PETALING JAYA, Jan 4 — Taiwan's popular boba milk drink Tiger Sugar is now open at Sunway Pyramid.
In an earlier Facebook post on December 28, Tiger Sugar Malaysia announced the grand opening would be on January 1 but this was subsequently postponed to 11am today.
According to Eugene Lu, one of the owners, they had to push back the ceremony due to an unforeseen flight delay. However, the business started on January 1.
On that day, the first 200 cups of Tiger Sugar were given out free to customers who popped by to see what the fuss was all about.
When I visited at 2pm yesterday, there was a long queue of people patiently waiting for their turn.
After about 48 minutes, I finally reached the counter to place my order. Once your order is placed, it takes roughly about 10 minutes to get your hands on the coveted drink.
Once you get your drink, it's picture time for the Instagram-worthy drink!
Some customers had come all the way from Kuala Lumpur to try out the drink since it's the first outlet in Malaysia.
One of those curious customers is the person behind Facebook page Go Travellicious.
She said she had tried the drink before in Taiwan and was curious about this outlet since it's the maiden one here.
Some observations we made during the visit: As you approach the kiosk, you'll smell an enticing aroma. This is their specialty brown sugar syrup being cooked with the boba in large pots.
Each drink goes through a multi-step process. First, the sides of the plastic cup are coated with the thick syrup.
Each cup is weighed to ensure the proper amount of syrup is used. Next, the boba are spooned inside. You can also have the option of mini pearls.
Then the ice cubes are added as well as cold milk. The ice cubes are firm and solid, unlike those you get from commercial ice suppliers, as they use filtered water.
You'll notice that Tiger Sugar only uses the Japanese Meiji brand of milk. No creamer is used. That particular brand — also used in Singapore — was selected for its creamier taste.
A dollop of cream mousse is added and the top is sealed before it's given to you once you show your order number.
Taste-wise, the drink is not overly sweet nor overwhelmingly rich. The boba is a little softer than the usual tapioca pearls and it has a slight chewy texture.
The drinks are priced from RM8.90 to RM12.90. There are four series available. The milk drinks have two series: one with brown sugar boba and another with brown sugar pearls which are smaller in size.
If you prefer tea latte, you can opt for the third series that is served with cream mousse or without.
The last series is tea; a choice of plain black or green with no milk or boba.
In the future, Lu whose company owns the master franchise for Tiger Sugar in Malaysia, has plans to expand all over the Federal Territory and Selangor. He is targeting about 10 outlets at the moment.
Places like Penang and Johor are also not ruled out. What that may hold them back from expanding quickly would be recruiting manpower as their business is labour intensive.
Tiger Sugar
Lot LG1.022 (Near Zara)
Sunway Pyramid Shopping Mall
Bandar Sunway
Petaling Jaya
Open: 10am to 10pm
