HK gets a daily jolt of high-octane fuel: milk tea

Some cities are fueled by coffee. In Hong Kong, it's milk tea - a potent nostalgia-infused caffeine hit. And there's fierce competition to brew the best in town.

Thousands of restaurants offer the full gamut of international cuisines, but the city's no-frills diner-style restaurants, or cha chaan teng in Cantonese, some of them decades old, remain perennial favorites with locals and still do a roaring trade. They serve up cheap local dishes, from fried egg sandwiches and buttery French toast to noodle soups and macaroni.

The standard accompaniment is milk tea, or lai cha - a tangy, deep-tan brew made from blends of black tea strained repeatedly for strength, then mixed with condensed or evaporated milk.