The Best Milk Tea Ever – Gong Cha

Posted byshootfirsteatlaterPosted inHong Kong, Milk TeaTags:

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This is the best milk tea I’ve ever had in my life and I found it in Hong Kong.  Well it is the best until I try something better. For now it’s number 1 in my list. For a long time the best hot milk tea for me was at Cafe de Coral. Now I found an even better one.

The first time I tried it was when I went to Golden Shopping Centre in Sham Shui Po for my usual gadget and computer accessories shopping spree. The small stall was just across the street. It’s a good thing they have an English menu.

Gong Cha is a chain from Taiwan with branches in Hong Kong, Singapore and China. There are several Taiwanese tea stores popping all over Hong Kong and a lot of them don’t have an English menu. 
Gong Cha

My first order was milk green tea with bubbles or pearl jelly as they call it. I loved the strong brewed tea but not the sago. The sago was unsweetened and it just made me too full.
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Gong Cha milk green tea with pearl jelly $14

The second time I ordered the same thing without the bubbles. They only had one size of drink and that huge glass is 500ml or 17 ounces. It served as my lunch.
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Gong Cha milk green tea HK$12 of US$1.50

I was so enamored with their milk tea I looked for a branch nearer to where I lived. I found it in the newly renovated Star House which is right beside Star Ferry and Harbour City.
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Gong Cha was tucked away in a small corner on the 3rd floor. Despite their hidden location they were doing brisk business.
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Different kinds brewed tea were stored in stainless jugs.
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Why is it so good? When you order milk tea they do not shake or stir it.
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There are instructions on the lid on how to enjoy the milk tea. These are my own words based on the translation that Google gave me. There was also some matcha green tea powder sprinkled on top.
1. Open the lid and drink, letting the tea pass through the foamy layer.
2. Insert the straw and enjoy the flavor of the tea.
3. Use the straw to stir and enjoy the combined flavor of the tea and milk.
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I did all three steps and this is what I discovered. The top layer that floated on the tea wasn’t just milk. It was cream! No wonder it was sooooo good. The funny thing was the cream tasted a little salty. Next I drank the tea using the straw. The tea was really strong sweetened brewed green tea and not made with artificial flavoring. When both cream and tea were mixed, the saltiness of the cream balanced the sweet strong tea perfectly creating the best milk tea ever. It was creamy yet the green tea flavor was very evident. This was better than any cold coffee concoction.

I hope someone brings this franchise over to the Philippines. It will surely knock out all the milk tea/bubble tea stores in Manila. The price was also cheaper than the ones in Manila. 500 ml for Hk$12 or only P67. With bubbles or sago it costs P78. The bubble tea I had yesterday was much smaller and cost P125 and the taste was simply inferior to this.
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Gong Cha’s menu

They had so many other kinds of tea mixtures as well as juice and tea combinations. Next time I go to Hong Kong I will try the milk Alisan tea which is a famous tea in Taiwan.
Gong Cha menu

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I haven’t been to Star House in a long time and I’m glad I went because I found my favorite bargain store there. This is Japan’s Daiso store also called Saizen in Manila.
new Star City

The store was small but packed to the rafters with all sorts of good buys from houseware to personal effects and lots of things you didn’t know you needed.
new Star City-1

The new Star City is also now connected to Harbour City. The passage way is right beside Gong Cha on the 3rd floor.
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Gong Cha
Shop 316A,3/F,Star House, No.3 Salisbury Road, Tsim Sha Tsui
telephone: 3485-5543

ShopC2, 153-155 Fuk Wah Street, Sham Shui Po


For other branches in Hong Kong click here. 

Gong Cha in Manila! 

88 thoughts on “The Best Milk Tea Ever – Gong Cha”

  1. Dear Leslie,I am Andrew, the Philippine franchisee of Gong Cha in the Philippines. Thank you for your blog. I will inform you when we will open in about a few months. Best Regards to you. 🙂

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  2. Omg! Omg! I can’t believe it. Gong Cha in Manila! Hope you can follow the same prices if not cheaper pa. I can’t wait!

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  3. I am in the process of evaluating the pricing and i’ll let you know once I have made a final study on the costs. I am just very glad that someone in the Philippines appreciates good milk tea and shares our passion for Gong Cha. I hope we will not disappoint you once we open. 

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  4. Thanks Andrew. I’m sure Gong Cha will do well in Manila. I’ll do my best to help spread the wonder of Gong Cha’s milk tea. I hope you open in Greenhills first. 😀

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  5. 🙂 OMG! I’m also a big fan of Milk Tea.  I fell in love with milk tea with my first sip at Cafe De Coral last 2001 then i’m returning for a vacation this coming january 2011.  I was googling which is the best milk tea in hk and walah i found Gong Cha.  I will surely try this out and will be one of the pioneer supporter once it hits the shores of MANILA!All the best Andrew!  THANKS LESLIE for the Wonderful Info!

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  6. I used to be in the tea business and I make my own milk tea. You can have okay milk tea using simple ingredients. However, the best milk teas require very specific ingredients and skill in preparation. I’m really excited and looking forward to having Gong Cha in the Philippines.

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  7. You’re absolutely right Dennison! I’ve tried making milk tea at home and somehow it’s never as good as Gong Cha’s or Cafe de Coral’s.

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  9. HI Andrew, I am very interested in Franchisee of Gong Cha in Bangkok, Thailand. Would appreciate if you could share story with me…kindly please add me on yr Facebook..my e-mail is hi_fango@hotmail.com, my name is Fang ShinoharaMany Thanks O:-)

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  13. Jet, Andrew told me the first branch will open in Mall of Asia at the end of March. Tagal no? I can’t wait na rin.

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  14. darn, i think im at hk more often than im at moa. haha not that im at hk often, just that moa is so damn far from our place! i’ve only been there once. haha guess i’ll be sticking with happy lemon and serenitea first..

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  15. Hi Jet,Sorry for the delays in the first opening but I had to wait for the old tenant at SM MOA to leave and demolish his store first before I can start with ours. Just let me know what general area you live in and maybe i’ll open one near you! Hehe. There is a second branch for Gong Cha but can’t reveal to you where it is at this time but hopefully it will be near you. You can follow Gong Cha updates at facebook at Gong Cha Philippines or twitter at gongchaphil. Thank you so much!

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  16. Hi Andrew, I am a business development manager for Maybank Philippines and we would like to partner with Gongcha as your Credit Card Payment Processor. In short we will provide your outlets with credit card terminals that accept all VISA and Mastercard credit cards. Can I have your email so we can better liase?

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  17. I am interested in franchising GONG CHA here in the philippines… I want to know what are the requirements and how much is the contract and the inclusions… We went to hongkong last week and I really love this…. Can you give me a contact number or email on how I can reach you?  Have you opened one in SM MOA already?

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  18. Dear Miguel,Hi, I’ll check with my people here if we got a payment processor or not. I don’t think we have but i’ll let you know and confirm asap. 

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  19. Hi Jinks. Thank you for your interest in Gong Cha. I really appreciate your interest in Gong Cha but at this time we are not franchising as of the moment. There are quite a number of people interested in franchising it from Cebu, Davao, Bacolod, Metro Manila, etc but as of the moment, I feel compelled to develop Gong Cha as best as I possibly can so that the future franchisee will have a very solid partner in me and Gong Cha by that time will be more known locally. Rest assured that I will keep you in mind when the time to franchise is right. Thanks so much for your support of Gong Cha!

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  21. Hi Andrew,I am interested in putting up a gong cha place somewhere near san juan… near schools in exact. Do you have any requirements or documents which we can have for a francise? or maybe a share would do… Thanks! 

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  22. Oh my!!!! i had the priviledge of “coincidentally” ordering a Gong Cha Milk tea during my visit in Zhuhai China. . . I enjoyed every sip of it and now nothing satisfies me better than the thought of it!!! I’m now in nostalgia for it so PLSsssssssss. ..  have it sent or franchised in the Philippines. . . i dont care about the price just i hope one branch wil be in Makati 🙂  

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  26. Hi Andrew. I saw your soon-to-open store in Glorietta food court. Is that right?Good luck and best regards to you 🙂 I’ll definitely market it among my friends and relatives.

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  31. Hi,Andrew how are u?I m shireen Ong here I’ m from Kuala Lumpur ,I really interested of doing this franchise Gong Cha business .if you can share the detail with me I ,will pretty much appreciate to u this is my email : shireen280@yahoo.com. Thank you

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  37. couldn’t agree wih you more, my favorite is the Gong Cha winter melon milk tea. We fell in love with it right away. We saw it on SM megamall.

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  44. hi Andrew! my husband and I are very much interested in gong cha. pls d let us know if it is for franchising already, which I hope it is. pls email me at mbarbarauy@Gmail.com. thanks! hoping for a positive response. 🙂

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