Zero-sugar milk tea stick mixed with milk, tested: Garuseonsaeng Seoritae

When I'm craving a sweet drink, there's always one thing that gives me pause. I want something tasty, but the moment I look at the sugar or calories, I hesitate. I love how rich and sweet café milk tea can be, but one cup can also feel surprisingly heavy afterward.

So Garuseonsaeng Seoritae Seoritae Zero-Sugar Milk Tea caught my eye. The name itself — zero sugar — made me curious, and after mixing it with milk myself, it felt quite different from just a 'sugar-free, watered-down milk tea.'

Sugar is 0g and calories are 15kcal per stick, but the black tea flavor was stronger than I expected. There was definitely sweetness, but the bitter or clingy aftertaste that stevia sometimes leaves behind wasn't strong here — pretty solid for home-cafe use.

What to look for when choosing a zero-sugar milk tea

There are so many 'zero' products these days that I've started checking what the tea is actually made from and what's used for sweetness, rather than just trusting the word 'zero.'

Garuseonsaeng Seoritae Seoritae Zero-Sugar Milk Tea uses erythritol and stevia instead of sugar for sweetness. It's labeled as 0g sugar with no added flavoring or coloring. I also noticed no preservatives or emulsifiers are used.

Zero-sugar products can end up tasting thin, which would be disappointing. But Garuseonsaeng Seoritae Seoritae seems to have put real effort into the tea base, not just the sweetness.

According to the product description, they blended Assam and Uva — two black teas commonly used in milk tea — at their own ratio. So even with milk added, the black tea aroma doesn't get completely buried; it still reads as a rich Assam milk tea.

You might see 'Earl Grey' show up in searches too, but the tea base described in the product details is the Assam-Uva blend. Rather than the kind of tea where the aroma hits you upfront like Earl Grey, think of a rich, heavy black milk tea that pairs well with milk.

Why using black tea powder gives it a stronger flavor

There was another interesting detail about Garuseonsaeng Seoritae Seoritae Zero-Sugar Milk Tea.

When you think of instant milk tea, you usually picture a milk tea concentrate or extract powder. But this product is described as using ultra-finely ground whole tea leaves in powder form, rather than just black tea extract.

Maybe that's why the flavor didn't fade too lightly once mixed with milk — the tea flavor stayed fairly pronounced. The heaviness of Assam blends with the brighter note of Uva, which should suit anyone who likes royal milk tea or black tea lattes.

If you've ever ordered a black tea latte at a café and felt disappointed that all you tasted was milk, this might be exactly what you're looking for.

Is it really sweet, even with zero sugar?

Short answer: yes, it's sweet.

That said, it wasn't the kind of sweetness that clings to your mouth the way several spoons of sugar would — it faded fairly cleanly. Some stevia-sweetened drinks leave a slightly bitter or distinctly artificial-sweet finish.

Garuseonsaeng Seoritae Seoritae Zero-Sugar Milk Tea is said to be made by adjusting the ratio of erythritol and stevia specifically to reduce that aftertaste. They mention two years of research and development, over 130 formula tests, and more than 60 blind taste tests — so the sweetness balance really does seem carefully tuned.

When I actually drank it, it didn't feel like 'zero-sugar, so I'll just tolerate the taste.' There was plenty of sweetness along with the black tea flavor, and it made a good cup whenever I wanted a snack-like drink.

When looking for diet-friendly drinks or snacks, calorie count alone isn't everything, but if you've been mindful of sugar and calories in sweet drinks, this could be one thing to factor in.

Note that 15kcal is the calorie count for one milk tea stick alone. The actual calories per cup will vary depending on what milk or plant-based drink you use, so that part is worth calculating separately.

Making milk tea is genuinely simple

Garuseonsaeng Seoritae Seoritae Zero-Sugar Milk Tea comes as 10 individually wrapped 12g sticks, so there's no measuring needed.

The method is really simple. Prepare about 180ml of milk in a cup, add one milk tea stick, and stir well — that's it.

It pairs best with regular milk as a default, but also works with lactose-free milk, soy milk, oat milk, or almond milk. Even with the same milk tea base, the feel changes quite a bit depending on the milk you use.

If you like a rich, creamy taste, go with regular milk; for something nuttier, try soy milk; for a lighter, fresher cup, almond milk works well.

Stirred straight into cold milk, it doesn't dissolve completely right away, so it's worth stirring a bit longer. Still, there's no need to brew tea separately or measure out a milk tea concentrate, which made it genuinely convenient as a quick latte.

It also works with warm milk, so as the days start getting cooler you can enjoy it as a warm black tea latte, or as an iced Assam milk tea loaded with ice on hot days.

It made a good café-style drink at home

When you run a home cafe setup, prepping ingredients gets tedious fast. Timing the tea steep, warming the milk, adding syrup — sometimes making one cup just means more dishes to wash.

With Garuseonsaeng Seoritae Seoritae Zero-Sugar Milk Tea, all you need is one stick, so that whole process shrinks down a lot.

Put ice in a cup, pour in milk, add one stick of Garuseonsaeng Seoritae Seoritae Zero-Sugar Milk Tea, and an iced milk tea comes together quickly; with warm milk, you get something close to a royal milk tea.

It's small enough to toss a couple of sticks in your bag without a second thought, so it seemed useful at the office too. As long as you can get milk, you can make a cup with no other tools.

On days when buying a café drink every day feels like too much, but giving up sweet drinks entirely isn't appealing either, having a stick like this on hand is genuinely reassuring.

Q. Does it taste strongly of stevia?

Personally, the bitter aftertaste typical of stevia wasn't that pronounced. There was sweetness, but my mouth didn't feel overly dry or filmy afterward, which I liked.

That aftertaste is exactly what I've worried about most when picking zero-sugar or low-sugar milk teas, and Garuseonsaeng Seoritae Seoritae Zero-Sugar Milk Tea finished relatively clean.

Q. Is the black tea flavor strong?

Yes. Since it's meant to be mixed with milk, I worried the tea flavor might be weak, but it was stronger than expected.

The product's use of an Assam-Uva blend and ultra-finely ground whole tea leaves really did come through in the taste. If you prefer black milk tea with actual tea flavor over milk tea that just tastes like milk, this should suit you better.

Q. When is it good to drink?

It's good for when you want a sweet drink instead of coffee in the afternoon, when you need a home-cafe menu item, or when you're craving a dessert drink after a meal.

There are those afternoons when you keep opening and closing the snack drawer for no reason. On those days, making a cup of Garuseonsaeng Seoritae Seoritae Zero-Sugar Milk Tea lets you still enjoy something sweet.

Overall thoughts after trying it

Even when choosing a zero-sugar drink, taste ends up mattering most in the end.

No matter how good the ingredient list looks, you won't reach for it if it doesn't taste good. Garuseonsaeng Seoritae Seoritae Zero-Sugar Milk Tea impressed me by combining 0g sugar and 15kcal per stick with a rich Assam-Uva black tea flavor.

Despite using erythritol and stevia instead of sugar, the sweetness didn't finish overly bitter or dry, and the black tea flavor stayed quite present once mixed with milk.

On top of that, the individually wrapped 12g sticks make it easy to prepare, and you can pair it with regular milk, lactose-free milk, soy milk, oat milk, or almond milk depending on your taste.

If you love sweet milk tea but worry about sugar, want an easy way to make black tea latte at home, or have been looking for a stick-type zero-sugar milk tea, this is worth comparing.

Garuseonsaeng Seoritae Seoritae's Make Latte Zero-Sugar Milk Tea is available through the Garuseonsaeng Seoritae Seoritae official store and Olive Bere. On days when you don't want to give up sweetness but want to keep a closer eye on sugar, it works well as a simple home-cafe drink — just one stick and a cup of milk.