CHICHA San Chen 吃茶三千 – Famous Taiwanese Bubble Tea Opens at Jem Shopping Mall

It seems that a new bubble tea shop is opening every other day in Singapore nowadays. Recently, I chanced upon CHICHA San Chen (吃茶三千) at Jem shopping mall in Jurong East. This is my review of the new BBT outlet! This article was last updated on 18 August 2020.

CHICHA San Chen (吃茶三千)

CHICHA San Chen (吃茶三千) is a famous Taiwanese bubble tea chain with over 200 stores in Taiwan and China. The Chinese name is pronounced “Chi Cha San Qian”.

It is known for its “brewed to order” bubble teas, meaning that you can customise the drinks based on your preferences.

The tea bases are first brewed in a high-pressure tea machine. After that, you can add on milk, honey, juices, tapioca pearls, konjac jelly, etc to complete your bubble tea.

According to the company, this “marries the best of bubble tea with traditional tea”.

After trying the CHICHA San Chen bubble teas myself, I can testify to the veracity of this statement.

CHICHA branch at Jem shopping mall

The bubble tea chain opened its first flagship outlet at 313@Somerset in May this year. Shortly after, it opened its second branch at Jem shopping mall.

We visited the Jem branch twice, once during lunch on a weekday and another time on a weekend evening.

On both occasions, the queue was very long and we had to wait for around 30 minutes to get our drinks.

Menu + Popular Drinks (Click to enlarge)

Full Menu

The menu offers six tea bases: Green Tea, Osmanthus Oolong Tea, High Mountain Pouchong Tea, Black Tea, Dong Ding Oolong Tea, and Cassia Black Tea. Each tea base costs $3.20.

After selecting the tea base, you can choose to add on a flavour like milk, honey, cream, passion fruit, mango, etc. Each flavour costs $1 or $1.50 on top of the tea base.

You can add toppings like tapioca pearls, konjac jelly, coconut jelly, or grass jelly at $0.50 or $1 per topping.

Sugar level options are 100%, 50%, and 0%. It is possible to request for less ice and even hot tea.

Popular Drinks

If you can’t decide, the shop has various recommended combinations like the Bubble Milk Tea (Black Tea + Cream + Bubble), Dong Ding Oolong Fresh Milk Tea, and Cassia Black Tea with Mousse. See picture of “Popular Items” above.

My personal favourites are the Dong Ding Oolong Fresh Milk Tea ($4.70) and Osmanthus Oolong tea with Mango and Bubble ($4.70). Both are super delicious!

Dong Ding Oolong Fresh Milk Tea (MUST TRY)

The Dong Ding Oolong Fresh Milk Tea ($4.70) had a sweet, aromatic and full-bodied flavour.

I really liked how it stood up to the sweet taste of the fresh milk, creating a very fragrant and well-balanced bubble tea drink.

The tapioca pearls were delicious too. According to CHICHA, they are made in Taiwan but freshly cooked in Singapore.

Covered in a layer of  caramel, they were soft, chewy, and sweet. They are also 1.5 times larger than the usual size pearls which made it even more satisfying to chew on them.

This is definitely my favourite CHICHA bubble tea drink!

Osmanthus Oolong Tea with Mango (MUST TRY)

I recently tried the Osmanthus Oolong tea with Mango and Bubble ($4.70) and this is now my second favourite Chicha drink after Dong Ding Oolong Fresh Milk Tea!

The bubble tea had a lovely tea fragrance, and the mango flavour added shine through its burst of sweet fruitiness.

This is one refreshing drink perfect for drinking in Singapore’s hot weather!

Bubble Milk Tea

The Bubble Milk Tea ($4.50) comprises black tea added with cream and bubble pearls.

The drink was smooth and creamy. The black tea flavour was quite strong and sweet, but it wasn’t overwhelming.

On the whole, this is a safe and pleasant drink that should suit most palates.

Cassia Black Tea with Mousse

We also tried the Cassia Black Tea with Mousse ($4.70).

The cassia tea flavour was sweet and aromatic, with slightly bitter undertones. The mousse gave the drink a light and airy texture.

This tea will suit people who prefer their drinks to be less sweet.

Green Tea with Honey and Bubble

The Green Tea with Honey and Bubble ($4.70) has a pleasant green tea flavour with a very smooth texture.

I enjoyed this refreshing drink but the Osmanthus Oolong tea with Mango and Bubble ($4.70) is still a better option.

Conclusion

Compared to other bubble tea shops in Singapore, I feel that CHICHA San Chen has best managed to retain the rich fragrance of tea in their drinks. The company puts effort into brewing high quality teas so that their bubble teas are not just sugary concoctions of syrups and tapioca pearls. The Jem outlet is currently very popular with bubble tea lovers, so be prepared to wait. We queued for around half an hour before getting our drinks.

CHICHA San Chen (Jem)
Address: Jem, 50 Jurong Gateway Road #L1-17, Singapore 608549
Opening Hours: Daily 11am to 10pm
Full list of CHICHA stores: https://chichasanchen.com.sg

CHICHA San Chen (313@Somerset)
Address: 313@Somerset, 313 Orchard Rd #03-41, Singapore 238895
Opening Hours: Daily 11am to 10pm