Top Image: Zachary Tang / RICE File Photo
Dear Yuan Yang,
I’m so glad I learned to appreciate your beautiful fusion of tea, coffee, and milk. Though our relationship hasn’t been long, I believe I’m in it for the long haul. I’m no expert in love, but some say when you know, you know. It’s been a journey to get to you, and I’m so glad I finally found you.
For as long as I can remember, I’ve been a coffee hater. “It tastes bad,” I would say, “and teh has enough caffeine for me.” Little ol’ me had no idea what was to come.
Although I’ve been a long-time teh drinker, longevity doesn’t equal love. Thinking back, there were times when I felt jilted but didn’t speak up or make a change. Like that time I paid $2.10 for a teh peng (daylight robbery!) and it was so bland it might as well have been water.
And it was lacking the spark of days past. I needed more caffeine for my late-night study sessions, and teh just wasn’t cutting it. In the immortal words of Rupert Holmes, it was “like a worn-out recording of a favourite song”.
So when I was in Australia—coffee country—and saw that a teh peng cost $5, I took the leap to coffee. I branched out to latte, mocha, cappuccino, and more. I guess I thought these little flings would lead to me finding the one.
And at first, I had a great time. But while sparks flew, I almost got burned. Multiple times, I found myself anxious and jittery after spending time with them. My fingers would tingle, my stomach would churn, and my wallet would hurt, too. They were demanding partners—our dates always left me financially worse for wear.
They were passionate, whirlwind romances, but they burned out too fast.
When I got back to Singapore, I nearly fell back into my old ways. I went crawling back to teh, forgetting all the times I’d had an overpriced cup of longkang water.
That’s when I remembered you existed. It’s almost serendipitous how it happened—without preamble, without asking my friends for opinions, the thought popped into my head, what about yuan yang? Turns out, you were there all along, quiet and steady, just waiting for me to come around.
The Melburnians have their Magic, but to me, you’re the real magic.
I love your adaptability—while you were born in Hong Kong, life has taken you across the seas, and you’ve changed in turn. Yuenyeung in Hong Kong, yuan yang in Singapore, kopi cham in Malaysia, spreeze in Ethiopia. You tweak your names and tastes to fit the land you’re on, but your core essence remains the same.
Jason Mraz sings, “Your name is your virtue.” Yuan yang is the name for mandarin ducks, a symbol of companionship, commitment, and security in Chinese culture. And that’s exactly what you’ve been to me in the time we’ve been together.
While some people chase the excitement of romance, you’re a steady, reliable presence wherever I go. You may not be the first (or second, or third) coffee shop drink people think of—most “order coffee like a local” guides include nary a mention of your name—but whenever I look for you, you’re always there. I’ve never worried about being able to find you. After all, the ingredients are already there.
But there’s that something special about you that is so much more enjoyable than a teh or kopi alone.
You provide me with the familiar flavours of tea and the caffeine of coffee, but you remain your own unique entity. You bring an exciting blend of flavours, adding just the right amount of spice to my life. At the same time, you never ask too much of me, and I never feel like my wallet’s been bled dry by you.
While you may not be the most popular or well-known, that’s fine with me. I’m not looking for a superstar or crowd-pleaser—you’re special in your own way. And though posers may emerge, they will never come close to the real thing.
I’m still on good terms with my exes and see them every now and then (sure, call me toxic), but at the end of the day, it comes back to you. You’re a reliable presence without being boring, you take it easy on my wallet and my tastebuds, and you bring that zing to my life.
You’ve done so much for me in the few months that we’ve been together. I’m looking forward to keeping you in the routine of my daily grind.
Love,
Elliot
