I know, you know, we all know — I love milk tea like a crazy person. So in the interests of finding the best milk tea one can get their hands on in the local market (as well as drink copious amounts of tea without catching the ire of my flatmate Rael), I’ve put together a quick and dirty review of five Japanese bottled milk teas.

Coca Cola Koucha Kaden Royal Milk Tea

Koucha Kaden comes in an attractive, curvaceous bottle that’s easy to hold but difficult to store. As for the contents, Koucha Kaden has a pale, milky taste — as if the proportion of tea versus milk was skewed in favor of the white stuff. It’s not unpleasant, but personally I prefer my milk tea to have a more robust flavor. It is great however when you’ve just had something salty to snack on (like potato chips), the flavor makes a wonderful palate-cleansing contrast and you’ll finish the bottle before you know it.

Asahi Teao Golden Milk Tea

Asahi Teao comes on a squarish bottle that makes them nice to look at all lined up in your fridge — and I’m a sucker for that sort of thing. The drink itself has a very strong floral bouquet — as if they mixed milk with a cup of Jasmine tea instead of the more traditional English Breakfast. I’m sure some people like that sort of thing, but not me unfortunately; I have a feeling I’ll like the Teao Straight Tea variant more than the Milk Tea variant.

Kirin Gogo no Koucha

Kirin Gogo no Koucha comes in a bottle that is similarly squarish like Teao, although I have a sneaking suspicion it was Teao that did the bottle copying since Gogo no Koucha is one of the most popular bottled tea brands in Japan. Gogo no Koucha has a wonderfully balanced flavor that tastes equally good hot or cold. The milk does not overpower the flavors of the English Breakfast, and the tea does not have an acidic, tannin taste — making it a very pleasant beverage overall. One of my all-time favorites!

Kirin Gogo no Koucha Low Sugar

Like the regular variant Kirin Gogo no Koucha Low Sugar variant comes in a square bottle, but that’s where the similarities end. The Low Sugar Variant of Gogo no Koucha is (obviously) less sweet, less intense-tasting, and frankly less enticing than it’s full sugar variant. It’s like drinking watered down milk tea — not much fun. It’s really sad too because I love Gogo no Koucha, and this unappetizing version mars an otherwise flawless line-up of beverages.

Kirin Gogo no Koucha Special x2

Unlike its siblings, Gogo no Koucha Special comes in a slightly smaller, tapered bottle. You do get slightly less tea for the money compared to the other variants because of the bottle design, but the flavor more than makes up for the miniscule difference in volume. The tea flavor is robust and smooth, and the milk is more flavorful and fatty (the way whole milk tastes compared to skim). For folks who are familiar with pulled tea or teh tarik, Premium x2 tastes a little like that — except that it is not as foamy as its Singaporean counterpart. My favorite by far!

All the teas reviewed in this post are available at Chotto Stop, a Japanese supermarket in Little Tokyo (MAP). Chotto Stop works on a one price policy, with all items sold for just PhP 75 unless otherwise indicated. Chotto Stop is open every day from 11:00 AM to 10:00 PM, and new shipments fly in every week — but we recommend checking out the store on a weeknight as on weekends the store turns into a veritable battlefield.