after lunch, min-yin and i decided to take advantage of the sia boarding pass program and went to the tea spa at raffles city today for our free pot of tea. it was not, as i was disappointed to find, spa-like in the least, and not, for that matter, even as secluded or relaxing as i would have thought, more like a quiet restaurant than anything else. (say tea spa, and one was of course expecting lushly upholstered couches and fluttering chiffon curtain partitions and reclining and sipping one of eighty varieties and blends of tea with your girlfriends and exchanging intimate gossip.) there were the eighty varieties of tea, though many of them were herbal or fruit blends, and that sort of thing can rarely excite me. i much prefer plain green, black or white teas (i am now recalling my very happy time selecting tea in beijing last year and want to be in beijing again.) the weekday teatime special was slice of cake (red bean, green tea, raspberry yoghurt, chocolate or plain cheese) and choice of tea and i was tempted by the bai mu dan (white peony) tea but thought i could try it elsewhere, and decided on the oolong marigold - a compromise between the traditional and the floral-herbal. which had the orange of fermented oolong and a light fragrance and aftertaste that made me think of chrysanthemum tea. the whole experience was unremarkable but not unpleasant. i shall give its branch at paragon a try before a more definite verdict.