I have only visited The Savoy Centre a few times, twice to use the toilet facilities and once to buy dog biscuits so i can't say i've shopped for pleasure there. It was on one of these powder room visits that i came across Easy Way Tea, a little tea stall situated between the kitsch and rather strange mish mash of shops the mall houses.
I stood and looked at the menu for a while, quite surprised to find this little gem in the centre, and a man from the mobile phone repair shop next door came out and offered his advice on which teas to sample. The Chinese influence on the Savoy is growing, so i assume that a few of the same family members own quite a lot of the oriental inspired shops there.
Upon a quick read at the (multiple) menus on the wall, Easy Tea started in Taiwan in 1992, selling the Taiwanese drink Pearl Milk tea, which the stall sells too. Infact it is the speciality drink here, compiled of iced tea, cream or milk and tapioca balls, hence the name 'pearl' tea. You can top your tea of choice with coconut jelly, or the delicious sounding Green Tea jelly, which i thought was a really cool and quirky touch.
The aforementioned man was still coaxing me to try some, getting his assistant behind the counter to let me smell the different flavours, and i finally opted for a Passionfruit blended ice tea. There were plenty of other flavours to choose from and different varieties of teas including Milk Tea, Straight tea and Relish teas. The lady made it for me using a combination of machines and manual pouring and mixing, all very interesting to watch, and then slid it into a contraption which sealed a pierceable lid onto it. Wow! It was really cool to watch it being made.
The tea itself was yummy, and pretty cheap for the massive cup i got at 2.50. I had to throw some away in the end, there was just too much of it!
I would definetly go back for more when i'm up that way, it was refreshing and interesting and something really different for the city centre. Finally a reason to go to The Savoy Centre other than the Loos! read more