#ThirstyThursday: Purmil Brown Sugar Milk Tea Review: It Tastes Like The Real Thing But With a Strong Aftertaste

We know that we can never disappoint our bubble tea fans, so that’s why for #ThirstyThursdays, we’ll be doing Purmil Brown Sugar Bubble Tea!!

Actual Bubble Tea Fans: Disappoint?? We’re already disappointed! How do you explain the lack of actual Bubble Tea From Bubble Tea stores like Xin Fu Tang, Ji Long Tang, The Alley?! 

Uh… hold on… we can explain…

Actual Bubble Tea Fans: In fact, the last time we had something of a semblance to actual Bubble Tea is the unholy concoction of Wasabi Milk Tea! Can you say you’re really giving what the fans want?!

*writer cries* No… you guys don’t understand… Someone has to do it! For science! I didn’t want to either! But it’s a necessity!

Editor: Wait a min. The “Actual Bubble Tea Fans” aren’t just your inner thoughts are they?

*Writer looks hopefully at imaginary Actual Bubble Tea Fans and blinks twice*

And so, here we have it. The Purmil Brown Sugar Milk Tea. Straight from 7 Eleven for a cool S$3.

Each has 250ml of milk tea, so although my colleague said this is affordable, eh I beg to differ.

The typical bubble tea cup is larger than this, so it’s really only just a little cheaper. And that’s for the more well-known stores. The neighbourhood stall near the HDBs is going to be cheaper. AND they have pearls.

That the expiry date is Feb 2020 doesn’t inspire confidence when Purmil claims that it’s made from milk that’s “fresh from Korean dairy farms”. Fresh milk from the supermarket expires in 2 to 3 weeks, so that’s a claim I remain a sceptic of.

It’s packaged. There’s a given straw. Nothing complicated here. Just pop the straw straight in and drink.

But actually, what does it look like? The colour isn’t bad at all, and looks like your standard packaged milk tea ash brown.

Taste Test

The only way to find out is to sip.

And on the first sip…

And then a second.

And then a third…

Impossible. How did they replicate the taste of Brown Sugar Boba to this perfection? In a manufactured packaged version no less?!

The taste of the molassy brown sugar hits, and drink spreads the flavour across the mouth with its creamy texture.

But… 

The feeling of excitement quickly dissipates when I stop myself from sipping more of it.

It’s the attack of the aftertaste.

This thing punishes you for believing that packaged tea can be as good as the real thing. What lingers in your mouth will be there for quite long, and it’s sour. It’s that icky feeling of touching something slimy and you can’t wash it off.

On your tongue.

That’s when it hits you that maybe the artificial cream isn’t that good.

And for those curious, here are the ingredients. Brown sugar and milk are actually used, but there is also a mix of Vegetable Cream Powder and things like Black Sugar Flavour.

It’s not really something you wanna buy if you have access to any bubble tea shop. Eh, maybe it’s 2am and you need that fix, or you’re saving for the zombie apocalypse.

I guess they did manage to fool me for three sips. And it’s pretty decent if you’re able to get over the aftertaste.

Rating: 3.5/5