Happy Lemon :@) :@) :@)

Promenade, Greenhills Shopping Center, Ortigas Ave.

San Juan City, Metro Manila

Philippines

Happy Happy Lemon!...

The latest craze to hit the Philippines is our fascination with specialized tea drinks. This all started with the introduction of pearl milk tea drinks which originated from Taiwan. Currently there are a number of establishments that specialize in selling milk tea and the most recent entrant is Happy Lemon direct from China. 

So far from what I've seen, Happy Lemon has been really successful. It never fails to be full no matter what the time. I went there at 2 PM usually dead time for most in the restaurant business and they were packed. So as that made me more curious and how great can it be?

Here are some of their signature drinks  

Green Tea with Rock Salt & Cheese P90 ($2.00) :@) :@) :@)

First let's get one thing clear, salt isn't there to give it a salty taste. The reason they add salt is so that you can get more flavor from the drink since salt helps enhance flavor. If it's hard to believe look up the ingredients of ice cream and most desserts, you'd find salt somewhere there. Now that the salt is covered on to the cheese, the cheese on top tastes like some form of cream cheese (reminds me of cheesecake honestly) which is awesome. The counter balance to your taste buds will be the green tea which is a bitter component. This drink is an explosion of flavor in your mouth and a definite must try. 

Yakult Green Tea P85 ($2.00) :@) :@)

Well since I'm a Yakult fanatic I was a bit disappointed with this one because it seemed to lack that Yakult flavor. Don't get me wrong, the drink in itself was fine but if you're going to put Yakult in front of the name  then there should be more kick of Yakult than green tea. I was also spoiled by Yakult drinks in Taiwan which makes me doubt I'll find some that are as good over here. 

Honey Lemon Tea with Seaweed Sago Regular P70 ($1.75) :@) :@)

If you're a fan of lemon go for it. It's actually pretty nice the combo of the tartness of lemon and the slight sweetness given by the honey. The seaweed sago though I wasn't a big fan of in the beginning. The consistency was a bit strange for me, but as I continued drinking I found myself wanting to finish all of it.

Blood Orange Black Tea with Aloe P80 ($1.75) :@)

Since I'm a whore for citrus taste I enjoyed it a lot, but I can imagine a lot of people feeling that it was too strong on the citrus side. As I was finishing my drink I got that itchy feeling in my throat where it feels like a lemon bomb exploded in there somewhere. 

Cacao with Rocksalt and Cheese P90 :@) :@) :@)

Happy Lemon will probably be most known for their rocksalt and cheese drinks. This is for good reason because they are awesome. This one's for the fans of pure sweetness. The best way I can describe this is like having a deconstructed Choclait (Chocolate Milk) Cheesecake.