Those whom have been following the happenings around the Singapore F&B scene would probably have heard about an establishment named Thunder Tree / Fire Flies for a long while now. Fire Flies formerly operates a “health farm” at Lim Chu Kang prior to the closure of the organic vegetable farm due to the change of land usage of the plot which it was sitting on — Thunder Tree was the brand by the same family which runs food stalls with ingredients sourced from Fire Flies Health Farm. Fire Flies had since made their return to the local F&B scene; now being a food stalls situated at the same food court as where Thunder Tree used to operate from but just a few units down — they are now probably best known for their Hakka Thunder Tea (otherwise known as Lei Cha) offerings there. They have since expanded their operations to a new store situated at Quemoy Building at Upper Paya Lebar Road; this would be located across from Kensington Square with other establishments situated in the same stretch of shops including that of Fuel Kitchen. Being an establishment that serves up vegetarian fare, Fire Flies had also expanded the selection of dishes offered at their outlet in Quemoy Building — the menu is now split into sections dedicated to Rice, Noodles, Mains, Specials and Desserts, especially considering how they are operating within a independently-run space here rather than from within a stall in a coffeeshop / food court setting.

Stalls serving up Hakka Thunder Tea offerings are aplenty across the island these days — whilst still a rather niche offering, it had most certainly become a little more conventional over the years. Whilst most establishments served up their Hakka Thunder Tea offerings in the form of white rice or brown rice options rather than that of the same but with Kolo Mee. With this in mind, the Fire Flies X Enjoy Tea Leicha Kolomee (Top Grade Iron Goddess) was an item of choice for us when we were skimming through the menu here. The line-up of the Fire Flies X Enjoy Tea Leicha Kolomee is also available with rice, and this line-up would be one that is served with a curation of tea that is sourced from Enjoy Tea where patrons are encouraged to mix the tea into the Thunder tea paste. The menu describes the Fire Flies X Enjoy Tea Leicha Kolomee (Top Grade Iron Goddess) to come with elements such as Top Grade Iron Goddess, Natural Spring Water, Kolo Mee, Peanuts, Sesame, Black Eye Pea, Chye Poh, Leicha Tofu, Long Beans, Cabbage, Chye Sim and Manis Sayur. Adding the Top Grade Iron Goddess tea to the Thunder Tea Paste, it does seem that doing so does sort of intensify the umami notes of the Thunder Tea Paste — it also does give a slight bitter undertone that Iron Goddess tea is known to carry in its finishing notes as well. Pouring the Thunder Tea Paste into the bowl of noodles gives the noodles that same strong saltish and umami flavour; the Kolo Mee here does come springy with a good bite — all that whilst the addition of other elements like the peanuts, Leicha Tofu, Long Beans, Cabbage, Chye Sim and Manis Sayur adds different contrasting textures that either came with a crunch or a soft bite.