Ice cream & tea chains in Malaysia
Malaysia can get hot, and the best way to beat the heat is with ice cream or iced tea. It’s no wonder then that more shops selling the duo at low prices have been cropping up in our neighbourhoods, including well-known names from China and Indonesia.
As these shops offer similar menu items and all feature an adorable mascot, we hit the streets of KL to try 7 ice cream and tea chains – from the well-known MIXUE to the lesser-known Bingchun – to find out if their staples are actually good and just how unique each menu is.
Table of Contents
1. Momoyo
Our first stop was Momoyo in Petaling Street. Hailing from Indonesia, the shop’s red-and-yellow colour scheme makes it hard to miss among the row of shops there. The mascot – a cute creature in a polar bear headpiece – and an ice cream display by the shop both stand as prominent markers, too.
What we ordered:
MOMO Joy Cone
The first thing we noticed with MOMO Joy Cone (RM2) is its strong vanilla smell. No surprise, the vanilla flavour was strong when we had our lick of it. It’s sweet, too. Flavour options here are limited to vanilla and matcha. The latter is pretty refreshing in the sea of vanilla ice creams offered by other budget-friendly ice cream and drink shops.
Price: 5/5
Taste: 2/5
Variety: 2/5
Overall rating: 3/5
Sarah, lactose intolerant: “It can double as a vanilla-scented diffuser”.
Brooklyn, former barista: “Solid vanilla flavour that isn’t overpowering, pretty good”.
Xin Yee, coffee lover: “Too strong on the vanilla taste. I was a little shooketh”.
Original Boba Milk Tea
If you’re in the camp of people who agree that bubble milk tea should be equal parts tea and milk, the Original Boba Milk Tea (RM5) from Momoyo might disappoint. To us, it tasted like straight-up tea. As in, the milk was nowhere in the room with us. The tapioca pearls did not add any flavour to the drink either. It just gave each sip a slight chew.
Price: 5/5
Taste: 1/5
Variety: 1/5
Overall rating: 2/5
Sarah: “It’s no sugar-boba-drink final boss”.
Brooklyn: “Very tea-forward to the point of overpowering the milk. But I don’t dislike it”.
Xin Yee: “Tasted kind of watered-down, with mushy bobas”.
Bonus menu item
We ordered the original Egg Waffle (RM5.50), as we were impressed to find a hot food item on the menu. Though it’s on the sweeter side, each egg waffle is made to order and served piping hot. It comes in a convenient packaging too, making it easy to munch on even on the go.
While the egg waffle didn’t exactly come off as a standout or a must-try, it feels perfect for those rainy days or colder mornings in Malaysia. When paired with ice cream and sweet syrups, the balance of hot and cold will hit just right.
Price: 4/5
Taste: 3/5
Uniqueness: 2/5
Overall rating: 3/5
Sarah: “It tastes like sweet takoyaki with pancake filling”.
Brooklyn: “It wasn’t as crispy as I’d hoped it’d be, but taste-wise, it’s good”.
Xin Yee: “It’s lowkey addictive with the dense texture”.
2. MIXUE
Our next stop was the OG of ice cream and tea shops: MIXUE. The chain from China is becoming a household name in Malaysia, with locations in almost every corner of the nation, from small towns to prominent spots like KL’s Bukit Bintang. Its iconic cone-nosed Snow King mascot and jingle are pretty much familiar to most Malaysians, at this point.
What we ordered:
MIXUE Ice Cream
The MIXUE Ice Cream (RM2) is a classic that needs little to no introduction. It’s a typical vanilla ice cream, with just the right hit of vanilla flavour. It definitely satisfies on any day, whether hot or cool. However, compared to other shops, there is just this one flavour available here.
Price: 5/5
Taste: 4/5
Variety: 1/5
Overall rating: 3/5
Sarah: “You can never go wrong with this. In MIXUE, we trust”.
Brooklyn: “The standard go-to budget ice cream, other than McDonald’s”.
Xin Yee: “Exactly how I expect a vanilla ice cream would taste”.
Classic Milk Tea
The tapioca pearls in MIXUE’s Classic Milk Tea (RM5) take the crown for the “sweetest boba pearls” on our list.
It’ll pair best with milk tea that’s 50% or less in sugar, as the pearls definitely add to the drink’s overall sweetness. You can tweak the sugar levels for the milk tea at MIXUE, so bonus points for that. As for the milk tea itself, there’s a good balance of tea and milk to please most people.
Price: 5/5
Taste: 3/5
Variety: 3/5
Overall rating: 3.5/5
Sarah: “This was too sweet”.
Brooklyn: “THE standard for budget bubble tea. You can never go wrong with this”.
Xin Yee: “The bobas were so sweet they hijacked the good milk tea. Every bite felt like a sugar jump scare”.
Bonus menu item
The Strawberry Bobo (RM5) is a classic iced fruity drink that refreshes on any given hot sunny day. It’s a blend of strawberry and lemon juice, and sweet with a tinge of zest. While the taste was good – granted, it was a really hot day when we ordered it – at its core, it’s just an iced fruit juice that didn’t really taste much different from MIXUE’s best-selling order, the lemonade.
Price: 5/5
Taste: 4/5
Uniqueness: 2/5
Overall rating: 3.5/5
Sarah: “Perfect for Malaysia’s hot weather”.
Brooklyn: “It’s best to opt for a lower sugar level so it isn’t sickly sweet, but it is seriously refreshing”.
Xin Yee: “SWEET. No cap…but like, in CAPS”.
3. WEDRINK
Our next stop was WEDRINK, which also originates from China. While its mascot sports a similar red-and-white colour scheme, the shop itself stands out with its teal blue theme colour. The front counter gave us tropical vibes – a promise that our thirst would be quenched with their drinks.
What we ordered:
Original Ice Cream
Coffee is typically the drink of choice when we’re trying to stay awake. But we reckon that the Original Ice Cream (RM2) from WEDRINK would work similarly on our bodies. The sweetness made us recoil into ourselves – it jarred us awake from our afternoon drowsiness upon the first lick. To us, it pretty much tasted like condensed milk in ice cream form.
Though we’ll give the shop some extra points for having a variety of flavours: matcha, durian, and chocolate.
Price: 4/5
Taste: 0/5
Variety: 4/5
Overall rating: 2.5/5
Sarah: “Your Honour, this ice cream harassed my taste buds”.
Brooklyn: “Tastes like evaporated milk turned into ice cream. It’s a hard pass for me”.
Xin Yee: “Condensed milk turned into ice cream. A solid no from me”.
Milk Tea with 2 Toppings
From the colour of the Milk Tea with 2 Toppings (RM5.50), we thought this drink would be really milky and almost no tea taste in sight. But to our surprise, the tea-to-milk ratio is balanced well. We also love that they have 3 toppings we can choose from for this drink: red bean, tapioca pearls, and coconut jelly.
Price: 4/5
Taste: 3.5/5
Variety: 3/5
Overall rating: 3.5/5
Sarah: “The different squishy textures are not for me”.
Brooklyn: “The dark horse of budget bubble teas”.
Xin Yee: “Wow… why is this so good? It is one that you can finish without feeling sugar-hijacked”.
Bonus menu item
At first glance, we were thrown off by the drink-to-ice ratio in the Watermelon Latte (RM6). That aside, we’re drawn to the concept of fruity lattes and for watermelon to be the fruit choice of this combination. After mixing it and taking a sip, we concluded that some things are best enjoyed separately.
Price: 4/5
Taste: 1/5
Uniqueness: 3/5
Overall rating: 2.5/5
Sarah: “Let’s not”.
Brooklyn: “The watermelon taste can be faintly detected, but it wasn’t a good combination”.
Xin Yee: “Nah”.
4. BINGXUE
Our next stop still lurks in Bukit Bintang. We headed to Plaza Lowyat to find BINGXUE. This orange brand, which hails from China, features a polar bear mascot and also sells egg waffles, to our surprise.
It also has a very modern and trendy vibe, and offers similar beverage choices as the others, but we were surprised to find that they grind their coffee beans fresh for their drinks.
What we ordered:
Bingxue Ice Cream (Original)
The Bingxue Ice Cream (RM2) has that balanced sweet milky taste, with a smooth texture. As for their range of flavour offerings, there’s matcha and a mix of matcha and original.
Price: 5/5
Taste: 5/5
Variety: 3/5
Overall rating: 4.5/5
Sarah: “I wish I weren’t lactose intolerant”.
Brooklyn: “Other than Mixue, this one is probably just as good, if not better, in my opinion”.
Xin Yee: “Actually GOOD”.
Brown Sugar Bubble Tea
Two words: perfect balance. The Brown Sugar Bubble Tea (RM5.50) from BINGXUE is not too sweet, and has the ideal balanced milk and tea taste. The boba pearls are also not too sweet. As for variety, BINGXUE also offers Jasmine milk tea, red bean milk tea, and a milk tea with jelly toppings – extra points for this.
Price: 5/5
Taste: 5/5
Variety: 4/5
Overall rating: 4.5/5
Sarah: “New favourite boba place!”
Brooklyn: “I agree 100% with Sarah”.
Xin Yee: “BALANCE”.
Bonus menu item
Here we encountered another fruity coffee drink that interested us: Lychee Americano (RM7). There are actually lychee bits in the drink, which made us hope this sweet coffee could be something enjoyable. But we stopped after the first sip. While the Americano is nice, the lychee diluted the caffeine somewhat, while not having much of a flavour of its own.
Yeah, let’s just separate fruit from coffee, from now on.
Price: 4/5
Taste: 2/5
Uniqueness: 2/5
Overall rating: 2.5/5
Sarah: “Respectfully, I love lychee and coffee separately”.
Brooklyn: “For those who enjoy a light roast for their coffee, this is not bad. You can barely taste the lychee, though”.
Xin Yee: “If you like coffee, then maybe this is not the one…”
5. Ai-CHA
Our next location was Berjaya Times Square to find Indonesia’s Ai-CHA. Their mascot is a cute penguin wearing an orange hat and scarf to match its beak and feet. Clearly, their mascot has a good sense of fashion.
What we ordered:
Ai-Scream Vanilla
Nothing too exciting about the Ai-Scream Vanilla (RM1.99). It basically just tastes like…store-bought vanilla ice cream. Which is fine, since it’s hard to go wrong with classic vanilla. Though we’re throwing in points in the variety factor. Ai-CHA serves sea salt-flavoured ice cream, making it a standout from the rest of the shops in this list.
Price: 5/5
Taste: 3/5
Variety: 3/5
Overall rating: 3.5/5
Me: “It’s meh”.
Brooklyn: “Nothing bad, but also nothing special. Pretty standard”.
Xin Yee: “Okay okay lo“.
Ai-Milk Tea Pearl
From the colour, we expected the Ai-Milk Tea Pearl (RM5) to be super milky. And that’s exactly what we got. It would have been great if the tea were a bit stronger to balance the milk out. Though, bonus points to Ai-CHA for having coconut milk tea as one of the milk tea choices.
Price: 5/5
Taste: 2/5
Variety: 3/5
Overall rating: 3/5
Sarah: “My intestines are filing a complaint”.
Brooklyn: “It was a solid choice, probably just too milk”.
Xin Yee: “Surprisingly strong in brown sugar taste when what we had was the classic version”.
Bonus menu item
None.
6. Aisu
We kid you not that we travelled all the way to Pandan Indah, Ampang, to locate an Aisu outlet.
Here’s another red and white ice cream shop – but with a cute cow as its mascot. Sitting in front of the shop is a whiteboard sign that reads: “Buy RM10 Get Free 1 Token”. Next to it, a claw machine where you can win vouchers from the shop.
What we ordered:
Aisu Hokkaido Milk Ice Cream
We had high expectations from the name of this ice cream – Aisu Hokkaido Milk Ice Cream (RM2). And the ice cream does taste different from the other shops in this list. It was definitely giving ‘premium’. Another flavour Aisu offers is taro, something we hadn’t seen in any of the other shops.
Price: 5/5
Taste: 4/5
Variety: 3/5
Overall rating: 3/5
Sarah: “Is this premium milk?”
Brooklyn: “The portion alone is worth the money”.
Xin yee: “Not bad”.
Classic Milk Tea
The thing that stands out with the Classic Milk Tea (RM5) is the consistency. This milk tea is thick-ish and smooth. We’re not sure what they put in this drink, but it certainly felt like we were drinking bougie milk tea from a high-end tea shop. As for the taste, the tea is slightly stronger and not too sweet.
Price: 5/5
Taste: 4/5
Variety: 1/5
Overall rating: 3/5
Sarah: “Premium tea vibes that make me feel like a Datin”.
Brooklyn: “Tastes like Teh C Peng with pearls, pretty good!”
Xin Yee: “OMG. This is Teh-C with a richer taste! Not complaining though, I actually enjoyed it a lot”.
Bonus menu item
We were thrown off by the visuals of the Crispy Taro Typhoon (RM5.50). For context, this menu item is advertised as a frozen treat that can be flipped upside down without falling out of the cup. But seeing that the ice cream arrived in a semi-melted state, we weren’t taking any chances to find out if the claims were true.
The taste of the taro was a little…off. There was just something amiss about the flavour. And while the crunchy rice treats inside were kind of nice, they absorbed a lot of the moisture from the ice cream.
Points for creativity and uniqueness, though.
Price: 5/5
Taste: 1/5
Uniqueness: 3/5
Overall rating: 3/5
Sarah: “It tastes as sad as it looks”.
Brooklyn: “The texture was probably the most off-putting for me, it was in the state of being thick ice cream and melting at the same time”.
Xin Yee: “Weird”.
7. Bing Chun
It wasn’t easy to find a Bing Chun outlet. I had to make a solo trip all the way to Bangi to find the China chain shop tucked away in a neighbourhood mall. Upon first impression, the outlet was cute and gave off good vibes – the mascot just looked so happy with a drink in its hand.
What we ordered:
Original Ice Cream
The Original Ice Cream (RM2) has a really satisfying twirl. Taste-wise, it was quite milky and not too sweet. Other flavours include matcha and a mix of matcha and original flavours. My impression: I’ll gladly fart up a storm to have this every day.
Price: 5/5
Taste: 5/5
Variety: 3/5
Overall rating: 4/5
Boba Milk Tea
The mascot on the Boba Milk Tea (RM5.50) cup really makes you feel optimistic. Taking a sip from the drink, I tasted something else mixed in the milk tea. It threw me off slightly at first, but I was not too bothered by it since the mascot is persuading me to be happy and content. But I believe it was the taste of coconut milk, since the shop specialises in coconut milk beverages.
Price: 5/5
Taste: 3/5
Variety: 4/5
Overall rating: 4/5
Bonus menu item
The packaging that I received the Mulberry Popping Pearls Juice (RM7) in? Gorgeous. It’s giving BlackPink collabs with Louis Vuitton. This presentation made it feel like I’m buying a premium drink, but it’s only RM7. As for the drink itself, the pearls, unfortunately, did not pop.
Price: 5/5
Taste: 5/5
Uniqueness: 3/5
Overall rating: 4/5
I scream, you scream, we all scream for ice cream
To conclude, too much ice cream and milk tea makes you crave salt and hot sugarless tea. Jokes aside, we’re glad to have these many options of ice cream and tea shops in Malaysia, so we can all find one to suit us just right.
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Cover image adapted from: TheSmartLocal Malaysia
Photography by Janet, XinYee, and Sarah.