Playmade Review: New Bubble Tea Shop With Black Sesame And Burnt Caramel Pearls

Rewinding back to June, our nation mourned the loss of one of our largest bubble tea chains – Gong Cha – when all its outlets were taken over by LiHo. But chin up guys, a new Taiwanese bubble tea chain, Playmade , has made its debut in Singapore on 30 September. They have unique and interesting flavoured pearls that are freshly made from scratch daily.

New Taiwanese Bubble Tea Shop With Flavoured Pearls - Playmade Drinks at Playmade After getting recommendations from a staff member, we got a medium-sized Orange Pulp Green Tea ($4.60/$6.20) with Pink Cactus Pearls ($0.80/$1.20) , at 50% sugar level. Per to As I chewed on the juicy pulps, they, bursts of sweetness to the slightly bitter green tea, which made it very refreshing. The pearls were very soft and chewy with a sweet and mildly floral taste.

At 50% sugar level, next, we had a Green Tea Latte ($3.60/$4.90) with Black Sesame Pearls ($0.80/$1.20) . The drink was quite underwhelming as I could barely taste the green tea.

The pearls were packed with black sesame powder, giving them a strong and nutty savour which I really liked. They were really addictive – the more I chewed, the more taste they released.

We chose a more Westernised savour for our next drink – Cocoa Latte ($4.20/$5.70) with White Pearls ($0.80/$1.20) . Even though the sugar level was at 50%, it was quite sweet and milky – two things I look out for in a chocolate-based drink.

The White Pearls are their regular plain pearls, and they were equally as soft, good, and chewy as the other flavours. Lastly, we went for Black Tea Latte ($3.60/$4.90) with Burnt Caramel Pearls ($0.80/$1.20) . As a fan of black tea, their version was slightly mellow and its flavour was not overpowered by the milk.

I couldn’t taste anything at first but as I chewed on the pearls, more savour was released and that added an extra depth into the drink as a whole. Fruits used in the drinks are freshly cut and hand-pulped to ensure that shoppers can enjoy the freshness of their drinks.

The drinks are available in medium and large sizes and the sugar levels available are: 0%, 25%, 50%, 70% and 100%. Ambience at Playmade East-siders are quite lucky to have Playmade ’s first store open in Tampines 1.

Their pearls are said to be healthier compared to regular ones as there are no artificial chemicals used and they are made from scratch to maintain consistency and quality. Props to them for their unique flavoured pearls and I look forward to the new flavours they will be releasing in the future.