Here is my round 2 of bubble tea battle. The recent intake is really increasing my blood sugar!
Partea is a fairly new participant to the local bubble tea scene with 4 outlets across the island.
Some of their flagship drinks include fresh fruit drinks with freshly brewed tea from different types of tea leaves.
The outlet at Suntec resembles a juice bar with rows of tea leafs and fresh fruits on display. The shop itself is bright and resembles a tea and juice boutique.
I ordered the large brown sugar milk tea. The milk used here is from the brand meadow fresh and is quite milky but thin like the green fields brand. The brown sugar pearls are warm and soft with a thick caramel taste with a deep brown sugar taste. However, once its all mixed together the entire drink becomes very bland. I feel the proportions are not perfect and the milk too thin. The medium is sold at SGD 4.20 and large at SGD 4.90
Star : 4/5
KOI is a popular brand among locals and it definitely has a huge crowd of following. So much so that they have launched their own KOI member payment card.
I was waiting for KOI to jump on the brown sugar band wagon and finally I spotted a sign at one of the KOI outlet saying that they have launched their Okinawa style brown sugar series at selected outlets.
The outlet at Takashimaya is located at B2 alongside many other cafes, poke bowl and acai bowl stands. The outlet features automated machine ordering systems
You can customise your drinks accordingly. The brown sugar fresh milk comes in 2 sizes, medium at SGD 4.10 and large at SGD 5.70. They even offer the hot version.
Unlike others, KOI allow customers to customise the sweetness level and the quantity of pearls. The pearls offered here are the normal ones and not the brown sugar pearls. The pearls are tiny compared to others. The first impression of the milk ( did not see which brand is used) tasted more like gula melaka (palm sugar) mixed with coconut milk. The creamy milk taste is missing. It is a nice drink abeit too sweet as the balance of the milk and brown sugar is lost. But it definitely pale to the competition.
Stars: 3/5
I love Taimei has been in the scene for a few years now specialising in Taiwanese bubble tea and street snack like crispy fried chicken cutlet, crispy fish fries and popcorn chicken.
With the recent brown sugar craze, I love Taimei has introduced their brown sugar series with both fresh milk and tea options
The brand has quite a few outlets across Singapore and they are well known for their crispy fried chicken cutlet. In fact, while I was there, the orders for their food items are way beyond their bubble tea.
The large sized cup is priced at SGD 4.90 while the medium is SGD 3.90. The pearls here are the generic ones not the ones cooked in brown sugar but the texture is quite chewy. The milk is quite thin and I couldn’t see the brand that was used.
The cup also has very cute messaging. The brown sugar has a nice caramel taste and when mixed with the milk, the combination was a sweet vanilla tasting concoction. The only disappointment was the pearls were very bland especially after the sugar and milk were mixed.
Stars: 3.7/5
For this 2nd round, Partea came out as the best of the 3 but as an overall comparison the the first is still R&B followed by Liho and Partea.
There will be one final post when the famous brown sugar milk tea from Taiwan opens in Singapore. So look out for the final winner.
Bear Travels . Bear Eats . Bear Cooks 