Made without artificial flavouring, colouring and sweeteners, Bobii Frutii drinks are about as wholesome as bubble tea can get.
Made without artificial flavouring, colouring and sweeteners, Bobii Frutii drinks are about as wholesome as bubble tea can get.
It’s true. Bubble tea, as we love it, is filled with lots of sugar, artificial flavouring (and sometimes colouring), and even more sugar from add-on toppings.
Now, Taiwanese brand Bobii Frutii – which has four outlets in Taiwan and China – is changing this perception. It has opened its first Singapore store in Clementi Mall, serving drinks free of artificial colouring and sweeteners, as well as preservatives and additives.
Instead of high-fructose corn syrup, one of the worst sweeteners ever, it uses brown sugar. Also, the milk teas are made with fresh milk, not creamer.
Like most bubble teas, you can choose your preferred sugar level: 0%, 25%, 50%, 75% or 100%; we say 50% or less, please. However, although we think it should, this customisable sugar level doesn’t apply to Bobii Frutii signature drinks. Here’s what we thought of these bestsellers.
Mermaid’s Tears ($5.90)
Thishis ice-blended drink was inspired by The Little Mermaid. Yellow represents the shore while blue is for the sea. The butterfly pea pearls? The mermaid’s tears when her wish to be human didn’t come true, of course.
The yellow layer, a blend of mango juice, honey and yogurt, reminded us of melted mango ice cream. Deriving its colour from butterfly pea extract, the blue layer had no obvious taste. The thick mixture looked exquisite but was rather hard to stir, so we ended up tasting individual layers during the first few mouthfuls.
Uji Snow ($6.50)
Our absolute favourite, this rich and thick drink with slightly sweet pearls made in-house should please matcha lovers. The earthiness of the matcha powder from Uji, a Japanese city known for quality matcha, complemented the sweet fresh milk, making it a pleasant bittersweet drink. Each cup was hand-whisked to order, so we had the satisfaction of seeing our drinks made on the spot.
Extraordinary Bubble Milk Tea ($4.50)
Black tea layered with fresh milk made this a more fragrant version of our usual bubble milk tea. The black tea is made from tea leaves imported from Taiwan. The drink was well blended, and the brown sugar pearls added a light toff ee aroma. Before we knew it, we’d downed the entire cup.
