HEYTEA Gardenia 5

The HEYTEA Gardenia 5 is $11.90 and 190 calories. Gardenia tea over coconut water with a pistachio cloud on top, which makes it the lightest of the capped Tea Lab drinks.

The 5 is the build code for coconut water. Where 3.6 means a dairy base, 5 means the tea goes over coconut water instead, and the same tea can appear on the board both ways at the same price. Both Gardenia builds are $11.90, so the choice is texture rather than budget.

Coconut water is a strange partner for scented tea and it works better than it sounds. It carries its own sweetness, so less syrup goes in, and it is thin where milk is thick, which leaves the gardenia perfume completely exposed. Nothing is buried in this cup.

The difference against the dairy version is 190 against 280, and 9g of fat against 15g. That is a real gap for two drinks that cost the same and sit next to each other on the board. Sugar stays close, at 18g here against 22g there, because coconut water contributes its own.

The pistachio cloud is still dairy, which is worth saying plainly. This is a lighter drink rather than a dairy-free one, and anyone avoiding milk needs the cloud left off. Ask at the counter and the drink becomes tea and coconut water alone, which is closer to the Gardenia 1 with a sweeter base.

Protein drops to 2g without the milk, so this does not fill you the way the 3.6 does. It reads as refreshment rather than as a small meal, and it suits hot weather far better.

The cloud behaves differently here too. Over milk it thins in slowly. Over coconut water it folds in faster, because there is less body underneath to hold it up. Drink the top third quickly.

Order it iced. Coconut water served hot loses its clean edge and turns faintly cooked, which is the one way this drink goes wrong.

For the milk version of the same tea, the Gardenia 3.6 is $11.90. For coconut against a fruit base instead of a tea base, the Coconut Mango Blue is $8.99.