Kaohsiung runs on milk drinks. At the end of 2025 it had 3,043 drink shops, the most of any city in Taiwan and nearly a fifth of the national total. Try two classics: black tea milk at Laojiang, open 24 hours since 1953, and papaya milk at Kaohsiung Milk King, which started as a drinks stall in Yancheng in 1966.
Black tea milk
Laojiang (老江紅茶牛奶) at 51 Nantai Rd., near Formosa Boulevard (R10 / O5), blends four teas with a can of local fresh milk, no ice, and never closes. → Breakfast
Papaya milk
Papaya blended with fresh milk and cane sugar. The city's agriculture bureau calls the "well-known papaya milk of Kaohsiung" a national favourite. Kaohsiung Milk King (高雄牛乳大王) began in 1966 as a cold-drinks stall in Yancheng with papaya milk as its first product, grew to 27 branches, and is now run by the second generation.
- Address 65-5 Zhonghua 3rd Rd., Qianjin District
- Hours Daily 07:00 to 02:00 (as listed on Google Maps, October 2026)
Milk tea street and festival
Xinle Street in Yancheng is known as the city's "milk tea street", and the city's tourism bureau runs a Milk Tea Festival there each September: in 2026 on 19 and 20 September, outside exit 1 of Yanchengpu Station (O2), with more than 70 brands.
Coffee
The Kaohsiung Coffee Festival brings about 70 local coffee brands and growers from indigenous villages together each summer. In 2026 it ran on 22 and 23 August in Aozihdi Forest Park.
→ Food guide · Night markets, where papaya milk is everywhere
Sources: drink-shop numbers and the milk tea festival: Liberty Times and CNA via UDN; Laojiang: Takao magazine; Kaohsiung Milk King: Takao magazine and Google Maps; papaya milk: Kaohsiung Agriculture Bureau; coffee festival: Liberty Times. Checked October 2026.