Welcome to Wonderās milk tea taste test: three brands, three milk tea fanatics, 100% unfiltered opinions
Itās hard to pinpoint exactly when milk tea transcended the boundary between buzzword and full-on way of life. Hate it or love it, thereās no denying that this stuffāāmasterfully brewed, dairy-enriched and topped with glorious boba pearlsāāis on a completely different playing field than zagu, cronuts and the rest of the food fads that have come and gone. I never thought it would be a thing this long, but milk tea continues to thrive, with new variations of the drink and establishments brought in from abroad still springing left and right.
But with so many brands serving a beverage so well-loved, thereās bound to be a little room for debate, right? Surely milk tea is all preferential, but this granted us a window of opportunity to explore, as we do. Which milk tea place in the metro reigns supreme?
RELATED: 10 Rules to Eat By
To find out, we turned to the specialists. To narrow down the competition, we asked 15 milk tea fanatics to pick their 3 best bets between 8 of the most prominent milk tea brands: Chatime, Coco, Dakasi, Gong Cha, Serenitea, Ten Ren, Tokyo Bubble Tea and YiFang.
Some points were made.
Furthering our exploration, we tapped 3 of our officeās resident milk tea loversāāTara, Clarisse and Ricaāāto undergo a blind taste test of the top 3 contending brands. They ranked each establishmentās specialty drink based on the following criteria: fullness of taste, sweetness and sinkers, before identifying their ultimate pick.
That said, meet the candidates: Cocoās Panda Milk Tea, YiFangās Brown Sugar Pearl Tea Latte and Gong Chaās GC Milk Wintermelon Tea with Pearls.
Fullness of Taste
Taraās pick: YiFangās Brown Sugar Pearl Tea Latte
āYiFang is strong, tea-wise. You can tell itās brewed well. Some milk tea, from what I know, is watered down but this doesnāt taste like that. Gong Cha, on the other hand, tastes a little manufactured.ā
Clarisseās pick: Cocoās Panda Milk Tea
āCocoās milk tea is really the perfect balance. The milk doesnāt overpower the taste of the actual tea.ā
Ricaās pick: Cocoās Panda Milk Tea
āCocoās milk tea is really good, even though the tea is milkier than I expected it to be. On the other hand, Gong Cha is less milky and more fresh. Thereās an herby aftertaste.ā
Sweetness
Taraās pick: Cocoās Panda Milk Tea
āIām not sure what the sweetness level of this is (note: all drinks were at 100% sweetness!), but I like it. I usually get lower sweetness levels but this is nice.ā
Clarisseās pick: Cocoās Panda Milk Tea
āCocoās Panda Milk Tea matches my usual sweetness order. Sobrang sakto lang compared to the others. For YiFang, it is not sweet at all and I feel like you have to get the sweetness from the sinkers. For Gong Cha, itās just too sweet. I canāt taste the tea at all. Itās all milk!ā
Ricaās pick: Gong Chaās GC Milk Wintermelon Tea
āThe sweetness of Gong Chaās milk tea hits ya! When you drink it through the straw the flavor ends up surprising you. Cocoās was also nice: the sweetness is really nice for a large cup. You wonāt get sick of it.ā
Sinkers
Taraās pick: YiFangās Brown Sugar Pearl Tea Latte
āThe YiFang [brown sugar] pearls are fun! They clumped together in a way I liked, although at one point they did get stuck in the straw.ā
Clarisseās pick: Cocoās Panda Milk Tea
āIāve had had chewier pearls, but I like Cocoās sinkers. I also like Gong Chaās, but I didnāt pick it because I feel the taste of the pearls was affected by the tea, which was too sweet.ā
Ricaās pick: YiFangās Brown Sugar Pearl Tea Latte
āThe YiFang sinkers have a really nice texture, but I have to admit the size seems prone to choking me. Meanwhile, I donāt like Gong Chaās sinkers. Itās a perfect sphere and it really works your jaw!ā
The Verdict
According to the board of boba tea testers, Cocoās best-selling Panda Milk Tea reigns superior. It seems those hoards of people who line up at every Coco booth have good reason to queue up after all: a well-balanced mix between tea and milk, a sweetness level that doesnāt overwhelm and chewy double-pearl sinkers.
RELATED: What Makes Ramen So Damn Good?
Art Alexandra Lara