Serenitea: Healtea Drinking

In the past years, people in the Philippines started to get into the coffee craze - either iced/cold or hot. A lot of Starbucks branches quickly sprouted in different locations. Then slowly other brands followed - Seattle's Best, Coffee Bean, Gloria Jeans, Figaro, and many others.

The trend for coffee may not fade away, but tea craze may just be starting. In the inner part of Wilson Street in San Juan, there's a new store serving tea in a different style. It's name - Serenitea.

Stan says: I suggest they can start to expand a little because the space inside the store is really crowded. You can barely move when a lot of people are making their orders. Good thing they provided tables and chairs outside. It was okay to sit outside because the air breeze was relaxing, but if it was during the mid of summer, you will surely perspire.

Pam says: Following on the footsteps of Quickly and Zagu, Serenitea puts a healthy twist to bubble drinks. Serenitea uses fresh tea leaves in its drinks and customers have a choice on what they want to add to the drinks (sago, nata, gulaman etc.).

Can you say jampacked? There was barely enough room to move around when we went to Serenitea. This might be a testament to how good the drinks are here but at the same time we had to takeout our orders because there was no place to sit!

Stan says: I ordered Wintermelon Cool (left), which was black gulaman juice, just given a better sounding name. The gulaman inside was one solid whole, and it breaks when you sip it. Quite interesting - first time I saw a whole gulaman in a gulaman juice. It was easy to drink, but as I've said, it's just like any other ordinary gulaman you can buy outside.

The one ordered by Pam - Cranberry Sensation w/Crystals (center), I found it too sweet. Then the one on the (right) is the Hokkaido Milk Tea w/ Black Bricks, which I never got to taste because it was for someone else.

Pam says: Customers also can dictate how much sugar should be added to their drink. I opted for the 100% sugar choice since I have a sweet tooth. Wrong choice, I should've just gotten 75% or 50%. I didn't get to taste Stan's as I am not a big fan of gulaman. The Hokkaido Milk Tea, which was for my brother, was good though. Milk teas are probably the specialty here.

Stan says: It is worth trying and drinking when you drive along the area. But I won't purposely visit the area just to buy one, unlike other food or drinks that I crave for. Their prices are affordable.

Pam says: This place may be affordable for Stan, but I don't find this place affordable (because I'm more kuripot haha). At around 90~120 per drink, I find it much more expensive than Quickly or Zagu. It's something new and healthy though and for that, it's worth a try if you're in the area.

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Serenitea

Unit 1 G/F, G&L Bldg., J. Abad Santos cor. V. Cruz, Little Baguio

San Juan, Metro Manila