Are LiHo Teas As Good As Gong Cha’s? And Are Its Cheese Teas As Strange As They Sound?
See you later Gong Cha, how’re you doing, LiHo? The latter is a new bubble tea chain by the Taiwanese brand’s Singapore franchise parent company. We sample its offerings — including cheese foam tea — and deliver our verdict.
Backstory: You’ve probably seen photos of the beer-like, foamy beverage floating around on social media lately. And you might have thought: “Cheese tea, ew. But nice or not?” Cheese teas are concoctions that include milk teas or fruit smoothies topped with a layer of creamy cheese foam. This bizarre-sounding drink, which first originated in China a few years ago and is wildly popular there and in countries like Malaysia, has finally made it to Singapore via LiHo.
The menu: LiHo’s menu is slightly smaller than Gong Cha’s, but good news: Gong Cha classic mainstays like Pearl Milk Tea and Earl Grey Milk Tea with toppings like white pearls, ai yu jelly and custard pudding are still available. LiHo, the name taken from a friendly Hokkien greeting which means “How are you?”, also has a Chinese name that sounds similar to “drink immediately” in Mandarin. After all, it offers drinks capped with cheese foam that you should, um, down immediately.
Cheese Yam Smoothie
There are three ways to drink this: remove the cup’s plastic lid to slurp it and get a white ‘moustache', or sip the foam daintily from a tiny opening on the lid. You could also poke a straw through the lid to get to the smoothie and custard first. If you’re a cheese foam virgin, we recommend sipping it through the lid’s small opening first. This allows you to get used to the foam’s sweet-savoury taste — it's like an extremely airy, salty whipped cream cheese with notes of mature cheddar. Drink it pronto so the foam doesn’t go flat.
We also like the yam-scented milkshake-like smoothie beneath with pillowy custard chunks, even though it quickly became like a too-rich liquefied cheesecake when paired with the briny foam. Quite jelak after a while, so go with a lighter base like tea (see below) instead of a smoothie.
Milk Tea With Pearls
Classic Milk Tea with Pearls, from $3.30 a cup
We love Gong Cha’s milk tea for its robust, good quality leaves. LiHo’s version is a lot milkier, lightly accentuated with whiffs of black tea and equally smooth, chewy tapioca pearls. It’s great for people who adore their bubble tea super creamy (similar to Koi’s version). But if you prefer your milk tea more balanced, you may be slightly disappointed with this.
Earl Grey Milk Tea with 3M Toppings
Earl Grey Milk Tea with 3M Toppings, from $4.20 a cup
LiHo’s ‘3M’ toppings include pearls, grass jelly and custard pudding. The earl grey’s perfume in this is distinctive, though the milk jostles for our taste buds’ attention. Meanwhile, the wobbly custard pudding in this is great, but the grass jelly is softer than Gong Cha’s (we prefer the latter’s firmer texture).
Fresh Lemon Juice & Aloe Cube
Fresh Lemon Juice & Aloe Cube, from $3.50 a cup
Not a fan of cheese, milk, or even tea? There are eight types of citrusy beverages here too, and three offerings with Vitagen (from $3.60 a cup). This Lemon Juice with crunchy aloe bits tastes like a crisp lemonade that’s not too sweet. Refreshing, if a bit boring.
Bottom line: Surprise, surprise, the cheese tea here is fun to drink and even quite yummy. It's a bit like having a bite of creamy cheese tart chased down with a sip of tea. But are LiHo’s other offerings as tasty as Gong Cha’s? The jury’s still out on this. We don’t like the brand’s tackier packaging, but we kinda enjoyed its lighter-tasting, creamier milk teas which are similar to Koi's, though folks who love Gong Cha's more potent brews may disagree.
LiHo, 22 outlets including #03-29/30 Bugis+, 201 Victoria St, S188067. Tel: 6273-7633. www.facebook.com/pg/lihosg