#BrightenYourMood With Cha Tuk Chak

It’s the 174th day of quarantine period in our region and I’m ecstatic to tell you that finally, I was able to visit Manila even in a short time since we needed to go back home within 24 hours. But in this short period, I grabbed the opportunity to buy not just one, not two, not five, but ten drinks, comprising of milk teas, milk drinks and lemonades, from Cha Tuk Chak!

The milk tea industry in the country is emerging with most of the known brands coming from Taiwan, Macau and Hong Kong. But being the brand that offers homegrown milk teas of Thailand, Cha Tuk Chak is one of the milk tea shops that stood out and created a name.

I’m sorry that I have to hoard, bring home and stock up as many milk teas as I can. There’s no Cha Tuk Chak in our province. I just got the feeling that I have to share the authentic taste of Thailand tea and dessert to my fellows. 

Signature Milk Tea with Black and Honey Pearls

One thing is noticeable about Cha Tuk Chak milk teas – creaminess. Drinks are so creamy as if they’re blended with full cream milk. It made itself distinct through the addition of honey pearls, which is actually no different from black pearls. The pearls are perfectly chewy though. I also asked to add brown sugar jelly and it’s similar to Infinitea’s.

Nom Yen

If there’s a milk tea brand that should have the most knowledge on Thai milk drinks, it must be Cha Tuk Chak. This Thai tea and dessert cafe doesn’t only offer the usual Thai milk tea. They also have Nom Yen, Koko Yen, Cha Khiao in store. My attraction to pink milk led me into buying Nom Yen. It’s refreshing and sweet. It’s so good even after all the ice were melted.

Black Fire Tiger

Sadly, I wasn’t able to capture the real beauty of Black Fire Tiger because we had it for delivery. But the taste was consistent and quite different from other brown sugar milk teas I’ve tried. Usually, brown sugar milk teas get their flavor from the syrup at the side of the cup. In Cha Tuk Chak, the magic comes from the cream and burnt sugar on top.

Royal Thai Tiger

The burnt sugar is, of course, the best and most addicting part. It has this sweet crunch that complemented the cream. I always choose classic milk tea for this kind of drink. I just knew that this brown sugar thingy also goes well with Thai milk tea. The Thai flavor is authentic and surprisingly much different from the Thai flavor I used to know.

Ube Cheesecake Milk Tea

Cheesecake in milk tea alone is already incredible. But to upgrade and to add purple yam jam to those swirls on the side of the cup is heavenly. I truly admire the idea of this combination. For the base, they opted for a classic milk tea, which I find bland, perhaps, to give way to the sweetness of cheesecake and yam. 

Choco Ichigo Cheesecake

Cha Tuk Chak is one of the shops that started the trend of Meiji’s Apollo-inspired drinks. Visually, it didn’t get the Choco Ichigo vibe because of the mild pink color of the cheesecake. Tasting it made me understand that they use natural berries for it, hence the color. That’s actually good though. The chocolate milk isn’t hard to love as it stays rich and indulgent.

White Rabbit Sea Salt

As far as I remember from my childhood, White Rabbit is simply a sweetened milk candy so basically, the drink is just like a creamier version of Hokkaido milk tea. I can’t see anything fancy on the base milk tea so it’s a good thing that they added sea salt cream, which balances the sweetness. However, it’s so milky that I can’t find the aroma of the tea.

Matcha Milk Tea Sea Salt

Cha Tuk Chak’s matcha has a strong green tea flavor. There’s milk but the matcha flavor is overpowering. I actually like strong Matcha drinks but there’s a strange bitterness on this one. I would probably like it if they add some sweetness to it. Their sea salt cream isn’t that salty but it’s still an effective balancer.

Blueberry Yuzu Lemonade

With blueberry as the companion of lemonade, this drink just gave me a pure tart kick since both fruits are sour. Nevertheless, I love that the tanginess of lemonade isn’t satiating because it has the right amount of sweetener. If only Cha Tuk Chak has fruit teas, I guess they’ll make a good blueberry green tea since it would consist of various kinds of flavors.

Lychee Honey Peach

This is what I’m talking about. Lychee Honey Peach is a balance of sweetness and tanginess. This lemonade was able to emphasize the flavors of the fruits along with it. I’m actually loving the lychee bits. It might be small in size, but it’s quite big in flavor. Plus, I’m obsessed with the light pink color of this drink.