Green Grotto Tea Room at McNicoll - hot tea edition review

To see the review of this cafe in general please click here. 

After my good experiences at Green Grotto at McNicoll, I have became a frequent visitor of this place. At this particular visit, I was going to stay a bit longer than usual because I had some translation work to do with a friend, we both agreed that getting hot teas was a better choice on a cold Spring day, and we wanted something that was healthier. We ended up getting two pots of hot teas. What was good is that they also offered us complimentary popcorn (I guess you can tell I am a big fan of popcorn).

So for a little recap, Green Grotto is a relaxing tea room which offers a variety of drinks and some snacks. Similar to "traditional" cafes they have Asian magazines and their space is the perfect environment to sit, chat, complimentary wifi. You can just go there to chill after a long days work.

Due to bad experiences at other bubble tea places, I tend to avoid getting "hot" drinks because even with the unlimited refills they offer, the tea is not worth it, as they put so little "dry leaves/flowers" so the tea doesn't even have taste after the 3rd refill. HOWEVER, I was almost shocked and am so glad it is not the case for Green Grotto, they literally load up your teapot filter with the dry stuff... so after filling up my teapot for the 5th time, my tea still tasted as rich as the first cup. I highly recommend you getting teas which are mixed with different things rather than just one basic thing. My friend got Longan + Osmanthus and I got plain Osmanthus. I was actually quite happy with my tea till I tried my friend's, since it was much tastier and sweeter.

As you can imagine, we were there for quite a while (when you translate stuff, time literally flies). So after staying there for almost 5 hours, we were hungry! We ordered a Sesame filled pancake (at first we thought it would be like crepes or PANCAKES but turns out it was the Chinese dessert "pancake" type). It was quite tasty, and the filling was good!

If you are looking for a place to do some "simple work" (don't abuse it by staying there for 10 hours cramming for an exam ;P, just kidding), I highly recommend this place, the people there are friendly, the customers are polite and aren't distracting.

EDIT
my friend asked me about hours of this place, so I thought I would post them here (forgot to ask them about opening time... I think it is around 1PM each day):
closing time:
Sunday - Thursday: 12:00AM
Friday - Saturday: 1:00AM

Green Grotto at McNicoll review - cold drinks edition

I have always been a fan of bubble tea cafes because you can enjoy various types of drinks (which range from green teas, black teas, red teas, coffee, fruit juices, etc) and like most "traditional" cafes they usually provide magazines and a perfect environment to sit, chat, surf web (most places provide free wifi) and just relax.

I have recently been acquainted to Green Grotto which is located at McNicoll and Midland Road. Like most Green Grotto's I have been to, the place is small and cozy. But unlike most Green Grotto's I have been to (and thank goodness!) it is not packed, so it is a lovely environment to hang out with friends and chat and relax.

One thing I like about Green Grotto is that they provide complementary free popcorn, it's nice to chew on something light while you are at a bubble tea place. Usually I am a fan of popcorn chicken, but sometimes, that can be too heavy if you just want to chill-ax with some friends after a heavy meal.

Overall, I think Green Grotto's drinks are well made, at this particular visit, I ordered Fuji Apple Yogurt while my friend ordered Green Apple Yogurt (a frequent visitor of this place recommended their yogurt drinks so we decided to order that). It tasted quite good, it wasn't too sweet or sour just easy to drink.

If you are looking for a place to go for your next friend reunion or simply just a place to sit down and chat, this is the place for you!

To see the review for "hot tea drinks" at Green Grotto please click here

EDIT
my friend asked me about hours of this place, so I thought I would post them here (forgot to ask them about opening time... I think it is around 1PM each day):
closing time:
Sunday - Thursday: 12:00AM
Friday - Saturday: 1:00AM