New Kid in Town : Presotea in Robinsons Magnolia
A few days ago, I posted something on my Instagram stories. It was a photo of a milktea which I recently tried and sadly wasn't too impressed by it. I shared my experience in 5 short lines and what I didn't expect was a sea of messages directed to me the next day. So basically, this particular milktea brand was said to be one of the best, if not the best, by a popular foodie influencer. With all due respect to that particular foodie influencer, me not liking the drink is not in any way his/her fault. Taste is, after all, very very subjective. Majority of the comments that I got were from fans of the said milk tea brand. Luckily, the comments were very kind and courteous and none of the scary, violent kind. A lot told me to consider trying it again and perhaps it's because I ordered the wrong drink or I must have drank it wrongly. I also got messages from fellow foodies whom I truly respect telling me that they actually agreed with me. That's how it goes, folks. We can never ever unanimously agree when it comes to food. What may be amazingly, mind-blowing, day-dream inducingly good for me may come out so-so for you and vice versa. In order to make the world a kinder place, let us just agree to disagree. Okay?
Okay.
So where was I? Oh yeah, milk tea.
It's pretty amazing though that the milk tea craze started about a decade ago and we're still all crazy about it till today. There were definitely more players now which I think is always a good thing. More options, more happiness for the consumers. However, my favorite still remained the same. For me, the original brand has been my benchmark on what a good milk tea should be. Even when I was based in the Lion City, my standards for a good milk tea has remained pretty high and not a lot of brands has made the cut. Now back in Manila, I recently discovered a new brand and this just might be the #2 that I was looking for.
I frequent Robinsons Magnolia as I find the mall to have the perfect environment/vibe for families with little kids in tow. Apart from the fact that it has an amazing changing/breastfeeding room, all our favorite brands are in there, they have a good selection of quality restaurants and the crowd consists of mostly students and families. It's not very crowded especially when we take the twins there during weekdays for their Gymboree play sessions. Earlier this year, I chanced upon a newly opened stall at the 2nd floor (right outside Toys R Us) that sells milk tea. Not that the mall has a lack of milk tea stores as there are already 2 existing and this one being the 3rd to open but sadly, the 1st 2 aren't really my favorites so I was happy to check out this one.
The name is Presotea and I then learned from fellow food bloggers that it's a brand from Taiwan. On my first visit, I got myself an Iced Genmaicha Tea which was so refreshing and light. Genmaicha is my favorite green tea as I love the roasted rice flavor. A few weeks after that, I got an invite to check the other drinks as well. Yay!
Paul and I got to Presotea right on time to have our little tea appreciation session. We found out that what makes Presotea different is how they pride themselves in being tea experts. The owners of Presotea actually has a tea plantation in Taiwan thus they grow most of their tea leaves and these are process in-house. Furthermore, they have their own R&D group which does non-stop research in order to create more products that will answer to the needs of the market.
Each cup is carefully crafted starting with their very own Teapresso -- this classy looking tea-brewing machine which looks so much like a coffee espresso machine. This suddenly brought back so much memories in being a Coffee Master for Starbucks Coffee where I had the privilege to know so much about coffee, the brewing techniques and how it grows from being cherries down to roasted beans. The same goes for Presotea's tea blends where a lot of research and attention is given to each flavor.
Speaking of tea flavors, we also got to taste a wide array blends from the classic green tea, oolong tea, pu'er tea to the modern fruit teas as well as their unique blends such as the Alishan Tea, Blueberry Tea with Aloe Vera and Paul's personal favorite -- the Passion Fruit Yakult drink which has zero tea in there.
No wonder they have a looooong list of drinks given the wide selection of tea blends available. I have yet to try more but for now my top picks are the PPJ (Pearls, Pudding, Jelly) Milk Tea (Php. 140 / Php. 150), the White Peach Tea Macchiato (Php. 115 /Php. 125) and the refreshing Apple Passion Yakult (Php. 100 / Php. 115).
One thing that I love about Presotea is how the sugar level is perfectly regulated. 30% really tasted like 30%, do you get what I mean? Price-wise, it may not be as cheap as the most popular cool brand but I can boldly say that you are getting quality drinks here. At the end of the day, we only have one body and I really believe that we have to be more discerning in what we drink and eat. Thus, quality products and drinks are really those that I would gladly patronize over time.
Now that the temperature is rising and is quickly going past 40 degrees celcius (ackkk!). A cup of milk tea or any fruit teas is always something that we're craving for. Argh. Writing this is making me crave for Presotea! Might be time to head back for another round of drinks.
*photos by Paul Ang
Presotea is located at the 2nd level, Robinsons Magnolia, Aurora Boulevard in Quezon City. They also have a branch at the food court area of SM Cherry Shaw. So happy that both branches are so accessible for me! Thank you Presotea! ♥
Okay.
So where was I? Oh yeah, milk tea.
It's pretty amazing though that the milk tea craze started about a decade ago and we're still all crazy about it till today. There were definitely more players now which I think is always a good thing. More options, more happiness for the consumers. However, my favorite still remained the same. For me, the original brand has been my benchmark on what a good milk tea should be. Even when I was based in the Lion City, my standards for a good milk tea has remained pretty high and not a lot of brands has made the cut. Now back in Manila, I recently discovered a new brand and this just might be the #2 that I was looking for.
I frequent Robinsons Magnolia as I find the mall to have the perfect environment/vibe for families with little kids in tow. Apart from the fact that it has an amazing changing/breastfeeding room, all our favorite brands are in there, they have a good selection of quality restaurants and the crowd consists of mostly students and families. It's not very crowded especially when we take the twins there during weekdays for their Gymboree play sessions. Earlier this year, I chanced upon a newly opened stall at the 2nd floor (right outside Toys R Us) that sells milk tea. Not that the mall has a lack of milk tea stores as there are already 2 existing and this one being the 3rd to open but sadly, the 1st 2 aren't really my favorites so I was happy to check out this one.
One thing that I love about Presotea is how the sugar level is perfectly regulated. 30% really tasted like 30%, do you get what I mean? Price-wise, it may not be as cheap as the most popular cool brand but I can boldly say that you are getting quality drinks here. At the end of the day, we only have one body and I really believe that we have to be more discerning in what we drink and eat. Thus, quality products and drinks are really those that I would gladly patronize over time.
*photos by Paul Ang
Presotea is located at the 2nd level, Robinsons Magnolia, Aurora Boulevard in Quezon City. They also have a branch at the food court area of SM Cherry Shaw. So happy that both branches are so accessible for me! Thank you Presotea! ♥
