By Surabhi Sahu
For years, Ang Wei Yi was a grande vanilla latte aficionado, making regular visits to the Starbucks near her workplace in Singapore’s Central Business District.
“I’m not too much of a coffee person anymore,” said the 28-year-old portfolio analyst, sipping something icy and green at Maccha House. “I come here for the ambiance and the teas,” she said.
Local residents have long flocked to Singapore’s traditional coffee shops, or kopitiams, often located in nondescript food courts, to buy a cup of teh tarik, a sweet drink with condensed milk and froth.
But now shops that specialize in tea are taking off. In 2011, retail sales of tea by volume in Singapore rose by 2% year-over-year, according to Euromonitor International, while retail sales have jumped by about 11% since 2007.
Ceylon Tea Services, which makes tea bags and packets and sells them under its Dilmah brand, plans to open a “T-bar” this year, selling Dilmah teas, its first such venture in Singapore, said Merrill Fernando, its chairman.
Jerry Singh quit his job as a senior commercial manager at BHP Billiton to open Chaitime, one of a handful of recently opened tea shops in Singapore. It focuses on chai lattes, served in a setting that aims to blend east and west, with restored galvanized-steel chairs and an old La Pavoni espresso machine that has been modified to brew tea. Its teas are served in double-layered glass kulhads, a modern version of the terra cotta cups used in India.
“Tea brings back our culture and tradition to life,” said Mr. Singh, a self-described “chaiholic” who recently conducted a survey of more than 200 Singaporeans at coffee shops and restaurants in Singapore. He was encouraged by the results: Two out of five said they drank tea or a tea-flavored drink each day. He plans to open at least three shops this year.
While Chaitime boasts of shipping the Indian tea experience to Singapore, Nana’s, Maccha and Tsujiri bring a Japanese touch to patrons with their drinks based on matcha, also known as maccha, a powdered green tea popular in Japan.
“Sometimes people mistake us for a coffee shop,” said Furukawa Haruhiko, manager of Nana’s flagship store in Plaza Singapura, an upscale mall on Orchard Road. Nana’s, which operates a single store in Singapore, expects to add two or three more locations and is also considering opening in Malaysia and Thailand, he said.
Here’s a look at some of the newest spots where Singaporean tea drinkers are getting their fix:
Singapore’s first Indian chai cafe opened in December. Its teas include Assam, Darjeeling, Nilgiri and Sikkim, but its specialty is the Spicy Masala Chai Latte, a blend of Assam black tea with cardamom, ginger, black pepper and cinnamon. AXA Tower, 8 Shenton Way, #B1-02 Main Lobby; chaitime.com
Nana’s Green Tea Café
Established in March 2001 in Tokyo, Nana’s likens itself to a “Japanese Starbucks.” It sells Japanese teas, matcha lattes and tea-based sweets, including the Matcha Shiratama Parfait, a dessert with a layer of jelly made from a seaweed extract called kanten, as well as matcha syrup, vanilla ice cream, cornflakes, red bean paste and whipped cream. Plaza Singapura #03-80/82, 68 Orchard Rd.; nanaha.com
Tsujiri Tea House
The store has more than 20 outlets in Japan and Taiwan and gets its matchas from Uji, a major tea growing region in Kyoto. Its specialty: maccha ice-blended floats and shakes, topped with ice cream. 100 Tras St., #01-14; tsujiri.sg
Owned by Create Restaurants Asia, a subsidiary of Create Restaurants Holdings in Japan, Maccha House’s Singapore location is easily spotted—look for the green chairs and wood tables. Its specialty: Iced maccha latte, made with freshly brewed maccha and milk. 181 Orchard Rd., #B1-40 Orchard Central; createrestaurants.com/en