A cha chaan teng glossary
Cha chaan teng ordering runs on shorthand: a few syllables, said fast, with modifiers stacked on the end. Here is the vocabulary, with Jyutping (the numbers are tones) and what you'll actually get. Slang varies from shop to shop, so treat the waiter codes as a field guide, not a rulebook.
01 — Drinks
What's on the drinks board
[hot or iced] + [drink] + [modifiers] + [takeaway]. So 凍奶茶少甜走冰拎走 is an iced milk tea, less sweet, no ice, to take away.
Iced drinks almost always cost a little more than hot ones: HK$2 extra has long been the norm, sometimes HK$3.
02 — Modifiers
Changing it the way you like
A handful of words do almost all the work. Hot or iced comes first; the rest go after the drink.
03 — Food and sets
The menu around the milk tea
Most meals come as sets, and a drink is usually included. These are the words you'll meet.
04 — Waiter codes
What gets shouted and scribbled
Behind the counter, orders travel as sound-alikes, half-characters and letters. The linguist Lian-Hee Wee calls the written ones "food runes". These are some you may catch.
05 — Places and manners
Where you are, and how it works
The first cup of hot tea or water to arrive is often used to rinse your cutlery and bowl. The Michelin Guide's advice: don't drink it.
Sources
- EdUHK — 香港傳統文化：飲食文化 (trade terms and written codes)
- words.hk — Cantonese dictionary (meanings and Jyutping)
- Localiiz — A guide to cha chaan teng slang
- Localiiz — The history of the cha chaan teng
- Localiiz — Cha chaan teng drinks
- Time Out Hong Kong — Cantonese phrases you need to know in restaurants
- Time Out Hong Kong — Cha chaan teng drinks you'll only find in Hong Kong
- HK01 — 三點三 and cha chaan teng food
- HK01 — the history of the bing sutt and cha chaan teng
- Dot Dot News (2024) — a café's handwritten drink codes, decoded
- Lian-Hee Wee, World Literature Today (2019) — Hong Kong food runes
- PMQ — Lemon tea matters (0T)
- HKSAR Government (2017) — hawker licences since 1972
- HKSAR Government (2008) — the remaining dai pai dong
- Michelin Guide Hong Kong — the cha chaan teng and its dishes
- am730 (2026) — the surcharge on iced drinks