19Tea Singapore: Korean Meringue Milk Tea & Soufflé Pancakes In Tampines

19Tea originally comes from Korea, with over 40 outlets serving Korean-inspired milk teas and soufflé pancakes. The meaning behind the name of the brand was to provide affordable milk tea for 1900won, which is approximately S$2.20.

Walking through Tampines Hub, I found the cafe amongst the many different retail and F&B tenants, and it was rather eye-catching with a brightly lit interior that is filled with photo-worthy corners.

To be bluntly honest, it was rather impractical to spend an afternoon at the café, as most of the seats are inconveniently placed and the tables were too low for comfort.    

The pastel pink and white walls give a candy-like and youthful look which brings out the vibrancy of the cafe.

I decided to try out the unusual milk teas on the menu, like the Injeolmi Milk Tea (S$3.90 for 500ml, S$4.90 for 700ml), Meringue Milk Tea (S$5.90), Jollypong Milk Tea (S$3.40 for 500ml, S$4.50 for 700ml).

As the Meringue Milk Tea (S$5.90) was being torched, there was an unpleasant burning smell that lingered around the café.

The visual of the toasted meringue covering the milk tea was stunning. According to the staff, you should have the toasted meringue separate from the milk tea if not the meringue will be diluted.

The meringue was browned to perfection, and had a good light taste to it. The combination was an interesting take on regular milk tea. It was foamy, not too sweet on the palate, and paired well with the milk tea.

The Jollypong Milk Tea was topped with jolly pong, a cereal-like snack from Korea. I was advised to mix in the jolly pong with the milk tea. Mixing the milk tea and jolly pong was interesting and familiar, somewhat like having cereal with milk.

To be precise, it tasted like a nutty cereal drink.

Before ordering the Injeolmi Milk Tea, I had expectations that the drink would have some pieces of Korean rice cakes, or more commonly known to most people as mochi.

To my dismay, after checking with the staff, they confirmed there was no mochi inside the drink.  Although the roasted nutty flavour was present which was reminiscing of Injeolmi, I couldn’t help but be discontented with it.

I would suggest them creating an ice-shaved Injeolmi Milk Tea, so that the mochi will add a chewy texture to the milk tea on top of the roasted nutty flavour.

Intrigued to try the soufflé pancakes, I ordered all three different types of soufflé pancakes, the Original Soufflé Pancake (S$3.90), Matcha Soufflé Pancake (S$4.20) as well as the Tiramisu Soufflé Pancake (S$4.20).

I started with the Original Soufflé Pancake.

The Original Soufflé Pancake came with a thick spread of milky, creamy layer that coated the entire pancake, and had a slice of strawberry that nested in the centre of the soufflé pancake.

The soufflé pancake was lightly sweetened, with a hint of tanginess when I bit into the strawberry. It was undercooked, which was slightly disappointing. If it was cooked to perfection, it would have won my heart.

The Matcha Soufflé Pancake, on the other hand, was my preferred soufflé pancake out of all of them. It was heavily drizzled with matcha powder and had a fluffy but substantial texture as compared to the Original Soufflé Pancake.   

If you are a matcha fanatic, you would probably know how matcha powder tastes like. With this dessert, the matcha powder used was aromatic, slightly astringent which balances out the sweetness from the soufflé pancake.

The milky aspect of the soufflé pancake complemented the matcha extremely well, and every bite left me wanting more.

Lastly, I tried the Tiramisu Soufflé Pancake. Similarly to the other soufflé pancakes, it had a piece of strawberry on the pancake, with cocoa powder sprinkled over the top of the pancake.

To my dismay, it was far from what I imagined it to have tasted like. The pancake tasted more like a dark chocolate soufflé pancake. If I had to give it the benefit of the doubt, it was decent but I will not consider this when I give them a visit next time.

19Tea Singapore definitely has the potential to stand out from the rest of the dessert shops, but definitely has room for improvement like the consistency of their soufflé pancakes. Do give them a chance and visit them at Tampines Hub!

Expected Damage: S$2.90 – S$20 per pax