overseas than in China, while Starbucks locations are common. Taste reviews ranged from close to brown sugar milk tea to noticeably different, and the caffeine remains the only active ingredient worth noting.

As new tea beverage brands accelerate their overseas expansion, the coverage density of overseas milk tea stores still lags far behind that in China, making it hard for many international students to buy a familiar cup of milk tea at any time. As a result, some people have used Starbucks' existing ingredients to concoct a so-called hidden recipe that is said to approximate the flavor of Chagee, and it quickly spread on social media. Can this customized drink truly recreate the taste of Chinese-style milk tea? Different consumers have given sharply different evaluations. This article will sort out the specific composition of the recipe, the test feedback, and the focal points of controversy, to help coffee and tea beverage enthusiasts view the so-called "budget substitute" phenomenon rationally.

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In recent years, new tea beverage brands have raced to expand into overseas markets, promoting Chinese-style milk tea internationally and allowing international students in foreign lands to ease their homesickness through a cup of drink. However, the pace of opening overseas stores is far less dense than in China , and many international students, even if they long to soothe themselves with a cup of milk tea, may not be able to quickly find a brand store they like on the street.

However, overseas, milk tea shops are not necessarily seen everywhere, while Starbucks is almost everywhere. International students "desperate for milk tea" have turned their eyes to Starbucks' customization service.

So many people, based on Starbucks' existing ingredients, worked out a special milk tea recipe, " Black Tea+2 Pump Brown Sugar+2 Pump Pecan Syrup+Whole milk+Heavy Cream", that is, adding sugar and milk to a black tea drink, which is somewhat similar to the usual ingredients of domestic milk tea.

Those who tried ordering with this recipe said after drinking it that the black tea in the drink mixed with a strong milky taste was very close in flavor to brown sugar pearl milk tea , and many also called it a "Chagee substitute", believing that this customized drink was very much like the Chagee they had drunk in China.

For a time, international students around the world who wanted milk tea but could not get it seemed to see the dawn of hope, and flocked to nearby Starbucks to order and try it, and on this basis derived milk tea recipes suited to stores in Canada, Japan, and elsewhere. Holding the freshly made drink, they took a hard sip and could not help sighing that they had finally drunk familiar milk tea in a foreign land.

However, as more and more people followed the trend and tried it, reviews of this customized drink gradually increased. Some people believed after drinking it that although the ingredients and preparation method of the customized drink were very close to those of Chinese-style milk tea, it did not really taste entirely like the Chagee in their memory.

According to netizens, most Starbucks stores use English breakfast tea, and this type of tea has a lighter tea flavor compared with the ingredients used by domestic tea beverage brands. After milk and syrup are added, the tea flavor in the drink is masked by them and becomes even harder to taste.

Users who prefer strong tea said bluntly that the whole customized drink was like a mixture of sugar and milk, "very watery", "not like Chagee", "whose Chagee adds pecan and brown sugar syrup—that's just absurd", "one I tried tasted like brown sugar milk, with a very heavy syrup flavor and no tea flavor at all".

In fact, taste is not exactly the same for everyone. Starbucks' customization service allows free mixing of various ingredients in the store, creating what some people remember as "the taste of Chagee", and evoking memories related to it for international students who have not had milk tea for a long time.

But for users who can often drink the real milk tea, what the so-called "secret menu" produces is nothing more than a sweet, cloying drink mixed from milk and syrup, having nothing to do with Chagee, and even less deserving to be called a "substitute". Many people said that if international students are desperate for milk tea, they might as well go to a store and buy a real cup of milk tea to "dispel a thousand sorrows in one drink". After all, a substitute can never replace the real thing.

Image source: Xiaohongshu

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The above content is compiled by CoffeeHunters, a coffee news website.