LiHO Drink Guide | Sugar Levels, Ice, Toppings and How to Order
The LiHO counter is easy once you know the system, and mildly stressful until you do. The queue is moving, the board is huge, and suddenly someone is asking you four questions in a row: size, sugar, ice, topping. This guide answers all four before you reach the front, so you can order in ten seconds and actually get the drink you meant to get.
The Four Decisions in Every LiHO Order
1. Size. Medium (about 500 ml) or Large (about 700 ml). Large costs S$1.00 more on most drinks, which makes it the better value when you are thirsty. Medium is the sensible default.
2. Sugar. 0, 30, 50, 70 or 100 percent. This is the decision that changes your drink the most, and it gets its own section below.
3. Ice. Extra, normal, less or none. Ice is not just cold, it is water waiting to happen, and in Singapore heat it happens fast.
4. Topping. Optional, always extra, and the easiest way to turn a plain tea into your tea. Pearls, jellies, pudding, red bean, cheese foam or cheese ice cream.
That is the whole system. Everything else in this guide is learning how to choose well inside those four decisions.
Sugar Levels, Honestly Explained
The percentage is how much of the standard syrup amount goes into your cup. Here is what each level actually tastes like, because the numbers alone tell you nothing.
| Sugar level | In a milk tea | In a fruit or pure tea |
|---|---|---|
| 0% | The tea and milk, unsweetened. Strong tea lovers only, can taste flat if the tea is light | Clean and refreshing, the fruit or tea flavour has to carry the cup, and usually it does |
| 30% | The regulars’ favourite. Sweet enough to feel like a treat, tea still clearly in charge | The sweet spot for fruit teas, fruit flavour first, sweetness behind it |
| 50% | The classic bubble tea taste most people grew up with. Start here if you are unsure | Noticeably sweet, good for sour fruits like calamansi and plum |
| 70% | Sweet first, tea second. For dessert moods, not daily drinking | Very sweet, only for the sweetest drinks and sweetest teeth |
| 100% | The full recipe. Rich, sugary, a once in a while cup | Rarely needed, the fruit syrups already bring sugar of their own |
One thing almost nobody tells first timers: the drink’s own ingredients add sweetness before the syrup does. Cheese foam is sweet. Brown sugar pearls are soaked in syrup. Fruit purees carry sugar. Kaya, caramel and gula melaka are sweet by definition. When a drink already has one of those, drop your sugar level by at least one step, sometimes two.
The Right Sugar Level for Each Drink Type
Ice, Explained Properly
Ice does two jobs: it chills the drink, and then it melts into it. The second job is the one to manage.
Normal ice is the default and the right choice if you are drinking the cup within fifteen minutes.
Less ice is the regulars’ setting. Your drink stays stronger for longer, because there is less melt water coming. If your bubble tea usually tastes watery by the halfway mark, this one change fixes it.
No ice suits pure teas and anyone drinking slowly at a desk. Know what you are getting: the cup is the same tea without the chill and without the melt, so it can taste stronger and the cup may not look filled to the brim. That is normal, not a short pour.
Extra ice is for the hottest days and the sweetest drinks, where a little dilution is honestly welcome.
For delivery, always choose less ice. Your drink spends twenty minutes in a bag before it meets you, and normal ice will have done its melting damage by then. Cheese foam drinks suffer most in delivery, the foam thins and sinks, so order CheezHO drinks for pickup whenever you can.
The Toppings Guide
A topping should match the drink, not just fill it. Here is every topping on the board, what it actually tastes like, and where it belongs.
Pearl
The classic chewy tapioca pearl. Belongs in classic milk teas and brown sugar drinks. Skip it in delicate pure teas, it shouts over them.
Golden Pearl
Softer, sweeter and a little more caramel in flavour than the regular pearl. The natural partner for fresh milk drinks. Members know it well: it is the pearl in the S$1.90 app milk tea.
Herbal Jelly
Smooth, cooling and barely sweet. Slides rather than chews. Lovely in pure teas and milk teas when you want texture without a sugar hit.
Aiyu Jelly
Light, soft and citrus friendly. This is the fruit tea topping, it disappears into the drink in the best way.
Pudding
Silky egg pudding cubes that turn a milk tea toward dessert. Best in classic and flavoured milk teas.
Red Bean
Earthy, gently sweet, almost a meal in the bottom of the cup. Works beautifully with oat milk and matcha style drinks.
CheezHO Cheese Foam
The transformer. Add it to any pure tea and you have built your own cheese tea. Rich and lightly salted, so order the tea underneath at 0 to 30 percent sugar.
Cheese Ice Cream
The full treat. It melts slowly into the drink and the last third of the cup becomes dessert. Best on signature and milk drinks, and only at outlets carrying the Cheese Ice Cream range.
On calories, the honest order from lightest to heaviest runs: aiyu and herbal jelly at the light end, pearls and pudding in the middle, and cheese foam and cheese ice cream at the rich end. If you are watching sugar, the topping choice matters almost as much as the sugar percentage.
Milk Choices, Decoded
The standard base is what classic milk teas are built on. Creamy, familiar and the cheapest way to drink LiHO. This is the taste most people picture when they think bubble tea.
Fresh milk costs a little more (fresh milk teas run about S$0.80 above their classic cousins) and tastes like it: cleaner, lighter, more like real milk and less like a dessert. Choose it if classic milk tea ever feels too heavy or too sweet for you.
Oat milk is the dairy free door into the milk tea menu. It brings a soft, cereal creaminess that suits roasted teas especially well. The Oat Milk Da Hong Pao is the one to reach for here, roasted tea and oat milk were made for each other.
Coconut milk shows up in the lighter and floral ranges, giving a tropical softness. It pairs with pandan and kaya flavours better than any other milk on the menu.
Fully dairy free? Pure teas and most fruit teas carry no milk at all, and oat milk covers the creamy cravings. Just skip the cheese foam and cheese ice cream, both are dairy.
Five Orders, Written Out in Full
Still not sure? Copy one of these word for word at the counter. Each one is a complete order: drink, size, sugar, ice, topping and the total counter price.
Regulars’ Habits Worth Stealing
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the best sugar level at LiHO?
For most people, 30 percent for milk teas and fruit teas, 0 to 30 percent for cheese teas, and 0 percent for pure teas and brown sugar drinks. Start there and adjust by taste.
Is 0 percent sugar at LiHO really sugar free?
The added syrup is zero, but toppings, fruit purees, cheese foam and brown sugar syrups carry sugar of their own. A 0 percent pure tea with no topping is the closest thing to a fully sugar free cup.
Does less ice mean less drink?
No. It means the same drink with less melt water on the way, so it stays stronger. A no ice cup can look less full, because nothing is taking up space. That is physics, not shortchanging.
What is the difference between pearl and golden pearl?
Golden pearls are softer and sweeter with a light caramel note, regular pearls are chewier and more neutral. Golden for fresh milk drinks, regular for classic milk teas.
Can I get LiHO drinks without dairy?
Yes. Choose pure teas or fruit teas, which carry no milk, or pick the oat milk range for a creamy drink. Skip cheese foam and cheese ice cream toppings.
What should a first timer order at LiHO?
The Cheese Guan Yin at 30 percent sugar if you want the famous one, or the Classic order in the five orders above if you want the safe favourite. Both are written out in full earlier on this page.