Food

10 Best Bubble Tea Brands in Singapore (2026) — Koi, LiHO, Mixue, HEYTEA & More

From Koi's perfectly chewy pearls to Mixue's S$5 mega cups and HEYTEA's cheese foam, we ranked Singapore's 10 best bubble tea brands for 2026 — what each does best, and which to queue for.

Jamie Tan29 April 20268 min read

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Singapore's bubble tea scene is in flux. Gong Cha temporarily exited the market in late 2025 (with a planned 2026 relaunch as 'Gong Cha 2.0'), Mixue's S$1 ice cream and S$5 mega cups have shaken up the value end, and oat-milk and cheese-foam options have moved from niche to standard at most major chains.

We tasted our way through every major brand still standing in Singapore for 2026 — weighing tea quality, pearl chew, sweetness control, and value. Here are the 10 best bubble tea brands in Singapore today, what each is genuinely good at, and which signature drink to order at each.

Koi Thé

Singaporeans' favourite bubble tea brand by polling — credited with kicking off the modern bubble tea wave. Koi's strength is consistency: the milk-tea base is reliably aromatic, the pearls always chewy with the right bite, and sweetness levels are well-calibrated across all 30+ outlets. Order: Hokkaido Milk Tea with Pearl, low sugar, less ice. The cult favourite.

LiHO TEA

The local favourite — and the most consistently innovative on the wellness front. LiHO has led on Singapore-inspired flavours (gula melaka, pandan, kaya), oat-milk variants, and lower-sugar lines that genuinely taste good rather than punishing. Pricing sits firmly in the affordable middle tier. Order: Brown Sugar Pearl Milk with oat milk, or the rotating local-flavour seasonal.

Tiger Sugar

The brown-sugar-boba specialist that started the dripping-stripes Instagram trend. Tiger Sugar's brown sugar pearls are house-made, deeply caramelised, and chewier than most — paired with fresh milk rather than the usual milk-tea base. Slightly more expensive than mainstream chains, but the seasonal Pandan Brown Sugar and Gula Melaka variants are worth the premium. Order: Brown Sugar Boba Milk with Cream Mousse.

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Mixue 蜜雪冰城

The Chinese giant that arrived in 2024 and rewrote the value end of the market. Mixue's signature is the price: S$5 for a large cup, S$1 ice cream, and lemonades around S$2.50 — well below any local chain. Quality is fine for the price (not exceptional, but consistent), and they've expanded fast to Bugis, Serangoon, Paya Lebar, AMK Hub, Pagoda Street, Yew Tee Point. Order: Fresh Lemonade or Strawberry Boba.

HEYTEA 喜茶

The cheese-foam tea pioneer. HEYTEA built its name on the cheezo (salted cheese foam) topping that you sip through to get a savoury-sweet contrast against the tea — still the signature you should try first. They use fresh natural fruit, premium milk, and skip artificial flavours and creamers, which shows in the flavour cleanness. Pricier than most. Order: Cheezo Mango or Cheezo Grape.

Chicha San Chen 吃茶三千

The brand for tea-drinking purists. Chicha San Chen brews each cup to order from leaves grown on its own Taiwan tea farms — the resulting tea aroma is genuinely closer to a pour-over than the standardised concentrates that most chains use. Pricier and slower, but if you care about the tea itself rather than the toppings, this is the brand. Order: Four Seasons Spring Tea or Oriental Beauty.

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Playmade by 丸作

The handmade-pearl specialist. Playmade's boba is rolled by hand in-store every day and rotates through unique flavours like pink cactus, burnt caramel, black sesame and brown sugar — some only available on specific weekdays. Worth checking the daily flavour board before ordering. The Earl Grey milk tea base also stands out as one of the better-balanced versions in town. Order: ask the counter for today's pearl.

R&B Tea

The Taiwanese student-budget pick. R&B sits in the sweet spot of decent quality at clearly lower prices — Brown Sugar Milk Tea around S$3.60 vs S$5+ at Tiger Sugar. Quality is competitive at the price point. They lean into fruit teas and creative seasonal items more than the brown-sugar-boba crowd. A good no-fuss daily option. Order: Brown Sugar Milk Tea with Pearls.

Each-A-Cup

The old-school survivor. Around since the first bubble tea wave hit Singapore, Each-A-Cup has quietly held on with classic formulations and a mall-heavy footprint that makes it the easy default when you walk past. Their Brown Sugar Pearl Milk Tea, Honey Lemon Ai Yu Jelly, and Yakult Apple Jelly Milk Tea are throwback orders most newer brands don't do anymore. Order: Brown Sugar Pearl Milk Tea or Yakult Green Tea.

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Sharetea 歇脚亭

The Taiwanese veteran with one of the longer Singapore lineages and a reputation for clean, consistent execution. Sharetea's tea-base flavour is more pronounced than most milk-heavy competitors, and the pearls are reliably good. Their Wintermelon Tea and Hawaii Fruit Tea are signatures you don't see at the bigger chains. Order: Wintermelon Tea with Pearls or Hawaii Fruit Tea.

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