One of the fastest growing tea chains, Macao Imperial Tea, is now in the Philippines! They have over 200 branches all over the world: in Macau, Vietnam, China, the US, and now, in the Philippines!
MACAO IMPERIAL TEA BANAWE
They opened their first branch just 2 weeks ago, and it’s located along Banawe in QC, just across from Eng Ho Bakeshop. It’s not that easy to spot while you’re driving along Banawe because the sign, while big, is a bit further inside. There’s a big parking area in front.
So what’s Macao Imperial Tea?
It’s a milk tea place that also serves coffee. For snacks, they have cakes and pastries at the moment, but they will be adding some more food in the future.
Here’s their drinks menu, you can click it to enlarge:
We were able to try several drinks. For the hot drinks, I had the Taro Sweet Potato Fresh Milk, which was recommended by the staff. It was delicious and oddly comforting, but it was way too milky for me, I was getting worried that I might be reaching my lactose intolerance limit for the day.
For the cold drinks, I chose the Cocoa Chestnut Cream. I figured I had never tried a chestnut cream drink before, so here was my chance! The chestnut cream is cream with bits of chestnut. Slightly sweet and slightly nutty, it’s an acquired taste, nothing I would be looking for any time soon since I’m not really a big fan of chestnuts. But if you like the taste of chestnuts (castañas), you’ll like this. I also ordered a slice of Cheesecake (P135).
The cheesecake was really creamy and quite good!
My companion, J, ordered a Chocolate Lava Cake (P120):
We also tried the Cherry Blossom Soda, and their Special Drink, the drinks called For Me, and For You.
The Cherry Blossom Soda was delicious. It was sweet and fruity but the soda cut through the sweet. The For Me is a strawberry milk drink, and the For You is a caramel macchiato. I liked both, although my vote would go for the coffee one (For You) since I always pick coffee!
KEEP THE BOTTLES!
But you know what the best part is about these drinks? Aside from the drinking the delicious drinks, I mean. You get to keep the containers!!! Yep, the containers are yours when you buy the drinks. The Cherry Blossom Soda container is plastic, and has this lid insert which is really great because it filters out the ice or whatever you have in the bottle, and unlike other containers, this one works and doesn’t move out of place.
The For You and the For Me containers are glass (with plastic caps)! I love reusing mine as a water container to keep beside my bed at night. It’s cute and the Mickey Mouse ears make it easy to open.
My sis was jealous of my bottle so we’re heading to Macao Imperial Tea later so she can get her own, hahaha. 🙂
We also got to try these Macanese sausages, called Sausage Bites (P120). They are delicious!!! Meaty, sweet, flavorful, it’s a really good Chinese-style sausage.
SUMMARY
It’s a new place to hang out in the Banawe area – there’s ample parking, because that’s always a problem. I also love that you get to keep the bottles if you order the drinks with the bottles.
Macao Imperial Tea has a good selection of drinks – you have iced tea, chestnut cream drinks, cream cheese topped drinks, milk teas, Yakult drinks, soda drinks, special drinks, and coffee. It’s like everything in one shop! Their Cheesecake and Pearl Milk Tea is also very good, and a good recommendation for someone who wants to go for the tried and tested delicious drink. Next time, I think I’ll try the MPresso, which are coming soon.
Personally, I would like them to include more savory items and have a better variety of food in the future. At the moment, the food selection is mostly cakes and a few savory bites. So, I think, at this time, it is more suited as a place to go to for dessert after a meal at one of the restaurants near Banawe, because, let’s face it, many of the Banawe restaurants don’t really do good dessert so you need to hop over to another place for tea/coffee/dessert. And you know, a place with plenty of free parking is always the top pick!
It’s also a nice place to meet friends if you only want to catch up but don’t want to eat a full meal. I can also imagine a lot students coming over to meet for group projects and such.
Macao Imperial Tea – Philippines is proudly brought to you by the Fredley Group of Companies— the same group behind other exciting food concepts such as Sandaya Yakiniku-Fisher Mall, Shabu-shabu Ichiban, Mitasu Charcoal Yakiniku, and Ersao Wind Tagaytay.
Macao Imperial Tea
780 Banawe Street, Quezon City, Philippines
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/MacaoImperialTeaPH/
Contact Number: (02) 251 8867
Hours: 10 AM- 12 Midnight
