(SPOT.ph) As milk tea swept Manila by storm over the past years, many tea shops serving the beverage have become mainstays in the Metro. While most of them primarily serve milk tea, there are some places like YiFang Taiwan Fruit Tea that put a prime on fresh fruit teas apart from serving the ubiquitous drink.
The tea chain, which originates from Taiwan, has quite an interesting origin story. The name YiFang is apparently the nickname of the founder's grandmother who reportedly braised overripe pineapples to make fruit jam. She would then use it to prepare fresh pineapple juice for her husband, a farmer who would spend days working at a pineapple farm. The tea franchise takes after the example of YiFang, with the use of all-natural ingredients, fresh fruits, and freshly brewed tea for their drinks.
The tea chain arrived in Philippine shores in 2017, with their first store located at Ayala Malls The 30th in Pasig. They have 26 branches in Metro Manila to date. As of August, they have 171 branches around the world with more stores to open in the latter part of 2020.
As YiFang has an extensive menu to choose from—the fruit-tea section alone is a long list!—it helps to know which among them are the crowd favorites. Below are YiFang's top bestsellers in the Philippines, so you know what to try the next time you order.
Note: This list is not ranked.
Of course, we start off the list with YiFang's Signature Fruit Tea (P120/medium, P140/large). It's a refreshing mix of fresh fruits and fruit compote, specifically pineapple, passionfruit, orange, lemon, and apples with mountain tea as its base. This fruit-heavy beverage makes us think of summer days hanging by the beach with a book in hand.
Brown-sugar drinks are usually a mix of fresh milk, brown-sugar syrup, and pearls that are cooked in brown-sugar syrup, but most milk-tea shops offer this variation with tea. YiFang's Brown Sugar Pearl Tea Latte (P120/medium, P140/large) does not disappoint with its sweetness and chewy pearls—a good break from your usual milk tea.
If you're after a brown-sugar drink but would rather skip the tea, YiFang also has a caffeine-free version in the form of their Brown Sugar Pearl Milk (P120/medium, P140/large). Its overall milkiness goes well with the ultra-chewy sweet pearls too!
Taro fans are in for a treat with YiFang's Fresh Taro Milk with White Pearl (P140/medium, P170/large), which brings real mashed taro together with fresh milk and white pearls. You can expect a play of textures in this drink, thanks to the taro's distinctive thick consistency and the small white pearls used as topping.
Classic black tea gets a salty-cheesy cream foam topper for an extra indulgent drink in YiFang's Salty Cream Black Tea (P110/medium, P130/large). This beverage offers a more robust tea flavor compared to your regular milk tea but balances its strong flavor with the velvety cream foam topping.
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The Aiyu Lemon Green Tea (P115/medium, P130/large) is made for green-tea lovers. It combines green tea and real lemon extract, and comes with aiyu jelly, or green tea and fig fruit jelly. Fun fact: Aiyu jelly is a popular Taiwanese dessert popular especially during summer.
Sweet meets creamy in YiFang's Wintermelon Milk (P100/medium, P115/large), a milky take on the popular wintermelon. While the drink already has fresh milk in the mix, you can amp up the creaminess by adding Salty Cream topping for a richer beverage.
YiFang has another interesting twist to the famous wintermelon variant. The Wintermelon Lemonade (P95/medium, P110/large) brings together the sweet and tangy mix of wintermelon and real lemon extract in a smooth, refreshing drink. Pro tip: YiFang suggests adding Aiyu Jelly as an add-on for this beverage!
YiFang's concoction that feature the sweetened probiotic drink has a lot going on —but in a good way. As the name Yakult Pineapple Green Tea (P120/medium, P140/large) implies, this beverage has pineapple compote, green tea, and Yakult for an explosion of flavors in every sip. It's a great choice for people who want a little bit of everything in one go.
Those who love passionfruit will love YiFang's Passionfruit Green Tea (P110/medium, P125/large). It has real passionfruit compote in a green-tea base, for a taste that's earthy, tart, and sweet, all at the same time. The seeds also add a much-welcome crunch!
See a list of YiFang Fruit Tea branches.
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