Pinkies up, it's tea time!

MANILA, Philippines - The latest beverage trend has been brewing for over 5,000 years. It used to be the drink of choice of only the Queen of England and her people, but it’s become downright difficult to ignore the growing fascination with tea among Manila folk. Call it a mere compulsion to get with the program, or a genuine desire for a healthier alternative — either way, it’s clear that the current is drifting towards previously unexplored territory.

Bubbling-up bubble tea

For former King Eagle and current television host Chris Tiu, it was a love for bubble tea that led to joining the Gaisano family and their partners in bringing Hong Kong’s Happy Lemon brand to local shores. “In Vancouver, Canada, the tea places are really packed. Here, it’s always been about coffee, so we think that there’s room for Filipinos to learn to appreciate tea,” he shares.

“We knew there was a risk coming into it, but we also knew that there was an under-served market,” adds Happy Lemon chairman Kelvin Gaisano.

Moonleaf Tea Shop was introduced by Adrian Adriano, who was a student in Taiwan when he noticed just how prolific the tea industry was in Taipei. Long gone were the days of the pearl drinks that contained artificial flavoring and artificial powder — today’s specialty teas are all-natural and brewed fresh before they are served.

“There is a huge difference,” says Reagan Tan, CEO of Bubble Tea.

“Years back, there was a health craze where the benefits of tea were touted,” recalls Thysz Estrada, marketing head for Moonleaf. “But Filipinos never really caught on the whole ‘brew it yourself’ thing. And then bubble tea came.”

Tea-off

Along with the renaissance of one of the world’s most-consumed beverages (second only to good old H2O) came experimental blends that were tea-based. “Bubble tea is simply milk tea with pearls, shaken to frothy perfection,” Thysz explains. These use tea notes such as jasmine, assam and oolong as their bases. “We also just added another flavor to our menu called Yocca, a yogurt drink.”

Reagan counts strawberry, taro and honeydew as the fastest flavors from the Bubble Tea Milk Tea line, while Tea.ology will be adding new flavors like jasmine tea sangria and roasted corn milk tea to their already-extensive list of offerings.

Serenity by Serenitea: Brewing good vibes one cup at a time.

Besides bubble tea, yogurt-infused variants have become staples in tea stores — one of Chris Tiu’s personal favorites is Happy Lemon’s lemon yogurt with aloe. “It depends on my mood, but if I want to perk myself up a bit, I like the cocoa milk tea with puff cream and the milk tea with crispy cocoa. And If I’m not too full yet and I want something filling, I’d go for the rock salt cheese green tea.”

Fruit blends have gained ground as well — Serenitea’s Peter Chen includes grapefruit black, grapefruit Yakult, passionfruit and green apple from their Serenifuit line in the best-selling list.

At the moment, Serenitea is the sole tea store that has ventured with one alcohol-infused variant: the Green Tea Blast, which is mixed with beer.

A tea trend?

“No, it’s definitely not just a fad,” Chris opines. “People are starting to appreciate tea for its nutritional value. Now, of course, they’re more health-conscious, so I can definitely understand if in the next few years the shift to tea-based drinks would be more drastic. That’s how we see the market picking up — a lot of Filipinos are really getting into it.”

Sheryll Sobremonte, one of the owners of Tea.ology, says, “People have been increasingly inclined to look for healthy yet delicious products, and specialty teas are able to meet these needs.”

With the industry picking up steam, consumers have ceased overlooking the benefits of drinking tea and begun expressing interest in coffee and soda’s more health-friendly alternative. While tea may potentially be pitted against coffee in the future, Reagan believes that they are not competitors. “Consumers don’t need to choose between the two,” Reagan explains. “They can take coffee at certain times of the day and tea at other times, which is what we observe from our clients.”

For something that has been in existence for centuries, it sure took us a while to warm up to the brew — but the steady, albeit leisurely evolution of the market might just allow the tea industry to one day reign supreme.

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Happy Lemon is located on 1/F Greenhills Promenade, soon opening in Eastwood and Powerplant Mall; Moonleaf Tea Shop in U.P. Village; Bubble Tea in Tomas Morato, Wilson, Megamall, and SM North Edsa; Serenitea in San Juan, Alabang, Robinsons Manila, & BF Homes; Tea.ology in Tomas Morato and Mercato Centrale, and soon opening in Katipunan.