MANILA, Philippines – We’re spilling the tea – popular Taiwanese tea room CHICHA San Chen (吃茶三千) has opened its first branch in Metro Manila! The internationally-renowned tea chain is now open at BSA Suites 103 Don C. Palanca Street, Legazpi Village, Makati City, from 11 am to 10 pm daily.

Taiwan’s award-winning boba shop opened to the public on February 15, serving its famous Global Favorites beverages and customized, freshly-brewed tea mixes using the brand’s exclusive and patented Lion Teapresso Machine. The special machine can create customized brew requests with six types of tea, using high-temperature pressing that extracts the essence from grained tea leaves in just a few seconds. Each cup of tea is freshly-brewed upon order; nothing is pre-made.

CHICHA San Chen Philippines’ managers were trained in Taiwan by the brand’s OG tea masters. The Philippine franchise uses only the highest quality tea leaves and ingredients from the brand’s homeland.

CHICHA offers a Mix-And-Match menu, where customers can first choose their tea base (P125) – green tea, osmanthus oolong tea, or high mountain pouchong tea. Next, the flavoring choice (P45) – honey, lemon juice, passion fruit, mango, special cream, mousse, or milk – and then toppings (P25) like bubble, konjac, taro ball, coconut jelly, or grass jelly.

There are also black tea bases available, like black tea, dong ding oolong tea, and cassia black tea (which only accommodate the honey, special cream, mousse, and milk flavorings).

The fourth step is choosing your sugar content, which can be either perfect (100%), light (50%), or no sugar. The last step is your ice level – normal ice, less ice, ice-free, or hot.

CHICHA’s Global Favorites menu include Bubble Milk Tea (P195); Milk with Brown Sugar Bubble (P220); Honey Osmanthus Oolong Tea (P170); Lemon Wonderland (P230); Dong Ding Oolong Tea Latte (P170); Taiwanese Fruit Tea (P230); and Cassia Black Tea with Mousse (P170). 

The Taro Series include Milk with Taro Ball and Taro Paste (P220); Bubble Milk Tea with Taro Paste (P220); Tea Latte with Taro Ball (P195); and Milk Tea with Taro Ball and Taro Paste (P220). 

CHICHA first started in 1998 with its concept flagship store in Taichung City, Taiwan. Since then, it has expanded to Australia, Vietnam, Canada, Russia, Indonesia, Taiwan, China, Singapore, Hong Kong, USA, Malaysia, Cambodia, and now, the Philippines. This year, the brand won the Superior Taste Award from the International Taste Institute in Brussels, Belgium. – Rappler.com