TacoCat's TrEats #92: Coy for Koi 🥛
Hey Hive!
I thought I'd do something a little different today and write about some takeaway places! Or specifically, bubble tea shops! Bubble tea is a huge thing here in Singapore, with many different chains and smaller businesses all specialising in their own versions of bubble tea. I think the famous ones here that most people would know of are KOI, LiHo, R&B Tea and Tiger Sugar.
I remember when the lockdown was first announced and when people found out it would mean the closure of bubble tea shops, many Singaporeans actually went out to queue a day ahead of the lockdown for one last cup of bubble tea! It also sparked the inspiration many people to create their own versions of bubble tea at home! How ingenious.
Source: Miss Tam Chiak
Now I'm not really a huge bubble tea fan; I don't think I've actually bought my own cup of bubble tea before because it's got so much sugar and is actually pretty unhealthy. But Sean likes it a lot so we often share a cup together, and it's alright, but that's enough for me.
Anyway, one of the first cups of bubble tea that he ever bought for me was from KOI! Specifically, it was a milk tea with ice cream on top! And since our rental place had a KOI nearby he decided to get one since it's been a while.
So back then, our rental place was near the city and the nearest mall was called Plaza Singapura. They had a small KOI Express outside just along the road so we stopped there on the way back for a cup of KOI.
The shop itself is quite small, since it's an Express store so it only does takeaways. But the interior actually looked quite nice and modern, especially with the dark grey-green walls with gold trim.
Here's their menu, which includes different types of bubble tea like fruit tea, macchiatos, juice and the standard milk teas.
I don't think we've tried many items from their menu because KOI tends to be quite pricey compared to the other brands available here, but we just went with the standard milk tea as a base comparison.
I thought these icons looked pretty cute
Anyway, a couple minutes later, we got our order!
It actually tasted really good! Especially with the heat in Singapore at the time. Tbh I don't really have much of a comparison to make since I don't drink bubble tea all that often. But it was pretty nice regardless. It wasn't too sweet since we ordered 50% sugar, but I limited my intake nonetheless.
Plaza Singapura actually has another KOI store in the mall itself that looks way classier! It's also a small shop designed for takeaways only but the interior looks nicer and more fitting for a mall I guess.
I remember my first time drinking bubble tea I was a little surprised at the pearls and it took some getting used to. To this day I always struggle to get the right ratio of bubble tea to pearl for every gulp. But I guess that's part of the charm of bubble tea right.? 😆
Do you guys like bubble tea? Which brand is your favourite? Let me know!
Thanks so much for reading!
To find out more about me, check out my intro post here!
