Greenhills is often my go-to spot for food, especially on weekends when I'm lazy to drive far. It's a familiar space to me with everything I need to keep me busy— from restaurants to specialty stores, coffee shops, tiangge stalls and more. And the best part is that everything is interconnected for your convenience. All you need to do is figure out your way around, and you're good to go!
One example is the bridge-way that connects Greenhills Promenade and Virra Mall. You can find several tech shops before getting to the tiangge full of even more phone accessories and parts, but if you stop for a moment, you will find this gem of a milk tea shop called Tea Bubble House.
Just like many of the milk tea shops here in the Philippines, Tea Bubble House offers a seating area for groups, and even a bar top area where you can watch them prepare your tea. Situated away from the chaos of the tiangge stalls, Tea Bubble House can be akin to an oasis. Their line of drinks keep you cool from the Manila heat, quench your thirst, give you that much-needed sugar boost, or can even be a pick-me-up before going back to your errands.
The name Tea Bubble House is a direct translation of 茶丸家, read as Cha Wan Jia— its original Chinese name in Taiwan. Although this tea shop's first branch in the Philippines is located in the lively Greenhills Mall, it actually has more than 700 branches across the world, though a large amount of them can be found in Malaysia.
Although it is not as conspicuous and loud in their marketing campaign like other shops, their edge lies in their crafted teas that are not too sweet, more tea-tasting and authentic compared to the one bombed with sugar and milk. The result is a more authentic tea flavor— either very earthy or flowery, depending on your preference.
That's not all. Their tapioca pearls are on a league of their own too. With ingredients sourced from Taiwan, the milk tea capital, all of their tapioca pearls are made with cassava starch to give it a springy chew and a pleasant mouthfeel. Each component that goes in your drink is carefully crafted in-store with choice ingredients from Taiwan. Their goal is to taste just like the original!
Aside from their use of tea leaves, the flavors that go in their drinks come from two things: purees or syrups. The purees are made with fresh fruit from the country, such as mangoes, while their syrups feature exotic flavors like passionfruit.
And speaking of exotic, their trump card in the milk tea playing field is in their special Dragonfruit Tapioca: pink pearls made with a mix of dragonfruit and get this... cactus fruit! Similar to the flesh of Aloe Vera, cactus is responsible for the flavor of this wildcard of a pearl.
Tea Bubble House features a total of 30 drinks in their menu. From classic fruit teas to milk teas, brewed teas and more, you'll never get bored.
During my visit there with fellow foodies one bright Saturday morning, we were given the chance to sample all thirty drinks! Talk about sugar overload (not that I was complaining).
Rainbow Pearl Milk Tea
These teas feature multi-colored pearls made from dragonfruit and other different flavors, which they pair with milk. My favorites include the classic Wintermelon Fruit Tea— a drink made with traditional Chinese Melon that is caramelized to give it a light caramel flavor. Being a fan of this Asian caramel drink, it made sense to include this in my roster of favorites.
Next up is their brewed bubble tea: the Japanese Brew Bubble Tea. Growing up in a family of tea drinkers, one of my challenges was finding a brewed tea drink that didn't include those sweeteners and syrups. Call it a break from all the sugar, but I really wanted something simple once in a while. Tea Bubble House's version did not disappoint. Their hot tea drink (though you can also have it cold) features earthy, somewhat leafy flavors coupled with some brightly colored pearls to chew on. The teabag that came along with the drink was much appreciated— I could always reuse it for another round of tea if I want to.
Milky Shake Series
For kids, or just about anyone who wants something milky once in a while, their milky shake series is your best bet. This series does not include any tea in them at all— just good ol' fashioned milk paired with your choice of fruits. Everything is mixed together, and while you get a mix of pearls and chunks in every sip, the overall experience can be compared to drinking flavored milk, albeit a more natural version compared to the processed packs in supermarkets.
My favorite had to be a toss between the milky Mango and milky Peach. Maybe it's the sweet fruit and creamy combination that I appreciate in both drinks, or my bias to the two fruits that's talking, but the way the light milk blends together with the refreshing chunks of fruit and the springy pearls that get into the mix? Absolute heaven.
Refreshing Fruit Tea
These fruit teas combine light green tea flavors with either puree or syrup, depending on the flavor you choose. But what makes these drinks different from the other tea chains is that theirs includes chunks of fruits that you can chew on (also a sign that they use natural ingredients here)!
My favorite had to be the Lychee Lemon Fruit Tea (the pale outlier in the photo), which features a good balance of sweet and sour. Think lemonade mixed with sweet lychee, coupled with the famous dragonfruit pearls, and that's what makes up this refreshing drink. But if you're a sweet tooth such as myself, the Golden Mango Jasmine Fruit Tea is what I would recommend for you. The jasmine tea adds a floral note that blends well with the fruitiness of the mango, resulting in a light sweet drink— perfect for a hot day.
Crystal Iced Tea
Perhaps a drink choice that tea aficionados will enjoy, this series features stronger tea flavors coupled with clear jelly sinkers. It's a very oriental drink that I appreciate since it reminds me of the stuff I would commonly eat and drink in Hong Kong— just like their Osmanthus Crystal Iced Tea. A flowery drink made with tiny orange buds, it was a light drink that was barely sweet, save for the mix of chewy osmanthus jelly and pearls that you get in every sip.
Rainbow Specialty
The bestsellers of Tea Bubble House. This wildcard of a category features both classic and unique flavors— an example of the former being their Matcha Green Tea, a japanese concept featuring earthy green tea paired with milk in a gradient layer. If we're talking tea, their Fresh Brew Oolong Tea is also a definite must-have. It's a creamier version of milk tea since they use cream instead of milk. Think of it as a not-so-sweet, not salty variant of the Cream Cheese drinks that other shops offer.
And for the more adventurous foodies, try out the Pumpkin Red Bean Oolong Tea. It's a wild flavor that you can only find here. My first impression was that it would either be like drinking Pumpkin Spice, but it was surprisingly different. The pumpkin gave it a creamy taste, and the azuki red beans came loaded with sweet, nutty taste belied with a mealty, somewhat chunky mouthfeel.
Rainbow Fruit Dirty Tea
You may have heard of Dirty Chai (chai tea plus espresso) or Dirty Milk, which is a quirky name for milk plus brown sugar pearls, but the name Dirty Tea (dirtea?) actually comes from its messy, almost marbled appearance. The wild sister of the Milky Shake series, these drinks feature a mix of blended, icy milk and fruit puree. It reminded me of a deconstructed, milky smoothie where you get occasional bursts of fruity sweetness, tempered down by the rich creamy taste of the milk. By default, the Mango Dirty Tea was my favorite, and yes, I admit it's because of my bias for mango.
Bonus Recommendations
I loved these drinks so much that I called dibs on them before anyone else could. Made with butterfly pea, the Lemon Bubble Tea is a delightful color-changing drink that shifts from blue to purple when you add in citrus— this case being lemon. The resulting taste is like lemonade: sour and refreshing. Another one would have to be the Lemongrass Four Season Tea, a sweet fruity tea that features mango and other fruits in the mix. It's a unique flavor that I have yet to see in other milk tea joints, and I do appreciate the splash of tea to tone things down.
Disclaimer: I did not finish all 30 drinks single-handedly. That would have resulted in multiple bathroom breaks or even an early onset of diabetes. In order to get a clear picture on each flavor profile, we took sips from each one. Whichever ones we enjoyed were the ones we brought back (and eventually polished off!).
Thank you @alwaysthefunnygirl for the invite!
Tea Bubble House is located at 2/F, VMall Bridgeway, Greenhills Shopping Center, San Juan City, and is open daily from 10AM to 9PM. For inquiries and deliveries, you can reach them at +63 2 2562314 or + 63 917 3007932. Check out their Instagram to know more.
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