Tea Time at Taft

Wherever the money goes, the business follows.

Being in Taft Avenue puts you at the center of where the money is. You have St. Scholastica’s College, De La Salle College of St. Benilde and De La Salle University all bunched up in one area. The number of your potential consumers is staggeringly high on a daily basis. And even without school, the number of condominiums in the area might supply you with enough residents to taste your wares.

Business will forever be a competition of who can make it better in the world of something popular. The biggest market would obviously cater to the primary need: the food market. And as a sub branch of that, tea places have grown in popularity.

Taft Avenue is a perfect example of saturating that very market.

There are exactly eleven places in the area to get your fix of milk tea. I don’t know if there’s any place I haven’t visited yet. But yes,eleven milk tea shops in Taft area alone.

Let me enumerate, by location:

1. ChaTime, One Archers
2. Tea Stack, Castro
3. Taroshii, Agno
4. Tea Delight, Agno
5. Zen Tea, EGI (And Zen Tea behind CSB)
6. Pao Pao Xiao Chi, Zaide Cafeteria
7. Simple Line, behind CSB
8. Tea Central, Taft (above Starbucks)
9. Universitiea, second floor of Army Navy, behind Zark’s Burgers
10. Cha Dao, University Mall
11. MoonLeaf Tea Shop, Harrison Plaza

See what I mean?

Now with so many tea places to choose from, how do you know where to go? Well, let me tell you something about them.

ChaTime.

ChaTime has gained a reputation for being a snooty, top price tea shop. Because it is. It’s the more serious tea place that actually uses fresh tea. But just because it’s all snooty about the tea doesn’t they make it less enjoyable. There’s no question that ChaTime’s drinks are both deliciously refreshing and creative.

What I dislike about ChaTime at Taft isn’t the tea, because there’s no questioning ChaTime. It’s the fact that it’s a small place you couldn’t stay at. Hoping for a bigger branch, but this is Taft.

Tea Stack.

The good thing about Tea Stack is how the inside is decorated. It’s very clean, minimalist, Asian-modern with stone walls and white wooden tables. It’s a perfect hang out for any group of friends. The marketing/publicity & labelling is all well designed too, as if they had to hire a professional or some passionate student with a tumblr account and PhotoShop to make their labels.

The bad thing about it? It still has a relatively small tea selection, and it closes down in the summer. Also, its attempt to recreate Happy Lemon’s Cocoa with Rock Salt & Cheese is, in my opinion, nowhere near a success. If you have Jasmine Tea there, though, you really will taste the Jasmine. And I mean, it feels like you’re eating flowers. I don’t know what kind of tea they’re using. But it can be as expensive as a drink from ChaTime with quality that doesn’t live up to the price. Tea Stack’s strength lies in its originality, when it’s not trying to copy something else. The Chocolate Macadamia Milk Tea is a unique and rich in flavor.

Taroshii.

This is a student-owned establishment, so I was told. And they’re doing a pretty good job at it. They have really good Wintermelon Milk tea here, and I think I like it better than Moonleaf’s. Taroshii isn’t exclusively a milk tea place, but also has hot cocoa and espresso-based drinks as well as different kinds of milk shakes. It’s kind of a ChaTime-Happy Lemon mash up. They make really creative mixes with fun names to match them. Some of my favorites are the Apple McCartney & John Lemon.

Tea Delight.

Is a place to get iced tea while eating lunch, that’s all that it is.

Zen Tea.

I’d like to consider Zen Tea as the mother of all this madness. In my freshmen year, it was the only tea place around the area. I’m guessing that it’s due to its success that other milk tea brands have seen LaSalle as a potential Milk Tea Capital. What’s good about Zen Tea is that you can mix around with fruit flavors to get the tea that you want, just like Tea Delight. It also has a selection of yogurt tea, cream tea, and your standard Naicha, Taro, etc. It covers all the basics, and that’s what makes it a good place to get tea from. It’s not as snooty or as high class, so it’s accessible in a sense. It’s more of something you can get to drink when you’re thirsty while studying, or something to drink with your lunch, rather than a treat you buy like ChaTime.

The design of the place is pretty nice. The EGI Taft branch has a second floor seating area that now showcases a sizable aquarium, some dark ratan-woven seats, etc. The furniture stays in Black and White, while the walls are painted red. Everything keeps in with a nice Asian tie-up design. It makes for a great place to stay and study . . .  when there aren’t too many people making noise in the line for their milk tea.

Pao Pao Xiao Chi.

I don’t get why there’s an award certificate attached to it. Their wintermelon tastes like brown sugar syrup.

Simple Line.

Actually some pretty good Milk Tea, imho. Not my best, but nowhere near the worst.

Tea Central.

Tea Central is a nice small place right across a card shop. They certainly have a wide range of playful milk tea mix choices on their menu. For milk tea alone, they have hazelnut, creme brulee, lychee, and a number of so many others. They also have something I haven’t seen in other tea places yet–ice cream blended tea drinks. They include some pistachio and chocomint drinks. They also have yakult drinks and your standard fruit flavored iced teas. Their add-ons include the standard pearls, grass jelly, coffee jelly and egg pudding. Their drinks can get a little too sweet and playful for my taste–but that’s just me, and I’m a serious type tea drinker. But for fans of Happy Lemon but are confined to Taft Avenue, this would be a good place to try.

Universitea.

This place seems like a campus-specific Tea place that hails itself all the way back to–guess where–UP. But now, it’s on TAFT Mode. The place even has photographs of the old DLSU in black and white framed up on the wall. A beam is covered in cork where everyone can pin up posts. You can even tell the friendly staff to let you plug in your music player into the speaker system. And there’s a cushioned seating area in the corner to put your feet up, in case you’d like to read or chat with a friend–heads up, though, you have to take off your shoes. It makes for a great hang out despite the size of the store.

The tea, however, can slightly be disappointing. But refreshing enough for an afternoon drink. Not really something you treat yourself to, and definitely not something you’ll end up craving for.

Cha Dao? To be honest, I don’t even remember the name of the place.

It’s a small new spot in the second floor of University Mall, wedged between the Mexican food place and the Binalot. I seriously don’t remember, simply because there’s nothing memorable about it. The taste of the Nai cha is a bit too sweet, and the design of the place seems not to aim for any sort of ambience. They do have a flatscreen TV perched up on the wall, and they play a good DVD every so often.

Moonleaf Tea Shop.

Nobody needs to know what I have to say about Moonleaf Tea Shop, especially about the one at Harrison Plaza, simply because you must have read about it multiple times before on this blog.

Yes, all those links to some sort of review about Moonleaf, but if you’re not interested in reading multiple long things, these are a few things you need to know. Their service/staff is incredibly friendly, and in a few visits, they’d remember your name. They have wifi, and well-positioned plugs. In fact, the entire design of the place seems to be student-centered. It’s a clean, fresh-cut design, both fun and modern but laid back and sharp. The tea menu is creative, but the tea itself is some serious business making for some seriously good tasting tea. Price ranges from 45-80. All their cakes and snacks are provided by some nearby independent bake shop, so it’s different most of the time.

And now that you’ve heard about all of them, I hope you don’t get too confused. Try out all of them–it’s an adventure all on its own. Remember that a vast majority of these are Filipino owned (Moonleaf, Taroshii, TeaStack) and supporting them will definitely help the economy in some small way. I think. I don’t know, could we stop caring about the economy and concluding paragraphs for posts and just have tea?

Yes. Yes we could.

Many thanks to the people I mooch pictures off:

http://www.marvindegracia.com/2011/10/universitea.html

http://onthefword.blogspot.com/2011/11/game-on-at-tea-stack.html

http://www.spot.ph/eatdrink/46836/top-10-bubble-tea-spots-in-the-city/3

http://www.thirstyblogger.com/pao-pao-xiao-chi-milk-teas-fruit-teas-and-more.html

http://foodiestation.blogspot.com/2012/02/simple-line-milk-tea.html

http://chuvacosmo.blogspot.com/2011/01/coming-soon-tea-central.html

http://everydayfoodbites.blogspot.com/

http://thephilippinesandbeyond.com/2010/10/zen-tea-at-egi-taft-tower.html

http://elorasayswhut.blogspot.com/2011/06/food-blog-zentea.html

http://haniebernardo.blogspot.com/2011/09/chatime-at-one-archers-place.html

http://xkurenaix.blogspot.com/2011_07_01_archive.html

Always support Filipino bloggers and writers, and read around the place! Cheers!

Saranghae, Hollys Coffee

It seems as if all coffee shops–or at least, all the good ones–follow a certain standard. As if there was an unwritten law or list of requirements to pass as a highly rated coffee shop, or perhaps written down in a top secret dossier available only to the masters of modern day coffee. Maybe there’s an underground university for the food industry, and the coffee business was a fraternity wherein only these brothers knew the secrets to a good brew and warmly inviting interior design.

And I’m saying this because every other coffee shop would be practically the same.

But there are so many differences in Hollys Coffee, other than the fact that yes, it doesn’t have an apostrophe in its name. And despite these small, seemingly insignificant changes, barely noticeable stretchmarks from the norms of coffee businesses, Hollys Coffee is just revolutionary and brilliant all on its own. Yet it still manages to fit itself in to the fraternity of all good coffee shops, perhaps as the foreign exchange student, the Asian brother in the fold.

If you don’t know what I’m talking about, Hollys Coffee is a coffee shop that started out in South Korea in 1998. It has since expanded with branches in America, and now one–and exactly one–branch has put itself smack in the center of Manila. And it’s exactly where you find the South Koreans–not kidding. What I mean is Taft Ave., inside the newly constructed condominium building called One Archers, exactly beside the freshmen building of De La Salle University. Hollys Coffee is not only packed with university students during all hours of the week, but it also had its appearance as a sponsor for a couple of the university’s activities.

So what’s so special about this thing? There are three Coffee Bean and Tea Leaf’s, three Starbucks’ and two or more small time coffee shops lined up the avenue. What’s with Hollys?

Hollys is also pretty much the same, familiar, loving, warm, inviting atmosphere as any other coffee shop. It still decorates all its seating areas with the brown in different shades and hues, but uses modern-esque elements like light fixtures that looks like large bubbles. And they even mix in some hot red hues to warm up your cup. In fact, the tagline of Hollys is “Fresh Coffee, Romantic Spaces.” And indeed, looking at the red cushioned seats makes you want to cuddle up while having some fresh hot sweet potato latte.

And yes, I did say Sweet Potato Latte. It doesn’t have anything to do with coffee. And that’s also something that sets Hollys apart. They have Sweet Potato Latte and an assortment of iced tea, blended tea drinks and yogurt drinks. I’d like to think that these specialty tea beverages are what makes Hollys Coffee distinctively Asian as a brand.

The first time I went to Hollys, I got a Raspberry Cafe Mocha. As a rule, when trying out someplace new, take something familiar you can compare with. I love Seattle’s Raspberry Mocha Kiss, so I thought I could give Hollys a try.

Hollys Coffee (December 15)

Raspberry Cafe Mocha

Size: Grande (Price: 150)

Additional: Espresso Shot (+20)

Serving Heat: Hot, not scorching

Rating: 3.5/5

 

Consistency is very smooth. There is a deep after taste, and the dark chocolate has a really rich, lush taste that combines well with the coffee. The chocolate envelopes the raspberry flavor instead of the other way around.

 It isn’t a secret that I love all things Matcha Green. So I had to try it out.

Hollys Coffee (December 21)

Matcha Latte

Rating: 2.5/5

 

The Matcha Latte had very little sugar which should have allowed you to fully taste the matcha. However, the cream overpowers the beverage, and it starts to taste like warm milk with a leafy texture.

 The last one is a definite must-try. I don’t know if there’s anything like it around, but I certainly haven’t heard of anyone else trying to get this out in the market. Sweet Potato Latte. The barista recommended it to me. I’m glad he knows what he’s doing.

Hollys Coffee (January 14)

Sweet Potato Latte

Rating: 4.5/5

 

The Sweet Potato Latte was a unique drink with a very mild and earthy nuttiness, perfectly complimented by almond slices. Consistency was rich, and a little thicker than an average latte, almost like sweet soup with gentle creaminess. It has a rich, aroma of nuts and cream.

Over-all, Hollys Coffee is a success as a coffee shop because it accomplishes one thing that people usually forget. You don’t drink coffee; you experience it. A visit to Hollys Coffee is a truly enriching experience all on its own. I’m hoping to see more branches of Hollys pop up around the Metro in time to come.

* Nope, I don’t have pictures I took myself. Sorry.