Ms. Josephine Chua & NaiCha Mascot in Grand Opening

It’s actually redundant to call it “NaiCha Milk Tea” because ‘Nai Cha‘ is the literal translation of ‘milk tea‘ in Chinese. Hence, allow me to call it just ‘NaiCha‘ moving forward. 🙂

I, together with some food bloggers, were recently invited to the grand opening of NaiCha Philippines‘ 12th store in Metro Manila which is in Banawe, Quezon City.

Simple ceremonies, blessings, and the usual ribbon cutting was held, but it was the taste test which food bloggers await. I was able to try their best-selling Wintermelon Milk Tea and the Oolong Milk Tea.

Oolong Milk Tea for the Win

Taste-wise, the Wintermelon Milk Tea was similar to what others have to offer but I love their Oolong Milk Tea which had the authenticity of four season tea and goodness of milk tea combined.

And although I did not customize the sugar level of the Oolong Milk Tea, it still didn’t come off too sweet. However, in contrast, I suggest you adjust the sugar level of the Wintermelon Milk Tea to 50%–75% since wintermelon is already sweet by itself. The same tip applies to all other brands of wintermelon milk tea.

NaiCha Oolong Milk Tea

Ms. Jospehine Chua (CEO of Grand Pillar International Development, Inc. – parent company of NaiCha Philippines), said that they import the tea  from Taiwan through her two Taiwanese nationals partners. Mrs. Chua has worked in Taiwan during her younger years where she developed her business network. So getting them to invest in the Philippines as her business partners was a logical consequence of events.

NaiChastarted in December 2010 from its main store located across Royal Duty Free Mall and has since grown to several branches in Subic. By October of last year, it ventured to Manila with it’s first branch in N. Domingo St., Quezon City. They now have branches in Fairview, Makati, Ortigas, and more.

NaiCha Philippines Milk Tea

Interesting Observations

NaiCha Philippines as a milk tea business is still in their growing stage and the simplicity of their menu is evident of it.

Some interesting observations I made was that their pearls are not as big as the pearls/tapioca of other milk tea shops. Did you know that they don’t call their pearl as ‘sago‘? Try ordering the “Sago Milk Tea” and you’ll not get pearl/tapioca in the drink but “nata” (coconut gel). 🙂

The price range of the milk teas and juices are actually very affordable with their wintermelon tea (not milk tea) at P40 for the 16 oz.

But most noticeable of all is their gigantic 32 oz. serving of milk tea in what they call “Tabo” in their colloquial jargon equivalent to a small pail. At Php 120, tabo size pearl milk tea can be more than enough for two persons.

They also have novel teas such as the black tea, jasmin green tea, and matcha. NaiCha specials include Signature Taiwan Tea and Choco NaiCha. Another favorite of mine is from the ‘Jelly Delights‘ which is the Coffee Jelly Tea. They have juices as well while their add-on options are pearl, pudding, almond, sago (nata), and coffee jelly.

Hopefully they would also add food items and maybe variants of milk-lid or rock-salt milk teas in the menu very soon.

NaiCha Wintermelon Milk Tea “Tabo” (left); Nai Cha Coffee Jelly Milk Tea (right)

Franchise Opportunities

I learned that they also offer franchising options to business hunters. You may contact them at the following

• Subic Head Office: M6 Aguinaldo St., Central Business District, Subic Bay Freeport Zone
• Manila Office: Unit 3D, Megalink Bldg, Banawe Ave. Brgy Sienna, QC
• http://www.facebook.com/MilkTeaPinas

So if you’re from Quezon City or Manila, check out NaiCha Philippines in their Banawe branch soon.