A-Gan Tea

1. Small Pearls
— Love the small pearls! Not all bubble tea joints serve these mini pearls :)
2. Jasmine green tea
— I had the taiwan jasmine green tea, 30% sugar. Love all taiwan tea and generally TEA of all sorts. Taiwan is famous for its tea which are of three main types: oolong tea, black tea and green tea. The former two are more bitter so I’d recommend going for the green tea (for beginners) if you are planning on drinking it neat (aka no milk, no/​less sugar). If you’re going to mix it up with milk then anyone of the 3 is fine. Milk basically musk the taste of distinct flavor of each tea so it ends up being almost the same.
3. Milk tea (original)
— The most famous version of it!
— My friend had it (no pearls — why why why). He seemed to like it.

A-​gan tea offers something different from the usual stuff from gongcha and koi. While they are technically a bubble tea shop, their strengths lie in their variations of jellies. While they do decent pearls, I’m not exactly a fan.
I like that they have pretty interesting fruit flavours that are light and refreshing. I love their passionfruit tea and their mango green tea for the fresh fruits in them. The mango green tea is a current favourite although it is a little too sweet for me, even at 25% sugar level. It comes with agar-​agar jelly, which has a nice crunch to it, as well as bits and pieces of fresh mango. Great for a hot day out on Orchard Road!

At Dhoby Ghaut MRT /​technically the «basement» of Plaza Singapura, before you enter, is this bubble tea shop that sprang up last year. Considering it’s been here over a year now, it must be doing pretty well. There’s always a line, especially now that Gong Cha upstairs is gone due to renovation works.
Their speciality «A-​Gan» black tea is quite good. like the pearls (although they always seem to run out of black pearls, and I am kind of freaked out by the white pearls) which are chewy. I’m somewhat of a bubble tea afficionado, so if I had to compare it to a bubble tea shop, I’d liken it to Gong Cha.
The latest trend is the ability to dictate your sugar level, which A-​Gan also offers. The 25% sugar level A Gan black tea tastes strongly of tea and is complemented with the right amount of sweetness to make it a pleasure to drink. This makes it one of my preferred bubble tea shops for black tea.
The milk tea is quite decent as well, though at 25%, it is still a little too sweet for me.
One MAJOR drawback though is that the staff are damn slow. Really. Really. Slow. How long does it take for one to make a standard black tea with pearl? I have waited five minutes with just one person (and one order) in front of me. Each time I’m faced with a not inconsiderable wait, so make sure you’re aware of this even when there isn’t a queue.