Let's go, Coco!

Long before the milk and fruit tea craze came to Manila, it was something we'd enjoy daily at our office in HKG. There was this stall across AIA which served awesome teas and snacks, and not a week goes by without the creative team noshing on those for our afternoon snack.

That's how my fondness for tea drinks developed. (Vita Lemon Tea included!) That's also the reason behind my constant look out for new tea shops. Yes, my loyalty to SimpleLine and Chatime will always be there, but it's always good to scope out competition.

One such shop opened a few months ago inside Gateway Mall. It's a place called Coco, and looks like another Taiwanese chain.

At first glance, their menu isn't very impressive. They offer the usual suspects in the tea drink universe - pearl milk tea, choco milk tea, passion fruit green tea, and the like.

After almost giving it a pass, an item at the bottom part of the menu made me stop and order. It was a drink called Orange and Grapefruit Mountain tea.

(I feel like a giant in this shot.)

It's really, really good! The mountain tea flavor isn't as strong as the jasmine flavor of green tea, and the fruit combination gave it a pleasingly tart profile. The bonus is that they really use freshly squeezed orange! You could taste the pulp bits with every sip.

Sometimes it just takes one product to change your mind over a brand. And for Coco, this tea is definitely it.