Koi Cafe, bubble milk tea that's worth the wait...

There was a time when every 10 steps you walk there was a stall selling bubble tea. That was the bubble tea craze some years back when these stalls mushroom all over our island. As the craze dies, the stalls that were cashing in on the craze closed down as well.

When we went to Taipei in 2008 for holiday, 珍珠奶茶 (Bubble Milk Tea) was on my to-eat list. Its just so different there, the milk tea was so smooth and the bubbles were so Q. And the chain we frequent alot was 50嵐 as there was a stall near our hotel. We had a cup when we were going out and we had a cup when we were going back hotel. In fact, we drank more milk tea then plain water in Taiwan.

Then last year, we happen to chance upon this trendy place call Koi Cafe in Marine Parade selling Bubble Tea and you should see my excitement when I saw a small print that its by 50嵐. Although it was after the bubble tea craze, it had brought in the crowd with the same yummy bubble teas from Taiwan.

There are currently 5 Koi Cafes (that I know, namely Marine Parade, Ang Mo Kio, Chinatown, Bishan and Toa Payoh) in Singapore and they are all takeaway cafes. The cafes are plays the current popular Chinese Pop songs and the stalls are usually manned by young people. The menu are pretty extensive covering flavoured tea, milk tea, coffee and smoothies. You could also choose the sweetness of the tea. Our usually order is large Milk Green Tea with pearls at 25% sweetness and it cost $3.50. Their pearls also comes in 1 size and its smaller than the usual pearls you get with other bubble tea. But the chewiness is perfect (not too hard and not too soft). The milk tea is smooth as usual and its just the perfect drink for our hot humid weather. Whenever I'm at Marine Parade or Ang Mo Kio, I just had to have a cup to satisfy my bubble tea craving.

Below are the address of two outlets I usually frequent. As for the other 3 stalls, you would have to google for it.

Ang Mo Kio
Blk 704 Ang Mo Kio Avenue 8 #01-2545

S(560704)

Marine Parade
Blk 83 Marine Parade Central #01-562

S(440083)

Sidenote: I used two different iPhone photo apps for the above photos and they are both free. You should try them too, its pretty fun. The first photo I used the app call MoreNoel. What it does is it brightens and softens the photo and you can choose to add bubble or stars for the dreamy feel. The second photo I use this app is call Morelomo (by the same company). It gives your photo the "Lomo" effect. For more information about what Lomography is all about, read this and this.

So go out and have fun with your iPhone camera.