Singapore has been bombarded with countless amounts of quirky and unique tasting bubble teas that ranges from milk tea topped with cheese foam to different colored pearls. But the scene is currently challenged by the arrival of new tea kiosks that claims to offer a more healthy and tasty alternative - fruit teas!
These fruit teas are currently sold with a variety of fruits dunked in different flavored teas, leaving them to be a more natural and healthier alternative to snack on as compared to the traditional tapioca pearls. Here are four shops that you can consider visiting if you’ve ever wanted to hop on the blooming fruit tea trend, or just to quench your thirst with a vitamin and fibre packed drink in general!
Teafolia
This fruit tea and smoothie concentrated shop currently only has outlets located at Tampines and Bedok respectively. Teafolia prides itself with the fact that their drinks (fruit tea or not) are made with fresh and natural ingredients only.
Photo: Teafolia Tampines Outlet
The store offers a grand fruit tea collection with the Signature Fruit Tea ($5.90) serving as their lead followed by the Strawberry and Peach Duo ($5.90). Their Signature Fruit Tea consists of a healthy mix of citrus and sweet fruits, with their pineapple pulp serving as a flavorful base to work with their tea! Strawberry and Peach Duo offers another alternative for those who are looking for a drink that's light in taste. Enjoy the occasional satisfying crunch that you will get as you munch on the diced peaches and sliced strawberry bits mixed into the concoction.
Bear in mind that they do not offer the alternative to customise your sugar levels. But I figure it’s a ‘win-win’ for everyone involved as it pushes their customers to have a more natural and healthier choice for themselves.
Location: Tampines Outlet - 20 Tampines Central 1, Tampines MRT, #01-29/30 Singapore 529538, Bedok Outlet - 311 New Upper Changi Road, Bedok Mall, #01-K1, Singapore 467360
Hi Tea
Located just in the vicinity of the well-loved Far East Plaza, Hi Tea is a modern tea cafe that aims to cater an enjoyable tea experience that includes integrating cold brew fruits tea into their simple but well-rounded menu. Alike to Teafolia, they do not offer customised sugar levels for their drinks as well!
This brand desribes themselves as 'a local store in Singapore that aims to promote the drinking of Chinese tea'. The store does so by making use of a variety of brewing techniques and tea making methods. Other featured beverages like the Grape Ice and Lime Ice is a rejunevating refreshment to have, and let's not forget that their package design is impeccable. Give their home made tea brews a chance when you are passing by town!
Their above beverage, Mix Fruit King ($5.80), delivers the promised refreshing taste that's written on their menu for sure. When you are done with this Oolong tea based drink, you will realise that the fruits integrated into the drink had their natural flavors further enhanced as well. It's one thing to eat the fruits on their own, but definitely another when you decide to consume them after it's been marinated in a fragrant tea brew.
But another flavor that first-timers should have a try at should be the Grapefruit Ice ($4.80). Granted that grapefruit is an acquired taste for some, this beverage does do a good job at achieving a well-balanced taste with it. The initial tanginess and sweetness of the grapefruit accompanied by the fragrant Jasmine tea is definitely a cooling beverage that you can grab for when you are really feeling the heat.
Location: Far East Plaza, 14 Scotts Road, Singapore 228213
R&B Tea
The popular Taiwan beverage makes it debut in Singapore and is located at the entrance of Marina Square's Koufu Cookhouse outlet! R&B Tea opens with its flagship store located on this sunny island and has mainly three categories of drinks available for purchase: their fruit-centric teas, the traditional yet classic bubble milk tea and their selection of No.23 Oolong Tea from Taiwan.
You can be promised with a satisfying drink experience at R&B Tea as the store caters a sampling station for their potential customers to get a taste of their signature Mighty Luffy ($6.80) drink before purchase. The 1-litre sized drink is not only great for housing a variety of sliced fruits for their customers to snack on afterwards, it’s also good for sharing among friends!
Fans of citrus fruits can also have their hand on their Devil's Booster ($4.20), which comes with a whole orange served with generous helpings of delectable pineapple bits and fresh orange pulp. This is the ‘go-to’ palate cleanser that you can definitely go for after indulging in a heavy meal at the Cookhouse, or a refreshing drink that you can turn to if you are just in need of a caffeine-free option to help you get through your day at the office. R&B tea gives you the option to customise your sugar levels for their drink options, but a personal opinion is that these fruit teas do stand well on their own even with 0% sugar added.
Location: 6 Raffles Boulevard, Cookhouse by Koufu Marina Square, #04-101/102 Singapore 039594
Partea
Partea is a store that you can't miss at Suntec as their outlet there is constantly greeted by snaking long queues particularly during after office and lunch hours! This is another store that imports quality tea leaves from Taiwan and boosts a range of fruit-centric drinks that make uses of different tea leaf brews such as green tea, black tea and etcetera.
Look out for the current crowd favorite for this stall which is the Gaoshan Oolong Tea with Fruits ($6.90). What you can look forward to eating from the cup are watermelons, passionfruit, strawberries, lime and more. As you enjoy the beverage, you can expect sudden bursts of tart notes from the drink credits to the generous layer of passion fruit that Partea includes at the end of the drink preparation. The taste for this fruit tea overall is definitely 'au naturale' and serves as a great option for those who are not into stark or strong flavors.
Bonus: Sijichun Tea with Cheese
Photo: The instructions on top of the beverage lid indicates that the Cheese tea is best enjoyed if you drink it straight from the cup within half an hour from the time of purchase.
We know this is not fruit tea, but we can’t deny the cheese trend that was kickstarted by LiHo. Partea also offers an alternative to the popular Cheese tea that Liho has at their stores. Their best seller within their 'Cheese Tea' category is currently the Sijichun Tea with Cheese ($4.90). The cheese foam does not taste strong by itself despite the prominent cheese smell that you will probably get when you get that initial whiff. It’s in fact, very subtle but in a good way (similar to the touch of sea salt that you'd expect from quality sea salt caramel). The aftertaste of this drink is unexpectedly refreshing as you gulp down the mixture, arguably even more so compared to the fruit tea.
Location: 3 Temasek Boulevard, Suntec City Mall North Atrium,#02-470 Singapore 038983
