SPOT.ph Roadtest: What's With All The Hype for Tealive Philippines?

(SPOT.ph) It's 2022, and we're still not over the milk tea craze that hit us back in the 2010s. More than a decade in, new shops are still popping up all over the country. Both local chains and international brands are filling the market with options to quench our thirst for bubble tea. But hey, we're not complaining. Milk tea is a convenient snack-slash-drink. You just sip and chew without thinking, leaving your hands and eyes free to multitask. Walking around malls in the Metro, you'd see countless stalls selling these drinks, which is why when we first spotted Tealive while strolling at the busy SM North Edsa, we didn't think much about it until it started generating a buzz online. It was at that point we decided to see for ourselves what the hype was about.

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Here's what we think about Tealive Philippines:

From the outside

Walking past this shop, you'd get the impression that it takes up a massive amount of space in SM North Edsa's North Towers wing. It looks vast on the outside and seems quite spacious inside too. It also has bright LED signages that make it hard to miss. 

On several instances, we walked past this shop and noticed that there's almost always a decent number of people inside it. There would also be a couple of food delivery riders waiting. For a new shop, it has a good amount of people in it, and it looks promising.

From the inside

The moment you step closer, you realize its huge appearance is just an illusion. What you thought to be a vast and spacious shop turns out to be just medium-sized, something that could fit maybe 25 people—still, not bad considering the size of its neighbors and most other milk tea shops in the mall. 

The setup inside the store is simple. You have a long bench with plush purple (the shop's central color) upholstery on one side and several two to four-seater tables scattered around. A plus point for Tealive is that they have several power sockets available to charge your devices, useful in case you want to stay in the shop and finish some work.

Since the store sells hot food alongside their drinks, they have a dedicated kitchen area aside from the space for making the drinks. The whole order-taking, counter, and assembly setup remind us of how most coffee shops are laid out. 

Overall, nothing really fantastic or fancy about the interiors. Just an essential, simple, but functional space.

The Drinks

Okay, we'll be honest, we didn't go into this roadtest completely blind. Before heading to the shop, we did a quick search of the menu to know what was available and boy, were we shocked. Tealive has tons of drink choices. You have milk tea, frappes, fruit drinks, coffee-based drinks, chocolate drinks, and even matcha. There's such a wide variety to choose from. But for this road test, we decided to try three drinks. To test their execution of basics we got one Signature Pearl Milk Tea (P105/Regular, P120/Large, P120/Hot ); to get a taste of their bestseller, we ordered up the Aren Palm Sugar Milk with Black Diamond (P125/Regular, P140/Large, P140/Hot ); and for fun we tried the newest item on the menu we got the Chocnut Milktea Frappe with Black Diamond (P150/Regular, P165/Large).

In terms of taste, the drinks from Tealive are not that sweet, which we totally appreciate. Even at their normal sweetness and ice levels, the teas and frappes are balanced in flavor, neither being too sweet nor too bland. Refreshing and well-mixed, the drinks would be perfect for those looking to quench their thirst after long shopping errands; it also works as a palate cleanser after a meal. The Signature Pearl Milk Tea was the perfect example of this. And although a bit similar in overall taste to the Signature Pearl Milk Tea, the Aren Palm Sugar Milk Tea has an earthier and slightly richer taste that's still great for that post-shopping drink.

In terms of the sinkers, the pearls were firm but not undercooked. The Black Diamond is just a fancy-schmancy way of saying jelly. It's pretty plain, with no distinct flavor, just an interesting slimy texture (in a good way) that goes down well with every sip of the milk tea.

The Chocnut Milktea Frappe definitely tastes like our childhood-chocolate snack. When you take a sip, you'll undoubtedly get hit with that nostalgic, nutty, chocolatey sweetness. But it's not that sweet. There's enough ice (maybe even a tad too much) to make the frappe taste like milk tea and Chocnut without one overpowering the other.

The big disappointment for us was how the drinks were presented, especially the Aren Palm Sugar Milk with Black Diamond. Pictures on their site and social media clearly show streaks of the Palm Sugar separated and distinct from the milk tea, creating a striped pattern you can mix by flipping your cup upside down. Sadly, ours came all mixed, losing the signature Tealive drink aesthetic.

The Snacks

One thing separates Tealive from other Milk tea establishments is the fact that it also serves hot food. Don't expect a full meal here though, they just serve light snacks and sandwiches, or Toasteas as they are called. The Toasteas come in a variety of flavors that range from the basic Cheesy Egg (P120) to ones with more fix-ins like the Double Cheesy Burger & Egg (P215) variations. They're basically thick sandwiches filled with your choice of meat, cheese, egg, and lettuce topped with cheese sauce and mayo. It's a big bite and it'll definitely fill you up.  We had the Chicken Ham and Egg Toastea (P130) and managed to split it between two people because it was that big and packed. They're very similar to the Korean egg drop sandwiches that recently rose to fame, except with more ingredients.

Aside from the Toasteas, they also recently added some pasta to their menu. They have the Bacon Mac 'n Cheese (P170) and the Mac ala Bolognese (P160). We tried the Mac ala Bolognese and it was tasty but a tad dry. Still, it pairs well with the drinks and can be a good break in between bites of the rich Toastea.

The Final Verdict

All in all, we're a tad on the fence about this one. While we enjoyed the drinks and the snacks we had, there were some disappointments. It wasn't the "oh my gosh you HAVE to try this" experience we saw people on social media were having, but it wasn't that bad either. It was just okay. It's something that we won't go out of our way for. But hey, if we're hungry and thirsty after walking around a big mall all day, and it's there, we could see ourselves ordering from Tealive again.

See a list of Tealive branches online. Tealive SM North Edsa is at 2/F North Towers, SM North Edsa. For more information, visit Tealive Philippines' website.

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