If I had to choose just one type of drink to have for the rest of my life, it would be bubble tea. Okay, perhaps that was just a little exaggeration but you get the gist.
I love my milk tea to death, and I’m appealing to all my fellow tea-loving, boba-chewing counterparts out there.
It’s impossible to miss Wawa Chacha if you travel to Plaza Singapura via Dhoby Ghaut MRT station; it’s literally in your face when you tap out of the North-East Line gantry.
With a minimalistic get up and aesthetic menu, I had to try it out for myself to see if their drinks really tasted as good as they looked.
To get a good gauge of their standards, I decided to order a variety of drinks ranging from milky, fruity to yoghurt-based. For the sake of consistency, I also chose 50% for my sugar level for all drinks. Here’s what I thought about Wawa Chacha.
Of course, the fundamental way of measuring how good a bubble tea place is to order none other than the basics: pearl milk tea.
This was the Classic Milk Tea with Black Pearls ($4) which was a little expensive compared to other bubble tea joints. I don’t like my milk teas to be excessively sweet, so it was a pleasant surprise that the sweetness at 50% wasn’t overpowering, and gave just enough depth for the tea to speak for itself.
The milk-to-tea ratio was just right too, and I found myself going back to this particular cup even after having a taste of the rest.
The Lemon Butterflypea Milk Tea ($4.20) was the one that I was the most excited to try because it seemed to me like the most interesting flavour on the menu, plus look at that beautiful shade of blue!
After mixing it up, I went in for a taste and was left a little disappointed. The lemon flavours were refreshing, but I could hardly pick out any trace of milk tea. It tasted more like yoghurt than tea; not the taste I was hoping for.
Next up was the Kiwi Green Tea Macchiato ($4.60) and I was pretty sceptical at first seeing how you don’t usually find kiwi in beverages. It was surprisingly refreshing and light despite the creamy macchiato foam, and is something that I would actually order if I were looking for a fruity cool-me-down.
Also if you’re old enough to know what Gobstoppers are, I would go so far as to say that this actually tastes like them in liquid form, giving me a huge throwback to my childhood days.
I had a go at the Honey Roselle Tea with Boba ($5) and liked it immediately. The roselle was fragrant without being overpowering and the honey elevated the drink on a whole by giving it a sweetness that was just right.
The Boba Toppings ($0.80) were just yoghurt pops though. I also found that the best way to enjoy this beverage was to sip it through the tiny hole at the top so that the milk hits you before the tea does, balancing out the flavours in your mouth.
However, be sure to drink it fast because it gets watered down and hence loses its flavour really quickly.
The Mixed Fruit Passion Tea ($5.80) is supposedly one of their signatures, and I definitely had to check it out. I also added Nata De Coco ($0.70) toppings which racked up a shocking $6.50 for this drink.
If a drink is going to cost me as much as a meal would, it better take me on a hell of a ride. So did it? All i can say is, meh. The passionfruit tea and Nata De Coco combination was good as expected, but other than that there wasn’t any wow factor about the drink.
Your money could be better spent on having two other drinks instead.
I was curious as to what the Black Diamond Milk Tea ($4.80) consisted of, but turns out the “Black Diamond” was just jelly that had the texture of white pearls.
The staff at Wawa Chacha explained that it was supposed to be black sugar milk tea with jelly so I had high hopes because I love black sugar in milk, but I wasn’t a fan of this. The initial taste was extremely sweet, and the aftertaste of the black sugar was a little strange to me.
To end my bubble tea adventure, I had the Kumquat Blueberry Tea with Cold Crystal ($5.30). Essentially, the Cold Crystal ($0.70) was just white pearls, even though they too, have White Pearls ($0.50) on their menu.
I tasted the kumquat first, followed by the blueberry. As I had expected, the combination of the two fruits was questionable, and the blueberry’s aftertaste gave the drink an almost medicinal flavour. Needless to say, it wasn’t something that I would go back for.
While I had mixed feelings across the drinks, I must commend the staff at Wawa Chacha for their sincerity in helping me to pick out the best toppings to go with each drink, and the lady who served me was helpful and patient despite having to deal with my large order of seven drinks.
The Classic Milk Tea with Black Pearls, Kiwi Green Tea Macchiato and Honey Roselle Tea with Boba were my top three flavours of the day.
I’ll definitely be back to try out the other drinks on the menu, and I wonder if any will make it to my Wawa Chacha leaderboard?
Expected Damage: $3.50 – $7.20 per pax
