This tea experience trumps all others. For the first time, I got a taste of how aristocrats lounge…read morearound and drink tea. There was one historical movie I watched where tea was poured into a bud and it quickly bloomed into a flower. I tried it once on my own when I bought a bud meant to bloom and be drank as tea, but it didn't really bloom when I poured water on it. I was mesmerized by TWG's tea list that seemed to go on forever, but of course I was drawn most to the flower teas. My friends and I chose a non-caffeine one the waiter recommended. Though I did not see it bloom as the teapot already had water, it was gratifying to see a big flower in the glass teapot. And, its flavor is quite intense - we had the pot refilled with water three times and I can still taste the distinct flavor even on the last refill. We paired the tea with macarons and scones, and I felt like I briefly got a taste of the England I read about in books. Of course the sweets were scrumptious. The place is quite pricey but the experience is definitely worth it if you want to drink tea taken to another level.

DISAPPOINTING. The…read moretea was satisfactory at best considering it came out lukewarm, not even hot, I would have been surprised if they had steeped the tea for longer than 30 seconds. The service was OK at best, where the waiters seemed more interested in getting us to leave the café so they could go home. The crépes were quite nice, although a bit rich with a creamy sauce, but that is up to personal taste. DO NOT get the chocolate fondant, whilst it may be advertised as warm it comes out stone cold, and the ice cream is nothing to write about either, it has far too many ice flakes in it, a symptom of being in a freezer for far too long. The decor is fantastic though, and the chairs are comfy. For a place that prides itself on its tea, I found it lacking and left sorely disappointed (especially with their English Breakfast)

I love tea and this place will have a special place when I come to the Philippines. It's hidden in…read morethe corner, but once you see it then you'll never forget. They have over 95 teas from around the world and each one has its own story to tell. They even have a book that accompanies the table to give a description of each tea. The is definitely intimidating for any first time tea taster, but if you are a fan of high tea then you'll be right at home here. $595pesos for three tea sandwiches, 2 scones, and a pot of tea. Delicious! Enjoy!

I love green tea, matcha (the bolder the better--authentic, ideally). Whoa, wish granted! I'm…read moreglad to find an authentic matcha source like Tsujiri in some random space in the S Maison mall attached to the Conrad Manila. Loved the experience ALOT. From the website: http://tsujiri-global.com/ "The time was end of ancient Edo period, and in 1860, the brand Tsujiri was first established by Riemon Tsuji in Uji of Kyoto, Japan. The founder Riemon tapped his own wealth to improve the tea industry, advancing and innovating the method to enhance the flavours and sweetness of the tea to accomplish in making the highest quality Gyokuro tea leaves. He also devised the tea cabinet to keep the tea leaves fresh longer, thereby enabled to revive the popularity and marketing of the Uji tea. His effort was well recognized by many and to attest to that, his statue was built in Byodoin, the Kyoto's world heritage temple" I've had two things here: the ceremonial matcha tea (eye-opening, heavenly) and the Shiratama sundae (green tea matcha softserve with mochi, adzuki, black sugar, which was memorable). Really glad to experience this authentic product outside of Japan and appreciate the flavors I've experienced here. Would love to sample again when I return to MNL. Visits: 3

The best Japanese tea ceremony for 1st timers... You would love the vibe it brings …read more.. I really enjoyed the taste of real ground matcha green tea leaves.

I only learned about this place just this weekend when a former colleague-turned-friend asked to…read morehang out here. I've always liked Maginhawa but it's just really complicated to go to for someone who doesn't own a car so admittedly, I wasn't too thrilled about the idea. I still agreed to go, though since it has been a while since we last saw each other. Since I wasn't familiar with Maginhawa, I decided to take a cab and Waze it. YAY, WAZE! It was situated right in front of the famous Artsy Cafe. WUMS (When Uan Met Sally) Cafe had a conjoined store of all things kitschy! They have bracelets, necklaces, boho-inspired garments, boho bags and a ton more! If Phoebe Buffay swung by this place, she'd probably live here. Too bad though, most of the items are pretty expensive. Think a bracelet for 1,000 bucks or more. On to the cafe part. Okay, first off, I love Mumford and Sons, and I feel like if they ever made a Mumford and Sons-esque cafe, it would be similar to WUMS. It just had that very down-to-earth, hippie vibe that I love! Just walking into their small cafe and seeing the interiors, I knew I was going to love this place. I got to try their French Onion Soup and to be honest, there wasn't anything special about it. I'd still prefer Friday's French Onion Soup any day. Their Margherita Panini, however, was pretty good. I also loved their frozen house blend iced tea. Overall, this place is a delight to have been discovered. If only it weren't too far from me, I'd probably visit this place more than a few times in a month.

I just love this place…read more I live about a block away from this place and I would pass by it ever since it was still being constructed. I watched it evolve from an empty garage to a construction site, and now, a really hip and cool place to eat, to shop and to hang out with a couple friends over good food and wine. I love the artistic vibe and the very artsy inspirations that went into the design and the concept of the store. It combines a lot of intricate Byzantine frescoes and paintings with distressed furniture, lots of bronze and wrought iron, and lots of soft textures from the silks and the clothes that are being sold. They have antiques and flea market finds from all over the world that you can buy and add to your collection of curios at home. This antique shop/vintage store/gift shop/knick knacks paradise/cafe/restaurant (whew lots of slashes there) is a fun and quirky neighborhood joint that will have you coming back for more. I am a big fan of the squash and sweet potato soup, which is just the right consistency and creaminess. Squash soup is simply my favorite, and I love how they do a good job with that here. The service is top-notch and the ambiance is just lovely. I would recommend it for a date with a special someone, or if you want a cute space for a meeting with a client. I will surely come back for more!

Like most bubble tea houses, they've got various types of tea in their menu. There's your usual…read moremilk and fruit tea, yogurt, brewed, they even have latte and some food. Not to mention the low prices, ranging from Php 50 to Php 100 tops! Pretty common these days too, of course. What I love about Tea Life though is their line of choco milk tea. I found myself trying to decide what to get; they have around 10 variants. Of course I couldn't order hazelnut and almond 'cause uhhh allergies. In the end we ordered Whey Muscle Milk and Peppermint. The former reminded me of the choco malt shake I got from the neighboring milkshake hub, but the Peppermint one. Oooh. My friends have always opposed the marriage between chocolate and mint, claiming it tastes like Colgate or whatever. So it took me by surprised when they commented that they found it decent. It is something! And I agree, the peppermint one only cost me Php 100, and it's worth every cent.

Despite its name, at Tea Life the milk tea actually seems secondary. The place does more business…read moreas an Internet cafe that, like most of its ilk, focuses on online gaming. The internet speed here is actually not bad, making it a real option when I need to go online without a computer handy. The equipment seems to be taken care of pretty well, as I have yet to transfer to another unit because of unsatisfactory performance. Given the gaming nature of the business, the crowd tends to be young and enthusiastic. That does translate to noise, though, with shouting, cheering and jeering all typical. At times, epithets fly fast and furious, so this isn't the best place to let a kid surf. Milk tea aside, some food items are also available. The staff are generally pleasant, and will leave you alone after the initial setup so you can do whatever you came there to do.

Prosperitea is another one of those whole in the wall sort of places that a lot of the locals,…read moreespecially teenagers and young adults, love to patronize. It's a very quaint and cozy place. It's often quiet, but when people talk it's never at a decibel level that will drive you stir crazy. They exclusively deal in teas. Milk Teas, teas with rock salt, fruit based tea, and etc. They have pasta and sandwiches for their customers. The thing I find most amusing with the franchise near my village is that it's also half a Thai noodle place. This means you can be sipping on milk tea while at the same time chowing down on pad se uy or pad thai. It has free WiFi meaning it's a hotspot for students to congregate right after class. If you ever find yourself in Las Pinas and looking for a quiet cozy place to stay in feel free to drop on by and give them a try.

Came here with my cousins and aunts to satisfy our boba craving. I ordered the Taro milk tea with…read moreblack pearls (boba) with just 50% sweetness. It was very good, flavored just right and very refreshing. Everyone enjoyed their drink. Place is very cute, small, but had AC, so that's always a plus when in the Philippines. I would definitely come here again to try something different, including their snack items.

I had mistakenly believed that Tea Farm right beside Eton's in front of Paranaque Doctors' Hospital…read morehad the same owner. I was wrong. It turns out that Tea Farm sort of competes with Eton's which serves brewed coffee. Sort of because as its name suggests, Tea Farm serves all sorts of tea, with its specialties being an assortment of milk teas. I know, I know. This place must have lost some of its clientele when there was a milk tea scare not too long ago. That was when the owner and a guest at a milk tea place were poisoned to death. Not good, huh? But the police have solved that case. There was nothing wrong with the milk tea per se. It seems that someone had placed a sugar-like poison in one of the containers. Fortunately, Tea Farm and all the other milk tea places have recovered. Since I spent two years in Dubai some years ago, our all-around office boy always prepared milk tea for me when I arrived at the office for the day's grind. So I was a fan of milk tea long before it became the rage in Metro Manila. I would rate the ice cold milk teas served at Tea Farm with a four out of five stars. It's not bad at all. And at the height of summer, it's a great way to cool off. Tea Farm is located along Dona Soledad Avenue, Paranaque not too far from the corner of Russia.

I always come here whenever I'm in the area. The service is above and beyond and the tea selection…read moreis in abundance that you can spend hours just to select one to take home. I always end up getting a new canister with a new type of tea. It's a bit pricey but it's a laid-back way to spend a couple of hours.

Delicious tea with a large variety to choose from, delectable macarons & pastries, friendly &…read moreknowledgeable staff, a royal yet comfortable & inviting atmosphere -- TWG is my newfound favorite spot and for someone who has always fantasized about having a fancy tea party since I was a little girl... I was able to achieve that here. It was my first time here and it definitely won't be my last. TRY the WHITE HOUSE TEA. It's a white tea with fruits, fragrant roses, and berries -- it was highly recommended by the staff and I was amazed at how fragrant & delicious it was. I can taste each element from the roses to the berries and it married well together. They gave me a choice to have it hot or iced but the drawback with having it iced was that it would only come in one cup so I had it hot and it came in a pretty little tea pot enough to make 3-4 cups and I enjoyed every drop up until the last. Angel, who was my waiter, was extremely friendly and gave great recommendations to a newbie like me. He also recommended I try the scones. I'm not much of a scone-lover but I'm so glad I took his recommendation. The scones were nice & warm and was served on a pretty tiered tray with cream & apple jelly -- awesome & delicious pairing with my tea... it wasn't too sweet and was perfectly flaky. I was able to purchase the White House Tea, which they prepare by shoveling the loose leaf into 50 or 100g bags. You can also purchase tins that will extend the tea's shelf life which I did since I won't be coming back to the Philippines for a while. I just wish I bought more because I made some tea for my parents which they loved but I've already gone through half of my leaves. I ended up spending quite a bit as I bought some bags of tea leaves as gifts for friends and I was surprised that they gave me half a dozen of macarons (my choice) as a gift. BTW THEY WERE ALL DELICIOUS. Especially their signature flavor, Napoleon Tea w/ Caramel. The royal atmosphere is both comfortable and relaxing. It's a great place to wind down or catch up with friends. If I were to choose between a coffee shop or TWG, it'd definitely be the latter. I'll be back SOON (I hope)

AMBIENCE Parking is available for this shop plus the New…read moreHatchin Grocery just nearby. If you love grocery shopping for Japanese items, I strongly recommend giving this grocery a visit. Parking slots are limited but we haven't had a hard time just yet. Location is walking distance from National Shrine of the Sacred Heart and YMCA of Makati. FOOD We were supposed to try Zomato Gold to buy some pastries but they weren't included (including the Strawberry Short Cake), so we ended up purchasing their Soft Serve for the meantime. I must say, it was really good and pretty close to the soft serves at Japan. Quality of their vanilla was perfect and the cone was the most impressive part. If you're familiar with Filipino butter cookies called Lengua de gato, that's what it tasted like but this cone was a tad softer. It's a bit pricey but I got more than what I paid for thanks to that cone. I would still consider buying this again and to emphasize that point, I ordered it twice already. SERVICE Typical. We just ordered a Soft Serve. :p

I bought a strawberry shortcake from this store thru Grab. The best I ever had here in the…read morePhilippines. It had the same texture, flavor, and aesthetic as the ones being sold in Japan. After I finished up my piece, all I wanted to do next is to travel back to Japan. I'll definitely purchase here again if there's a special occasion. It is quite pricey for my regular cake intake.