To read my full review with pics see here: http://www.citynomads.com/reviews/chinatown/176/tea-and-happiness-at-teyvika

Coffee coffee coffee, it's all about the coffee recently - or is it? Yes, cafes serving up speciality coffee might be popping up left, right and centre...so much so that quite frankly, we can hardly keep up. But could the recent opening of a tea establishment by the name of Teyvika mean that the tide is turning? Perhaps....

Teyvika is just one of the latest establishments breathing a new lease of life into Amoy Street...and not just Amoy Street...but also our love of tea; because the founders are nothing short of fanatical about tea. Opened only three months ago, Teyvika is the product of owners Yuchang Ho and James Wong's quest for the perfect tea. This is no overblown statement because they spent around eight months sourcing and tasting seemingly endless amounts of tea, and then painstakingly experimenting with the elements of temperature, water volume, brewing and steeping times to curate the perfect cup of tea.

Once they locked this down, they went one step further: to have a special, rather impressive machine custom-made, which allows them to customize the brew temperature, duration and size. We're talking serious tea curating here! And the beauty of this? Well, it's that you get the perfectly balanced cup of tea which ensures you don't get too much of that bitter tasting tannin spoiling your brew.

There are 17 kinds of tea to choose from, from light to dark and they're neatly charted out in their "Loose Tea Leaves Catalogue". These range from "Classics" a.k.a. drink by the bucket, through to "Artisan" for a more curious concoction, and "Connoisseur" teas aimed at tea purists - those which are subtle and require a more discerning palate to truly appreciate. Prices range depending on variety from $3.90 for a short to $5.80 to a tall.

Feeling a wee bit like a curious concoction, I opted to try one in this category first - the Lychee Black infusion. Now I have to admit feeling ashamed that the thought of tea without milk and/or sugar - apart from Jasmine, Green or herbal, slightly scares me. So this was, on the face of it, a somewhat odd choice for me.

But by golly, Teyvika's meticulous efforts to create the perfect cup of tea have now swayed me to the dark side - or at least the black tea side! A blend of black tea and lychee peel, the tea was incredibly smooth and well balanced with a subtle sweet aroma. I can see why this one is a hit with the ladies (sorry but it's true!).

My second visit to Teyvika got all the better because I was super excited to learn that they had recently introduced tea lattes and chai. It was the latter which got me all het up. Why? Let me explain. During my time traveling around India, chai or masala chai became a daily fixture. It's a beautiful tea brewed with a mixture of aromatic Indian spices and herbs and is quite frankly one of my favourite beverages on this planet.

But it's pretty hard to continue a faithful love affair with chai outside of India because brewing at home is a pain in the a**, chai tea bags are convenient but don't quite cut it, and well....you know...the big players like 'you-know-who' just stick in some powder and ta-dah!

So imagine my delight when I learnt that Teyvika brew their chai from scratch, with the perfect balance of tea, spices, milk n all! Say hello to the Chieftan Chai...actually this tea is made with Rooibos tea (a tea from South Africa) and so thanks to its naturally low tannin levels and sweet nutty undertones, it adds another level of "Ahhhhh" to the aromatic tea drinking experience - uber comforting and akin to having a really lovely hug.

Want to read on? See the rest here: http://www.citynomads.com/reviews/chinatown/176/tea-and-happiness-at-teyvika

Service is great and the carrot cake is one of my personal favourites at Teyvika.