Dream Tea

It seems like the latest food trend that has been hitting YEG lately is shaved ice dessert! I’ve seen it pop up in various eateries (Dream Tea, Seorak, Hanjan) these past months. Dessert cafes with a focus on this Asian dessert are slowly appearing around the city as well (BlackBall and soon to be Snowy Village). Shaved ice dessert consists of soft shaved ice with different toppings. The shaved ice is usually covered in milk and its texture is suppose to have a resemblance to snow – cause who wouldn’t want to eat dessert snow?!

Dream Tea recently started serving Dream Snow Bingsoo which is basically Korean shaved ice dessert. It’s only available at their Whyte Ave location. They do have their regular shaved ice as well which has been offered for quite a while. It differs from Snow Bingsoo because the toppings aren’t as extravagant. Their regular shaved ice has bubble tea-like toppings such as tapioca, red bean, and lychee jelly. The Snow Bingsoo focuses on fresher toppings such as fruits, cheesecake, and house-made whipped cream. The wait time for their Snow Bingsoo is about 10 to 25 minutes, depending on if it’s busy or not. There are currently 7 different flavours offered: Matcha Snow, Mocha Cheesecake, Strawberry, Cotton Candy, Mango, Injeolmi (Korean rice cake), and Oreo. It costs around $8-$9 for one, depending on choice. Each Snow Bingsoo is good for sharing with 2 to 4 people.

The Strawberry Snow Bingsoo consists of shaved ice topped with fresh strawberries, thin roasted almond slices, house-made vanilla whipped cream, then drizzled with strawberry syrup and condensed milk. I’d say that Dream Tea doesn’t skimp on the toppings when it comes to their Snow Bingsoo!

This Bingsoo had matcha powder, small mochi pieces, thin roasted almond slices, then it was topped with a scoop of matcha iced cream, drizzled with white chocolate syrup and condensed milk. We asked for extra condensed milk on the side because we felt like it needed a bit more sweetness.

The Mango Snow Bingsoo was the most simplest. It had an abundance of fresh mango pieces, topped with home-made whipped cream and drizzled with condensed milk and mango syrup. The majority of my friends and I agreed that this would be our top Snow Bingsoo. The fresh mango was very sweet but most of the flavour did come from the mangoes. The shaved ice itself lacked a bit of condensed milk.

This was my second time having the Oreo Snow Bingsoo. On my first trip to try the Snow Bingsoo, I had shared this with a friend. This Bingsoo was mainly topped with crushed Oreo pieces, thin almond pieces, whipped cream, then drizzled with chocolate and caramel syrups. I love Oreos so I liked this Snow Bingsoo but during my first trip, my friend found it to be too sweet.

The Snow Bingsoo is worth a try if you’ve never had Asian shaved ice before. In regards to the shaved ice itself – it was a bit bland but the toppings made up for it. A little more condensed milk with the shaved ice would’ve given it more taste instead of feeling like you are just eating soft ice! Dream Tea has recently had renovations done as well so the inside feels more like a cute cafe in Asia, compared to before.