The milk tea hype is no fad – milk tea shops have been around the Philippines for as long as I can remember, yet there seems to be no stopping Filipinos’ love for milk tea. The lines are long and the craving is real – I know some people who are actually willing to wait for more than an hour just to get their daily milk tea fix.
Presotea Franchise in the Philippines
One of the most recent tea shops that opened a franchise in the Philippines is Presotea. I know what you’re thinking – “here’s another tea shop from Taiwan“. What makes Presotea different though is that each order is freshly brewed right before it is served. You can actually see the staff brew the tea bags before they add the different ingredients that transform it into the tea flavors you love. Rather than brewing the tea in one huge container (like many bubble tea shops do), Presotea gives you one special tea bag for every cup that you order.
Presotea makes their brew-to-order tea based beverages using a unique “Teapresso” machine, much like the espresso machines that you see in coffee shops. I’m guessing that’s where the shop’s name comes from – a play between the words “espresso” and “tea”. Tea shops are fond of making puns like that.
It’s also important to note that Presotea is not a milk tea shop. Milk tea is just one of the variety of products that they serve. There’s also fresh iced tea, fruit teas, tea lattes, juices, and salted foam teas. I tasted 10 of their most popular base flavors, and you can really tell from the taste that they are freshly brewed. My personal favorites are the Earl Grey and Genmaicha flavors.
I also asked the gentleman taking our orders what Presotea’s specialties are. He said that the must-try varieties are the “Winter Melon Milk Tea” (Php 120-130) and the “Japanese Milk Tea Macchiato with Red Bean” (Php 140-150). I’ve also tried the “PPJ Milk Tea” (Php 140–150) since it got all the good stuff – pearl, pudding, and jelly. At 70% sugar, the PPJ wasn’t too sweet, and is actually pretty refreshing.
Presotea has over 400 shops in internationally. In the Philippines, you can find Presotea branches at Robinsons Magnolia and SM Cherry Shaw.
