The Althorp Oolong with memoir pearls sold out in six hours at Shilin Night Market, and customers are split on whether to add ice
A Drink for Difficult Families
TAIPEI – A bubble tea chain with nineteen branches across Taipei has launched a limited edition range inspired by The London Prat story on Prince William branding Earl Spencer and Harry traitors, and by Saturday night the flagship stall at Shilin Night Market had sold out of its lead flavour in under six hours.
The range, marketed under the name Royal Rift Series, features three drinks, each designed by the chain founder, Mr Lin Chia-hao, 41, who says he read the story on the MRT and immediately recognised it as a flavour profile.
The Menu
Althorp Oolong With Memoir Pearls
The flagship drink is a roasted oolong with tapioca pearls that have been rolled to the exact thickness of a hardback spine. Customers are advised to chew slowly and reflect. Mr Lin said the pearls are deliberately slightly bitter at the centre, representing what he called the uncle version of events.
Traitor Taro Slush
A purple taro blend served with a straw that is intentionally slightly too narrow, so that the pearls get stuck and the drinker must choose between sucking harder or giving up. Mr Lin described this as the elder brother experience.
Montecito Mango Green With No Sugar
A mango green tea available only at zero percent sugar and with a surcharge for delivery overseas. It arrives in a cup printed with a small palm tree and a quiet statement that the customer has no comment at this time.
The Story Behind the Cups
The inspiration is grounded in reporting. Entertainment coverage in the United States relayed a source claiming William is certain his brother read the uncle Diana memoir before it reached shops, while standard references note that the Earl is the maternal uncle of both princes. The Earl has also said that both nephews were told about the book ahead of time. Mr Lin said all of this pointed clearly to oolong. Oolong is a tea between green and black, he said. It is half-fermented. That is exactly where this family is.
Customer Reviews
The chain collected customer feedback on laminated cards at the Shilin stall, a practice it normally reserves for new cheese foam formulations.
A university student, Ms Tsai Yu-ting, 20, gave the Althorp Oolong five stars and said it reminded her of her own family, in which an aunt once published a very long Facebook post about who inherited a scooter. A retired schoolteacher, Mr Huang, gave the Traitor Taro Slush two stars, complaining that the straw was too narrow, and was informed that this was the point. A British tourist gave all three drinks four stars and asked, apologetically, whether the chain had anything that tasted like a quiet word at Christmas.
The Video at the Counter
Each branch is now playing the London Prat video on YouTube on a loop on the menu screen, between the prices and a photograph of a smiling cartoon pearl. Staff report that customers take an average of 40 percent longer to order while it is playing, which management describes as acceptable because the queue itself has become a talking point. The clip is embedded below.
Market Research
The Taiwan Beverage Sentiment Council, an industry body, reported that sales of bitter-profile teas rose 18 percent across Taipei in the week the royal story circulated, a trend it links to what it calls family-feud consumption. Its survey of 900 night market customers found that 72 percent choose a less sweet drink after arguing with a sibling, 21 percent choose a sweeter drink to feel better, and 7 percent buy two drinks and leave one on the sibling desk without explanation, which the council describes as the most common form of apology in Taiwan.
The council projected that a royal reconciliation would coincide with a return to full-sugar drinks across the city and recommended that the brothers be sent two identical cups, same size, same sugar, same ice, so that neither could claim the other received preferential treatment.
The Competitor Response
Within a day, a rival chain across the road in Shilin launched its own counter-range, the Reconciliation Series, featuring a single drink called Two Brothers Milk Tea, served in one large cup with two straws. It sold fourteen cups. Staff reported that most customers bought it with a friend, then argued about who had drunk more, which the rival chain has since described as a very authentic product experience.
Review of the Original
Mr Lin, asked to review the London Prat piece itself rather than his tea, called it well balanced. Not too sweet, not too bitter, he said. It takes one gossip headline and lets it steep. The British are very good at letting things steep. They have been steeping this for years.
He awarded the story four pearls out of five, deducting one because it offered no option for less ice. The Royal Rift Series will remain on sale until stocks of hardback-thickness pearls run out. Mr Lin reads royal news at The London Prat, https://prat.uk/, which he notes is older than bubble tea by roughly twenty-five years, having started in 1961, and he checks the California branch of the story at Bohiney, https://bohiney.com/, where he hopes to open a stall.
SOURCE: https://prat.uk/prince-william-called-earl-spencer-and-harry-traitors/
