To enjoy one Friday afternoon rush at the office, it was June of 2012 when my colleagues from work invited me to Heart Tea. I gave it a shot and it was my first time to try their popular milk and tea mixed beverages. We went to the i1 Building in Cebu IT Park and ordered our “healthtea” drinks.
Our first milk tea experience was at Heart Tea
When we arrived at the Heart Tea Booth, I was overwhelmed by the variety of refreshing tea drinks they are offering like the Calamansi Wintermelon and Coffee Konjac. There were Popping Yogurt or Popping Lychee for your add-on choices. These sound interesting but it’s sort of unfamiliar and new to me.
I asked my friend, Nami, to choose for me since I am confused about what to get. But she’s getting the Calamansi Wintermelon. Oh no! I won’t be getting that weird stuff, I said. So I asked the server for their all-time favorites. She mentioned, “Wintermelon with Tapioca.”
Wait, Tapioca? Are those small chewy balls—sago? Really interesting. I took her advice and ordered the big ones.
What I usually get from Starbucks nowadays is their Caramel Macchiato and their new Hojicha with Tea Jelly (most of the time, Japanese customers get this drink). But this time, I’m going to have a tea drink with sago. Now that would definitely taste even weirder and more unusual than I thought.
We waited for a while for our orders to be served. As I looked around and checked their menu, (“What the heck is Konjac?” suddenly came into my mind; I search the Internet and I found “devil’s tongue” and “voodoo’s lily”. Double wicked!) I saw the barista getting the mixer (same stuff used by bartenders but they’re using the plastic version) and manually preparing everything. From pouring the liquids to your cup, adding the tea and mixing everything.
What’s automatic there is only their cup sealer. Now that’s what I call awesome. Starbucks doesn’t have that!
The barista called our attention that our orders were ready. I had difficulty though in punching the straw (thank goodness Lanly helped how to do it right) and I took the first sip. It tasted like Starbucks’ Hojicha. Wow! This is nice, I said.
Less than an hour, I finished everything. I liked it. No. I liked it a lot! I will definitely be going back and order for another beverage soon. Coffee Konjac, perhaps?
I paid ₱75.00 for my tea (₱65.00 for the Wintermelon drink plus ₱10.00 for the Tapioca add-on). The question now is, “Is it really healthy like what they advertised?”
According to their Facebook page:
Heart Tea milk teas and juices are healthy tea-based beverages and natural fruit-flavored juices. Our products are full of health benefits and very refreshing, yet light on the stomach. We use only zero-trans fat milk for our milk teas. And all our products are made of quality, natural-based ingredients.
It helped me relieve my stress so probably I can somehow agree to that. Plus, they have these two beautiful ladies in the standee. Stress away!
Before I sipped everything down, I noticed that they have my name written on the cup. Scary! How did they get my name? I didn’t tell them my name. That’s impossible! Why? Oh, wait. I was wearing my company ID while we gave them our orders. Boohoo!
To know more about Heart Tea, check their Facebook Page. Their booth was used to be located between Krispy Kreme and Body & Sole Spa in i1 Building, Cebu IT Park.
In May 2013, they relocated to Skyrise 1 expanding their menu with not just milk teas, but with meals like Pasta, Beef Tenderloin Tips, Crispy Noodles, and more.
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We are uncertain about when did they stop operating, but upon checking their Facebook Page, it was last updated on February 17, 2014.
How about you? How was your Heart Tea adventures back in the days?
Note: This blog post was originally published first last June 30, 2012.
