Bubble tea, or better known as 泡泡茶 in Singapore, is a very popular beverage which originated in Taiwan. It is mostly made up of milk, tea, and tapioca pearls.
The drink was first conceptualised in the early 1980s and has since then rapidly spread across the globe. A lot of Singaporeans, both young and old, love to drink bubble tea due to how sweet and refreshing it tastes.
This has caused many bubble tea chains to pop up across the country over the years. Right now there might even be more bubble tea shops than coffee shops! So which bubble tea places are actually the best? Here are our top picks:
1. Gong Cha
Easily one of the most established and well – known bubble tea brands in Asia, Gong Cha has been the king of boba for years. What we especially love about this bubble tea shop is its diversity. Gong Cha is constantly updating and improving its menu to cater to the fast changing demand trends, which results in a pretty large menu. This means that there is certainly something for everyone!
We personally recommend you give their Lychee Tea with Basil Seeds a try. It is a very refreshing and light drink that is perfect for any sunny day!
2. Wanpo Tea
Hailing from Tai Chung in Taiwan, Wanpo Tea is famous for their unique Custard Milk Tea. Not only does this drink have a nice creamy texture, but the custard also brings a sweet egg-like flavour which brilliantly complements the milk tea. It is also a visually appealing drink with the dense custard creating a beautiful colour contrast.
Wanpo Tea’s Custard Milk Tea is certainly a great choice if you are looking to try something new. If this is not your style, Wanpo Tea also offers several other more classic bubble tea options.
3. Happy Cup
Bubble tea drinks at Happy Cup generally have a strong tea flavour and are not very sweet. They freshly brew strong tea to form the enchanting aroma that their drinks have. Happy Cup will add a good amount of sweet evaporated milk on top of the strong and bitter tea to create a balanced bittersweet milk tea. This will then be capped off by perfectly cooked tapioca pearls.
So what are you waiting for? Go call your fellow tea fans and give Happy Cup’s bubble teas a try!
4. R&B
Let’s be honest: bubble tea is not always affordable for everyone. This is especially true for those “premium” bubble tea shops you find in top – end shopping malls. No worries! If you love bubble tea but don’t want to blow a hole in your pocket, then just go for R&B!
R&B is a wallet – friendly boba tea shop and is very popular among Singaporean students. For example, their sizable Brown Sugar Milk Tea sells for just SGD 3.60! And the cool thing about R&B is that, even though they charge lower prices than their competitors, their quality is certainly not ‘cheap’ and they can compete with the best of them in terms of flavour!
5. Playmade
Playmade has a reputation for creating sweet and luscious drinks. While this may not be ideal for those with diabetes, Playmade’s bubble tea drinks are universally loved by those with sweet tooth. Not only are their drinks sweet, but it also has a hint of earthiness which creates a much more complex flavour. Along with its lovely floral fragrance, it is no wonder why many claim that Playmade’s bubble teas are highly addicting!
6. Ji Long Tang
Last on our list we have Ji Long Tang, the undisputed master of brown sugar bubble tea. Contrary to how they look (heavy & creamy), Ji Long Tang’s brown sugar boba tea is actually pretty light and refreshing. The brown sugar at the bottom and the cheese foam on top perfectly blends with the milk tea and boba pearls to create the supreme brown sugar bubble tea.
