Words by Frances Leones
Photos by Heather Co
It may be the start of the rainy season but the sun continues to beat down on all of us this June. Naturally, in this heat, one needs a cold drink to cool off. One perfect thirst quencher has got to be milk tea. With the milk tea craze in the Philippines still going strong, we’ve found a milk tea place that serves great milk teas, including one that is naturally colored blue.
Started by Wesly Chen and his love of milk tea in December 2018, Hello Milk Tea in NS Amoranto, Quezon City (with a Las Piñas branch that opened last May 28) prides itself in making their milk teas out of all-natural teas brought in from Taiwan and China. To date, the shop has over 60 drinks available. All milk teas have a 50% sugar percentage so no need to worry about getting hopped up on sugar.
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From L to R: Chocolate Pearl Milk Tea, Panda Milk Tea, Thai Taro Milk Tea, Mango Bomb Fruit, Calamansi Lemon Juice w/Crystal Pearl
Hello Milk Tea has 5 top sellers, the most unique being their Thai Taro Milk Tea (Php 110.00). What makes this milk tea different from other milk teas is its lovely blue color, sitting atop a layer of creamy white milk and purple taro syrup to form an Instagrammable gradient that turns into a pale lavender concoction when shaken.
HMT’s Blue Thai Taro Milk Tea
The blue color, by the way, is completely natural. No artificial food coloring whatsoever. HMT’s Thai Taro uses a special kind of tea called “Butterfly Pea Flower Tea” which is popular in Southeast Asian countries like Thailand and Indonesia. Made from the flowers of the Clitoria ternatea plant, butterfly pea-flower tea (also called “butterfly tea”) creates a vivid blue infusion that can even turn purple when lemon or citrus juice is added. In HMT’s Thai Taro Milk Tea, it creates this lovely pastel blue hue in the drink that truly makes it a unique milk tea experience.
You gotta love that gradient. Very Instagram-worthy!
Taste-wise, HMT’s Thai Taro Milk Tea is like a drinkable dessert. It’s rich and creamy, reminiscent of gourmet vanilla ice cream.
The taro syrup and taro bits add an earthy sweetness to it without making the drink overpoweringly sugary. If you’re looking for a milk tea that looks great and can serve as a dessert-on-the-go, I recommend the Thai Taro Milk Tea for sure.
HMT’s other top sellers are just as delicious and thirst-quenching. Their Chocolate Pearl Milk Tea (Php 100.00) is made of dark chocolate, milk, and black sago pearls. Not exactly milk tea as the name suggests, but a delightful drink nonetheless. Like a lighter version of a frozen hot chocolate, this drink lets you taste the complex bittersweet cacao flavor. Perfect for chocolate lovers.
The Panda Milk Tea (Php 120.00) is for those who like their milk tea the old-fashioned way. HMT makes theirs with regular black pearls and crystal pearls made from agar. The crystal pearls are smaller than the black pearls and are transparent like crystals. They remind me of clear gulaman but chewier.
Aside from the Chocolate Pearl Milk Tea, the Mango Bomb Fruit (Php 120.00) is another non-tea based top seller made from mango juice, water, and mango pulp. With the surplus of mangoes in the Philippines this year, this is a tasty way of making sure our national fruit doesn’t go to waste. It’s refreshing and has the sweet-sour tang of mangoes. It’s not like the sugar-sweetened mango juice you get in cans or juice cartons. Nor is it as heavy as having a thick mango shake. This drink really lets the flavors of the mango shine without filling you up too much.
From L to R: Mango Bomb Fruit, Calamansi Lemon Juice w/Crystal Pearl, Hello Fruit Tea
Green Tea lovers, let Hello Milk Tea’s Calamansi Lemon Juice w/Crystal Pearl (Php 120.00) satisfy your thirst. Made with green tea, lemon, and calamansi, this drink is light and refreshing with a nice kick of tartness from the citrus fruits floating inside it. It’s packed with Vitamin C as well – great for warding off colds which are common during the rainy season.
Another drink offered by Hello Milk Tea is the Hello Fruit Tea (Php 150.00). Although not part of the 5 top sellers, this drink’s also worth trying. The peach oolong tea with passionfruit is pink in tint with a crisp and sweet flavor and has chunks of fruits added to make it truly taste like summer in a glass. The Hello Fruit Tea has a total of five kinds of fruit added to it – usually watermelon, apple, orange, kiwi, and mango – but they can change from time to time depending on the availability of fruits.
Beating the heat with Hello Milk Tea’s bestselling drinks!
You can customize your milk tea and fruit tea with a variety of toppings such as their black pearls, black gulaman, taro balls, and egg pudding – these four toppings cooked in-house – and many more.
If you’ve had enough milk tea, why not try their crispy Egg Waffle (Php 70.00) or savory Mushroom Meatballs (Php 40.00 for 5 pcs.) and Taiwan Sausages (Php 50.00)? These make great snacks to munch on while sipping on HMT’s numerous drinks.
Currently, Hello Milk Tea’s NS Amoranto branch in Quezon City is available for deliveries via foodpanda, Grab Food, and GoEat. Their second branch based in Torre Sur Bldg. in Las Piñas City offers deliveries via Grab Food only but is set to have deliveries done by foodpanda as well in the future.
So if you’re looking for a delicious way to beat the heat, Hello Milk Tea is going to give you a treat!
Hello Milk Tea
Quezon City Branch
NS Amoranto, Quezon City
Las Piñas Branch
Torre Sur Building, Alabang, Zapote Road, Las Piñas City (the store is located across Samgyupsalamat)
Facebook:Â fb.com/hellohmtph
