LiHO TEA is the homegrown bubble tea chain from Royal T Group, born out of the old Gong Cha network here and now a fixture in malls and MRT stations. Its halal status is a perennial question in local Muslim food groups. The register answer is at the top of this page; here is the context around it.
What LiHO says
LiHO has not published a halal certification for its Singapore outlets. When a local halal directory put the question to the chain directly, LiHO replied that certain ingredients are not halal-certified. That is a notably candid answer. Many chains respond with a general no pork, no lard assurance, but LiHO’s reply points at the actual sticking point for drink brands, which is that syrups, toppings and other supplies are sourced from many vendors and not all of them carry certificates.
What this means for you
Take the brand’s statement at face value. This is not a case of a company staying silent, it is a company saying plainly that parts of its supply chain are uncertified. What that means for your own cup is a personal judgement, and this site does not make that call for you. What we can say is that there is no certificate to verify against the register, so if certification is your standard, treat LiHO as unverified rather than as either halal or non-halal. Chains do enter the register when they certify premises, so it is worth re-checking from time to time.
Certified alternatives
If you want a drink stop with a certificate you can actually check, start from these register-backed pages:
- Mr Bean - a certified homegrown chain whose soy drinks and desserts scratch a similar itch.
- The Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf - certified outlets for tea, coffee and iced blends.
- Snack bars and bakeries - the register category covering most certified drink and dessert kiosks.
To check any specific outlet, use the register search with the outlet name or the mall’s postal code.