With Moonleaf, Bubbatealicious and Serendipitea in Baguio; Let’s have Another Tea Off!

What did I say about tea based beverages being the ‘in’ drink now?  Three more tea refreshment offering brands opened in Baguio.  (“,) There’s Moonleaf (opened on 12/12/2012), BubbaTea Licious (no idea when they opened, just saw them recently =b) and My Serendipitea (in the state of a soft opening now).

Moonleaf

The Moonleaf store

I heard about this brand from my nephew, in that if he was going to open a tea store himself, it would be Moonleaf.  Race and I were doing some restaurant recon over at CJH Technohub one December evening when low and behold; we found out that they had just opened their branch here.  Walking through their doors, we were greeted by the staff.  We then proceeded to scan the menu for drinks.  It’s becoming our protocol that I get one of the fruit teas and Race gets one from the milk teas.  Lychee aloe was my choice and Race’s was the tiramisu milk tea.  How refreshing to have add ons that naturally came with the drink besides pearls.  The aloe vera pulp-like pieces were amusing to nibble on.  The tiramisu milk tea had a touch of tiramisu in it which Race appreciated.  No pearls or any kind of add ons for his drink but he didn’t mind.

The scene inside Moonleaf, the drinks, the snackables, loyal(tea) cards and budding Moonleaf drinkers. (“,)

With a doable list of drinks on their menu, it was going to be easy to try everything.  In our next visit, we got hakka milk tea for my brother, pudding milk tea for Race, and banana milk tea for me.  The pudding in Race’s drink was a bit dense…think somewhere between gelatin and nata de coco.  We had a hard time sipping it through the straw and when all the liquid was gone, there was still much left in the glass.  My banana tea had a strong banana flavor and as such, it also came with the bitter aftertaste.  Of the three, I liked my brother’s hakka milk tea best.  Whatever hakka is, the drink had a wonderful flavor; almost wintermelon-y.  If only it came with pearls, it would be the perfect choice for a tea-based beverage (toppling over my Zen Tea favorite…almost =D).

Drinks: 

Service:  The size of the lettering on their menu is sort of small and I couldn’t see it well.  (*heeharhar, signs of aging =b)  One of the Moonleaf attendants was quick to hand me a flyer menu.  You know who you are, I thank you.  (“,)

Ambiance:   Moonleaf has a nice, simple, modern looking store with lots of space (inside as well as out) for its customers to have a fine tea time hang out.

Price: 

Moonleaf

Space 1, Level 1, Cluster B (in the middle of Nail House and Pizza Volante)

Ayala Technohub

Camp John Hay

Baguio City, Philippines

facebook.com/pages/Moonleaf-Baguio-Technohub/305383909562213?ref=ts&fref=ts

Bubbatealicious

On the way to get my brother his Zen Tea fave, I saw a booth that serves tea-based beverages by the 4^th floor entrance to Porta Vaga.  If only to have three ‘contenders’ in this second Baguio tea off, I just had to try their drinks.  The opportunity came sooner than I thought when Race and I devoted a day/few hours to tea drinking with the opening of Serendipitea confirmed.  (Thank you Jo for giving me the heads up. (“,))

The booth, the menu, two from the beverage offering. =) …note the tiny pearls at the bottom of the glass.

The plan was to buy a drink or two from Bubbatealicious, drink it and then walk to Legarda for Serendipitea teas.  I got myself the wild berries fruit tea and Race got the royal milk tea.  By far, these teas are the cheapest of the lot, with large glasses going for less than P80.  All their drink offerings have pearls in it too, although, they’re relatively smaller than the pearls that other tea places have.  I enjoyed my choice of drink and Race was fine with his (nothing special about it to rave about and nothing to complain about it either =b).  We sat in the church grounds for a bit while eating the yummy mini donuts that we ordered from the booth next to Bubbatealicious.

Drinks: 

Service: 

Ambiance:   No choice to it, you have to get your drink to go.  There will always be the ‘long benches’ in front of Baguio Cathedral so you can finish your drink sitting. =)

Price: 

BubbatealiciousTea

4^th floor entrance

Porta Vaga

Baguio City, Philippines

facebook.com/pages/Bubbatealicious-Pearl-Milk-Tea-Place/193019510718715?fref=ts

Serendipitea

Having consumed our Bubbatealicious refreshments, we walked to Serendipitea.  We gave a thought to getting their drinks for takeout so we could eat dinner at Beggang.  The Serendipitea store is kind of a low key store and so it’s hard to spot.  If you’ve any trouble finding it, use the two-storey Mr. Ramyun store as a marker.  The store that is Serendipitea is across the street from it.

My Serendipiteas…emphasis on the S at the end =))

While their store lacks space, they made up for it with their beverage offering (“nakakalula”/it’s overwhelming *shyeew).  To make things easy, we got drinks from their top 10 list.  Race ordered up the dark chocolate with rock salt and cheese and I got the mango passion fruit tea with aloe pops.  Our attendant served Race’s drink without a cover saying, it’s going to be easier to taste the cheese that way.  He was right; I did get that cheesy flavor mixed in with the dark choco.  Beats Bonappetea’s version where I had the thought that they forgot to put the rock salt and cheese in.  *hihi

Mango passion fruit with aloe pops, dark choco with rock salt and cheese, the scene at Serendipitea and me. =D

As for my drink, it’s another winner for a hot day in the City of Pines.  The aloe pops in it had a nata-like consistency and were bigger than the aloe vera pulp used in Moonleaf.  While the flavor of the passion fruit was stronger than the mango (it sort of tasted like apple mango – the huge mangoes that are always yellow and the skin turns red when it ripens – with more sips), it was truly thirst quenching.  \m/

Drinks:  My drink had a strong tea aftertaste/sensation in the mouth after taking a sip.  It’s not so bad (like Jesse put it), but it bothered me for a millisecond after each sip. *hee

Service:  Friendly and accommodating manager and staff, they didn’t mind at all when I went camera happy in their store. (Love the lighting, sooo flattering) ^^, Thanks so much, guys!

Ambiance:  As it was mentioned above, the Serendipitea establishment is a bit small.  If it’s packed with UC students and other customers, you might have to get your drink to go.  Also, if you go on a tea drinking day like we did, know where the nearest comfort rooms are. *hee  (Eating at Beggang is put off for another day.  We were bursting with tea! =b)

Price: 

Serendipitea

Unit 10-A Holiday Villa Court (across the street from Mr. Ramyeon)

Legarda Road

Baguio City, Philippines

facebook.com/MySerendipiteaBaguio?fref=ts

422-2283

Location of Serendipitea, click to enlarge photo

X marks Moonleaf, Bubbatealicious, and My Serendipitea for good tea-based beverages in Baguio.

Baguio Tea Off Recap:

Zen Tea: 16

Guiltea Pleasures: 11 with my love and devotion for the attendant at the Diego Silang branch

Bon Appetea: 11 with treasure chests raked in mostly for ambiance…but what is ambiance if the beverages are… hhmmm. =S

Moonleaf: 17

Bubbatealicious: 12

My Serendipitea: 15

Spotlight(s) over Moonleaf ^^,

I guess my nephew was right on the nose, Moonleaf is number one (for us). Zen Tea comes at a close second and Serendipitea is third.  (Nice going, tea providers. Yey!)

How’s about trying all the tea establishments too?  How many treasure chests are you going to give each one?  Wishing you happy tea trails, friends! (“,)  (And now I’m thinking about the song, Wish Me Luck as You Wave Me Goodbye as sung by The History Boys. *hihi)

Flashforward to 2019, our latest tea off in years.