food
TMI Tries: Chatime’s new Thai iced teas
Chatime's Coconut Top Thai Milk Tea (left) and Pearl Thai Milk Tea (right). – The Malaysian Insider pic, September 14, 2015.Chatime fans have come to expect cool and creative concoctions from the modern tea brand.
Some of their past forays included cendol-inspired drinks and mango shakes with fruit specially imported from Pakistan.
This time, Chatime is bringing Thailand to our taste buds with two new drinks: Pearl Thai Milk Tea and Coconut Top Thai Milk Tea.
“Thai milk tea is a beverage that is enjoyed by many people from around the world. Despite its popularity, the opportunity for consumers to enjoy the milk tea is very limited,” said managing director of Chatime Malaysia, Bryan Loo, on the inspiration behind the drinks.
Being Thai milk tea lovers ourselves, we were thrilled to be able to try these new flavours so we decided to put them through our taste test. This is what we found:
Pearl Thai Milk Tea
Bringing it back to basics, the Pearl Thai Milk Tea is brewed using black tea leaves with added creamer. The addition of Chatime's tapioca pearls give a pleasant chewy bite to the drink.
The tea itself was smooth and creamy. While I liked that the drink wasn't too sweet, it lacked the fragrance that Thai milk tea is known for. The tea could afford to have stronger aromas especially of sweet spices like star anise and cardamom.
The subtle flavours may have worked as an introduction to Thai milk tea, but we felt a little cheated when the flavours failed to deliver, especially when so much was promised.
Coconut Top Thai Milk Tea
With an ice-blended tea mix, the Coconut Top Thai Milk tea offers an icy alternative. As its name suggests, the drink is topped off with a sprinkle of candied coconut shavings.
Using the same tea blend, the ice-blended version also suffered from the same lack of fragrance as the Pearl Thai Milk Tea. Worse still, the candied coconut shavings tasted a little too much like hardened icing sugar. The drink would have benefitted from using fresh shavings instead.
While I personally prefer my Thai milk teas stronger, Chatime's new series does provide a somewhat watered-down version for first-timers. And by adding their signature tapioca pearls, it's still a treat for bubble tea lovers everywhere.
The Pearl Thai Milk Tea and Coconut Top Thai Milk Tea are available at all Chatime stores (except Queensbay Mall, Penang) starting today, while stocks last. – September 14, 2015.
Please note that you must sign up with disqus.com before commenting. And, please refrain from comments of a racist, sexist, personal, vulgar or derogatory nature and note that comments can be edited, rewritten for clarity or to avoid questionable issues. As comments are moderated, they may not appear immediately or even on the same day you posted them. We also reserve the right to delete off-topic comments