Maginhawa Street in UP Village is, what we can consider, an Eat Street.

It offers international flavors in its 2-kilometer long road. An where from !a"anese to home-cooked meals, it can cover for o#. $#t what sets it a"art from the rest is the n#m%er of Milktea "laces along the 2-kilometer stretch. As Vincent &elos Santos, an al#mn#s of 'laret School of (#e)on 'it , a school near Maginhawa Street, said, *Maginhawa is definitel the Milktea 'a"ital of the Phili""ines. Milk tea is the new coffee and Maginhawa is the "lace to go for o# milk tea fi+. ,here are dedicated milk tea "laces in Maginhawa. ,his does not incl#de other "laces that offer milk teas in their men#. .hat/s more interesting is the fact that most of them are %#ndled together in one small area in Maginhawa. Milkteas come in different flavors, add-ons, si)es and sweetness level. All these o# can control. I %elieve this one of the reasons that milk teas have ca#ght on as a trend. Maginhawa has its fair share of the milk tea "laces. As I have mentioned a%ove, there are, % m co#nt, - dedicated milk tea "laces in Maginhawa. ,hese are Moonleaf, 0en,ea, Sim"le 1ine, 'ha &ao, Serenitea and Infinitea. Each one has its own "ros and cons. I wo#ld like to highlight, for this article, 2 of those aforementioned3 Moonleaf, 0en,ea and Sim"le 1ine. Moonleaf ,ea Place is one of the most famo#s milk tea "laces aro#nd the Metro right now. .hat sets it a"art from all the other milk tea "laces in Maginhawa is the fact that it traces it origin near the Maginhawa are. ,his older, and smaller, sho" is in Magiting street, a sidestreet of Maginhawa. A stone/s throw awa from this is their newer sho", a converted %#ngalow. ,he older store can %arel fit 42 "eo"le in their waiting area. $eca#se of this, it is ver hot after the dismissal of the schools near% . ,he st#dents flock the "lace. ,ho#gh a lot %igger than the older sho", the newer one still s#ffers the same fate as the "revio#s5 the %oth get flocked % high school st#dents after their dismissal. Second on the list is 0en,ea. ,his tea "lace has a lot of following among st#dents. ,his is %eca#se most of its %ranches are near schools and residential areas. 6o# can easil identif a 0en,ea c#", witho#t the sticker of their name in the front, %eca#se the do not have a sealed to". ,he #se a remova%le cover, like the ones #sed in fastfood chains like Mc&onalds. Also, their c#"s are ver st#rd . It feels m#ch more solid than those of other milk tea "laces. ,he men# offers different st le of drinking tea. ,he have, what the call, Personalitea. ,hese are teas that are mi+ed #" with different s r#"s, 7#st like mocktails. ,he have 8reen ,ea Iced ,eas, which are 7#st normal green teas with flavor. 1ast, %#t definitel not the least, are their milk teas. ,he give these teas ver f#n names like 'arnival 9'aramel Milk ,ea:, ;ai 'ha 9Pearl Milk ,ea:, etc. 1ast on the list is Sim"le 1ine. ,his milk tea "lace o"ened in A#g#st 2<42, which means it is relativel new to the Maginhawa scene. &#ring its o"ening, it gave o#t co#"ons for free milk teas. I %elieve that this marketing strateg worked as, months after its o"ening, the are alwa s overflowing with st#dents from 2-= in the afternoon. .hat I see as their strongest selling "oint is the fact that their teas are the chea"est among the three I have mentioned. ,he chea"est milk tea the offer is a Ph" =< medi#m-si)ed Milk ,ea. >or st#dents on a %#dget, Sim"le 1ine is sim"l the wa to go. Even tho#gh it is chea"er than the other two, it is 7#st as flavorf#l. ,hese are m 2 favorite milk tea "laces, not 7#st in Maginhawa, %#t aro#nd the Metro. 6et, with their "o"#larit , there are the na sa ers who sa that milk teas are a fad and that its "o"#larit will fade. I do %elieve that the "o"#larit of milk teas will wane %#t, in m o"inion, milk teas are here to sta , 7#st like Star%#cks. .h are milk teas here to sta ? I have 2 main reasons. 4: They have a following. Each milk tea "lace has its own "atrons. ,hese "atrons choose the s"ecific tea "lace for a reason. ,he ma like the tea, the wa it is served, the "rices or the total e+"erience. As !#les 8#iang, a UP St#dent 'o#ncil officer, 'laretian and

certified 0en,ea faithf#l, said *@k ang crowd, staff at "lace.A 8etting milk tea is not 7#st a mechanical action %#t is also a total e+"erience. 2: It is definitely cheaper than coffee. ;ow, don/t get me wrong and think that I don/t like coffee, I do, %#t milk teas are definitel chea"er than the coffee and other %everages sold in "o"#lar cafes. ,he difference %etween milk tea "laces and cafBs are the crowd. Milk tea "laces tend to have a o#nger crowd than that of cafBs. So, it is a generational thing. Also, o# get coffee to get o#r dail dose of caffeine, to soak in the so"histicated air in cafBs, or, sim"l , o# love the atmos"here. ,his is, also, something milk tea "laces can offer o#. ,he can "rovide a sim"le and laid-%ack atmos"here good for hanging o#t with o#r friends, in contrast to the ver so"histicated and %#siness-like atmos"here in cafBs. So, what are o# waiting for? 8et o#r milk tea fi+ nowC