I got tricked into going to Hi-Fruit. He told me we were going to get bubble tea (*YAY* as always) then it turned out the Fave voucher was for fruit tea. Bummer. I’ve only ever bought fruit tea once (from Tea Folia at Bedok Mall when there was a promotion going on, that seemed too good to miss). Allow me to explain why I don’t like drinking fruit tea. By ‘fruit tea’, I mean those fancy-schmancy kinds with actual slices or pieces of fruit suspended in a beverage served in cups like those usually used for bubble tea. Apparently, it’s being sold as being more refreshing and healthier than your regular bubble milk tea. HOWEVER, pay close attention to the fruit that’s going into your drink. Better yet, WATCH the staff at any shop prepare your drink. Do they WASH the fruit and get rid of the pesticide residue?
Do you know which fruits have the most pesticide residue? Well, there’s strawberries at the top of the list, with apples and grapes close behind, for example.
And guess which are the fruits commonly sliced up and put into those fruit teas?
There was this one time we went past a newly-opened fruit tea shop in central Singapore, and we were almost tempted to get some. Till I noticed the staff taking strawberries right out of the box, slicing them and dumping them into the cups without first washing them. Horrified, I ordered bubble milk tea only.
I’m ok with fruit that have inedible peel so go ahead and add watermelon, mango, kiwi, and orange into my fruit tea. But strawberries and the like are an absolute no-no. What would I have to do to get all that pesticide out of my body once it’s ingested?!
At Hi-Fruit, we ordered their Taiwan HongYu Fruit Tea and Taiwan Four Seasons Fruit Tea. They tasted rather similar so I cannot tell you which I prefer. Besides, there was quite a lot of fruit added into the cup. Mainly watermelon, though.
My only grouse is that a short plastic spoon (though it’s a pretty pink) was provided for a tall cup of fruit tea, rendering the spoon useless at retrieving the fruit under all the ice cubes until you’ve finished the entire drink.
And we brought the cups home. After re-using the Tea Folia ones as ‘pencil cases’, I’ve realized these plastic cups are very useful. Because they’re transparent, you’ll always be able to see what’s inside. And the lids keep the dust out. So please don’t throw those cups away! Find a way to give them a new lease of life!
Here’s the menu if you’d like to see what else is on offer at Hi-Fruit:
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I’m surprised they aren’t more active on social media. It looks like they set up shop in January. Hi-Fruit has 15 followers on their FB page (with the latest post being a 23rd Jan one) and they have 926 followers on Instagram but only 8 posts.
*Another reason I think bubble tea sales will always outstrip that of fruit tea is because it’s less messy to drink bubble tea. Also *ahem ahem* (don’t quote me on this) but you can ‘smuggle’ bubble tea into the cinema and drink it in the “dark”. But with fruit tea, it’s a bit more complicated as you have to remove the lid, and stab the pieces of fruit with that fork. Put simply… too leceh lah. As for the supposedly “healthier” beverage, well, don’t forget about the pesticide.