Many of us love flocking to Bangkok to eat and shop. And it’s not surprising that the Thai tea trend had caught on in Singapore in recent years as well. Hmm, we always adore everything Thai, don’t we? ?
My favourite Thai tea brand in Bangkok is Cha Tra Mue a.k.a. ‘Number One Brand Tea’. It has been brewing up teas for more than 7 decades and has really established a name for itself.
Even if you don’t patronise an official Cha Tra Mue outlet, you will notice that many street vendors or eateries in the city would use the same brand of tea to concoct their drinks (can see the tea tins being displayed at their kiosks or stalls). They may be using the same kind of tea but the taste of the tea concoctions may not be on par though.
This particular outlet that I went to recently is located at the Flavour Food Court on the 7th floor of CentralWorld Bangkok.
And yes, it is just a beverage stall in the food court itself but it does sell its tea products too so if you’re here in the vicinity, you can easily come here for a tea and buy the blends and mixes back if you like.
Normally I will go for either Thai tea or Thai green tea (40 baht each) which will be served in a tall plastic cup like this.
When we spotted on the menu the option of adding tapioca pearls (+ additional 5 baht), we decided to go for it. Exactly just like bubble tea. In fact, I thought this was way better than KOI’s because the tea flavour was very aromatic and really stood out. The pearls were soft, slightly chewy but not sticky at all.
The Cha Tra Mue brand of tea may be an established name but honestly speaking, it is pretty similar to any other good Ceylon tea. The winning factor perhaps lies in the tea-making recipe. The person concocting the Thai tea will use this shot glass with line markings on it which determines the same portion of condensed milk, sugar and evaporated milk across all cups for consistency and quality control. And I guess it’s also the technique of brewing the tea too because there is always ample flavour of tea in every cup. Also, the drink is very well balanced and never saccharine sweet which is what I like most about it.
In Singapore, there are also three Cha Tra Mue outlets located at Far East Square, Tanjong Pagar MRT and Clifford Centre FoodFare. I tried the Thai tea from the Tanjong Pagar MRT outlet sometime ago as well as the one at AEON Tebrau City (pictured below) in Johor Bahru, Malaysia.
Just wasn’t wowed because something was missing somehow. It was either a tad too sweet or there wasn’t enough tea flavour. Perhaps the ones I had in Bangkok had already set the benchmark hence all these secondary ones just couldn’t live up to the same expectations.
Nonetheless, they were still delicious cups of Thai teas compared to other brands.
So if you’re heading to Bangkok soon, please do visit one of these Cha Tra Mue outlets for an absolutely legit Thai Tea.
And for those of you in Singapore, if you want to try your hands at making Thai Tea at home, you can buy the Cha Tra Mue brand of teas at the Thai Supermarket @ Golden Mile Complex.
Bought a tin of tea bags for S$5.50. Going to do some experimental tea brewing soon. And I will share the recipe with you all if I manage to nail it, haha. ?