Cloud Tea is our new Mood Tea Series โ two drinks built around one idea: more tea, less sugar. There’s the Light Milk Tea ($3.90 M / $4.90 L), made with Tiger Milk Mushroom Powder and your pick of tea, and the Pomelo Apple Tea ($4.90 M / $5.90 L), a fruit tea made with Moringa Powder and topped with water chestnut popz. Members get 30% off both.
Why “more tea, less sugar”?
Because sometimes you want the drink, not the sugar rush.
A lot of bubble tea is really a sweet drink with some tea somewhere in it. Cloud Tea flips that. The tea goes up front, the sweetness steps back, and you actually taste what you picked. If you’ve been quietly going down to 25% sugar on everything anyway, this is the series made for you.
Singapore’s been paying more attention to sugar in drinks for a while now โ it’s why the Health Promotion Board’s Nutri-Grade grades exist. Cloud Tea is our take on it: a series where less sugar is the starting point, not something you have to ask for.
What’s in the Light Milk Tea?
The Light Milk Tea is the smooth one. It’s made with Tiger Milk Mushroom Powder, and you pick the tea underneath:
- Jasmine Tea โ floral, gentle, the easy choice
- Four Seasons Tea โ light and fragrant
- Dong Ding Oolong Tea โ an oolong, a bit deeper
Price: $3.90 (M) / $4.90 (L).
Not sure which tea? Jasmine if it’s your first. Dong Ding Oolong if you like your tea with a bit more body. We’ve got a longer piece on jasmine milk tea if you want to nerd out.
What is Tiger Milk Mushroom, and why is it in the Light Milk Tea?
Tiger Milk Mushroom (Lignosus rhinocerus) is a rare mushroom from the tropical rainforests of Southeast Asia, including Malaysia. It’s an odd one: most of it lives underground as a tuber, and the stalk and cap only pop up above the soil. Local folklore says it grows where milk from a nursing tigress fell to the ground โ hence the name. For generations it was foraged from the forest; these days it’s cultivated in Malaysia under controlled conditions.
This isn’t an ingredient you bump into. It’s not on a shelf next to the taro powder โ it’s a forest mushroom that took researchers years to learn how to farm, and people in the region have reached for it for generations when they wanted a lift.
Here’s the honest pitch. In Malaysia this is what people take when they want to feel sharp โ and they usually take it in capsules, off a pharmacy shelf, at a price that makes you think twice. Traditionally it’s used for vitality and alertness, which is exactly the slot a 3pm drink fills: the cup you reach for when the afternoon starts to drag and you’d rather feel switched-on than sugared-up.
We put it in milk tea instead. Same ingredient, no capsules, no supplement aisle โ you just order a drink.
Why a milk tea? Because the powder is mild and a little earthy, so it disappears into something smooth and creamy. You get the tea you picked, lightly sweetened, and the mushroom quietly doing its thing in the background.
What’s in the Pomelo Apple Tea?
This one’s the refreshing one. It’s a fruit tea blend of apple, lemon, orange and pomelo on Four Seasons Tea, made with Moringa Powder, and topped with water chestnut popz โ little popping pearls that burst when you bite.
Price: $4.90 (M) / $5.90 (L).
It’s a proper 3pm drink. Cold, fruity, lots of ice, something to chew on at the end.
What is moringa?
Moringa is a tree โ Moringa oleifera โ native to northern India and now grown right across the tropics. You’ve probably eaten part of it already without knowing: it’s the drumstick tree, the one those long green pods in sambar come from. In the Philippines the leaves are called malunggay; in Tamil, the tree is murungai.
In a lot of Asian and African homes the tree grows right outside the kitchen, and the leaves get picked fresh for soups and sauces (Winrock International has a good read on it). For drinks, the leaves are dried and ground into a fine green powder.
And the taste? Green and grassy, a little peppery. Think somewhere near matcha, but earthier.
Why is there moringa in the Pomelo Apple Tea?
Honest answer: it’s not new to us. Moringa is already in our Golden Chrysanthemum series, and it’s become one of the ingredients that holds our Mood Tea family together.
In Cloud Tea it does a specific job. When you take sugar down, a fruit tea can taste thin โ just sour citrus and ice. That green, grassy note from the moringa gives the pomelo, orange and apple something to sit on, so the cup still tastes full without us reaching for more syrup. Less sugar, still a proper drink. That’s the whole point of the series.
There’s a quieter reason as well. Across Asia and Africa, moringa has been the leaf people reach for when they want to settle down a bit โ used in traditional herbal practice to calm the mind and bring the body back into balance. That’s centuries of kitchen habit, not marketing.
If you’re going to buy a drink at 3pm anyway, it may as well be one with something interesting in it.
Is this the same as the Golden Chrysanthemum drinks?
No โ different drinks, same Mood Tea family. The Golden Chrysanthemum series is floral and built around chrysanthemum, with snow fungus or brown sugar QQ jelly. Cloud Tea is lighter: one milk tea, one fruit tea, and less sugar as the whole point.
Ordering Cloud Tea at I Love Taimei
Check the menu at your nearest outlet โ we’ve got 14 island-wide, open from 11:00 daily. Like everything else we make, it’s no pork, no lard. We’re not halal certified, and we’re upfront about that โ here’s the full explanation.
Members get 30% off any Cloud Tea Series drink. If you’re going to drink these more than once, sign up first.
FAQ
What is Cloud Tea?
Cloud Tea is I Love Taimei’s new Mood Tea Series. The idea is more tea and less sugar. There are two drinks: Light Milk Tea and Pomelo Apple Tea.
How much is Cloud Tea?
Light Milk Tea is $3.90 (M) or $4.90 (L). Pomelo Apple Tea is $4.90 (M) or $5.90 (L). Members get 30% off.
What tea can I choose for the Light Milk Tea?
Jasmine Tea, Four Seasons Tea or Dong Ding Oolong Tea.
What does moringa taste like?
Green and grassy, a little peppery โ close to matcha, but earthier. It’s the same tree that gives you drumsticks in sambar.
Does Cloud Tea contain pork or lard?
No. All I Love Taimei food and drinks are prepared with no pork and no lard. We are not halal certified.
Want the 30% off? Join I Love Taimei membership before your next cup.
Taste it for yourself โ 14 outlets island-wide. No pork, no lard.
