Is BreadTalk’s New Bubble Tea Cafe Charlie Tea Worth A Visit?

Located at Takashimaya in Ngee Ann City, this chic 18-seat cafe’s interior draws inspiration from heritage tea houses while serving bubble tea and snacks.

Oolong tea topped with Charlie Tea’s signature ”Pink Cloud” made by blending cream cheese with beetroot powder to give its colour and then sprinkled with pink Himalayan salt. The oolong base itself is strong, earthy and not too sweet. As for the Pink Cloud, we could really only taste the cream cheese and no beetroot, a good thing, we suppose. The cheese adds creaminess and pops of saltiness to the tea. You can choose to add toppings like pearls, chia seeds, tea jelly, and fruit like chopped mango for an additional 50 to 60 cents each to all your drinks.

The Pop Tea Series features fruit teas that undergo a carbonation process through a soda machine to inject it with a fizzy zing. We tried the grapefruit version and the initial sip was slightly sour, but mainly because we were drinking from the top where the actual fruit sits. After a while, the grapefruit starts to blend nicely with the green tea base — becoming sweeter and more refreshing.

This purple drink is a blend of dragon fruit, green tea and cultured milk. Our drinks were delivered so when this got to us, the ice-blended drink had already melted so we didn’t get to have the proper experience of drinking it. Nevertheless, the dragon fruit taste is strong and refreshing with a hint of green tea. It’s sort of like an upgraded version of the regular fruit teas from stalls you’d find at kopitiams. Other Slushie+ varieties include mango, berry, pineapple and lemonade.

Warm milk tea with a green tea base and brown sugar pearls. We like that this had a stronger taste of tea than milk and that the pearls were delightfully chewy and soft, even after sitting out for a while. Comforting and tasty especially during these rainy days, our fave of the lot.

Think of this concoction as a dessert version of the Green Jade Pearl Milk Tea (minus the pearls), packed into jelly-based separate components. The soft, gooey green tea jelly is crowned with a layer of fresh milk. Fun to slurp up.

Aside from drinks, Charlie Tea also offers a wide selection of pastries including a medley of 12 different types of danishes baked with French flour. This sarnie is made with tuna, lettuce and tomatoes stuffed into the pastry. Despite turning slightly cold by the time it got to us via delivery, the pastry was still soft and flaky. We usually try to stray from eating anything with tuna in it, but this mayo and onion blended tuna was quite tasty.

This soft and pillowy pastry is filled with creamy chicken chunks made from a “secret recipe”. Compared to the other danishes that we’ve tried, the flavour profile for this was more muted. The chunks of chicken were soft, with other ingredients like corn and a hint of black pepper. Rather bland.

We would describe this as an upgraded version of BreadTalk’s classic hotdog bun. A German sausage is cocooned in the pastry that has a gouda-mozzarella mix and black pepper sauce. The sausage is tender and goes well with the salty cheese combo and buttery Danish. Not bad.

There’re also sweet danishes, including this petite number with custard cream cheese, topped with small mango bits, pistachio nuts and rose petals for an added touch. The pastry is soft and buttery — pairing nicely with the sweet mango, though we can barely taste the cream cheese. Still, quite yummy.

There are five cookies on the menu. This chunky disc is made with Cacao Barry’s dark chocolate and is gooey inside with bittersweet melted choc chips, cut with crunchy macadamia nuts and a touch of salt. Yummy, but it becomes slightly jelak after a while.

The drinks here can stand up to big bubble tea brands like Gong Cha and Koi, and they’re worth trying if you’re in town - mainly because Charlie Tea boasts seats and a decent variety of bready snacks.

Charlie Tea is at #B1-30 Takashimaya Shopping Centre, Ngee Ann City, 391 Orchard Rd, S238872. Open daily. 10am - 9pm. Tel: 6219-3962. www.facebook.com/CharlieTeaSg

Photos: Merrilyn Teng & Charlie Tea