Taiwanese bubble tea chain Ji Long Tang (a.k.a JLD Dragon) has arrived in Singapore.
Although it was only founded in May 2018, JLD already has outlets in Malaysia, China, Hong Kong, the Philippines, and Tokyo.
The brand is known for their brown sugar milk with boba and cream.
The full menu
Photo by Mandy How
The first outlet's soft launch took place on Jan. 20 at Waterway Point.
Its official opening is in two days (Feb. 6).
Photo by Mandy How
Besides brown sugar, JLD also has tea lattes and roasted teas.
Here's the full menu:
Photo by Mandy How
Photo by Mandy How
Photo by Mandy How
We tried five recommended drinks from the lot:
Photo by Mandy How
In order, from left to right:
- Alishan red tea milk foam (50 per cent sugar)
- Brown sugar roasted oolong tea with boba (50 per cent sugar)
- Brown sugar milk with boba and cream (30 per cent sugar)
- Green tea with Yakult (50 per cent sugar)
- Black tea latte with brown sugar (30 per cent sugar)
Out of the five, our favourite was the brown sugar milk, for several reasons.
It wasn't too sweet, and the blend of fresh milk and brown sugar was balanced.
Photo by Mandy How
World's healthiest brown sugar, reportedly
The beverage uses what is reportedly the "world's healthiest brown sugar", which is traditional Okinawa brown sugar.
It is also known as Kokuto.
Kokuto is made through a process that slowly cooks down pure sugarcane juice.
For comparison, typical brown sugar is made by adding molasses to refined white sugar.
If you want to know exactly what goes into your drink, here's a step-by-step of how they make it:
1. The inside of the cup is coated with brown sugar.
Photo by Mandy How
Photo by Mandy How
2. Pearls, also cooked in brown sugar, are added.
Photo by Mandy How
3. Ice goes into the cup.
4. Followed by milk and cream.
Photo by Mandy How
Photo by Mandy How
5. Everything is sealed.
Photo by Mandy How
Considering other flavours
Others, though, needed a bit more adjustment.
The Yakult overpowered the green tea, as did the brown sugar in the roasted oolong tea.
For the black tea latte, it wasn't strong enough. The consistency of the milk foam was more liquid compared to other brands, but this is entirely up to personal preference.
Note that we didn't have the subsequent drinks immediately, so the melting ice may have affected the taste.
Photo by Mandy How
Details
The brand has two other outlets in Singapore:
- The Star Vista (opened)
- The Centrepoint (opening April 2020)
Waterway Point
83 Punggol Central #B1-43, Singapore 828761
The Star Vista
1 Vista Exchange Green #B1-37D, Singapore 138617
Opening hours are 11am to 10pm, daily.
Top image by Mandy How