Scones from TWG Tea Company

Scones from TWG Tea Company

Fen seems to be determined to try every possible scone she can find and having being at Orchard the previous evening, she couldn't resist the temptation to swing by the TWG Tea Salons located at ION Orchard and Takashimaya.

True enough, her scone radar sounded and she picked up a pack of 4 raisins scones for the following day's breakfast. Priced at $14 nett, each scone costs $3.50 and is much cheaper than having them dine-in for a pair of scones served with TWG tea jelly and whipped cream cost $9++.


Having purchased scones from several places, all hotels (so far) provide complementary jam and hotels such as Regent Hotel, The Ritz-Carlton, Millenia Singapore and The Fullerton Hotel provide both clotted cream and jam. I thought this little gesture does make a difference for a tub of clotted cream sold at Cold Storage costs a whopping $9+ and can only be kept in the fridge for 4 days upon opening.


Fen warmed up the scones and having bought Regent Hotel's blackcurrent scones the previous day, we had these with the hotel's leftover clotted cream and jam.

There is a strong buttery fragrance and is comparable to the ones we had from The Fullerton Hotel. Texture-wise, it is much denser but stickier than the humongous one purchased from Raffles Hotel. Depending on individual's preference, this is ecommended for those who prefers their scones to be on the dense and coarse while for both Fen and myself, we would prefer the blackcurrent scones from The Regent Hotel for a stickier and more moist texture.

TWG Tea Salon & Boutique
Takashimaya Department Store
B2, 391 Orchard Road
Singapore 238873
Operating hours: 10am to 10pm
Website

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TWG tea salon @ ION

TWG tea salon @ ION

With a shop space of 1,800-square foot at a prime spot of ION, the colour theme of this branch is alittle different from its flagship. Though it retains the use of crystal chandeliers and warm timber cupboards, this place focus on the use of gold trimmings and glass panels. Encased by a wall of curved glass, the elegance this place provides fits perfectly among the designer labels found in ION.


Retail space is bigger than the branch at Republic Plaza and one of the highlights of this outlet lies in the revolving cabinet to hold the tea cannisters. Apart from housing 400 types of tea leaves (i.e. Republic Plaza manages 200 types), one will find a selection of tea samovars and accessories before reaching the dining area.


With a more convenient location and longer opening hours, one can expect crazy crowds between 11am to 6pm daily. Due to the crowd, this branch lacks the cosiness, particularly when the tables are placed very close to each other. However, with a proper kitchen in this branch, the menu offers is more extensive with breakfast, brunch and dinner are served.

Tea and pastisseries are the must-tries and this time round, I have opted for a muffin, financier (Matcha-infused) and scone. Though the muffin didn't leave a deep impression, I have to admit that I enjoyed the financier and scone (served with whipped cream and jam).

Bain de Rose Tea ($13.50++), an exclusive blend of first flush Deejarling, also the tea used in their pink macarons, was a recommendation for rose tea lovers. This exquisite rose tea, is known to contain only the best blooms from Grasse, a region in France famous for its perfume industry. Though we are not black tea lovers, we do appreciate the rose scent emitted from the tea.

This refreshing mango mousse and a thin layer of tangy orange puree on a green tea base stands out among our orders. Generally TWG's desserts are light and nicely-infused with tea. Most importantly, these pastries are not excessively sweet. The entire combination is light, making me crave for more.


At TWG tea salon, each tea is carefully steeped depending on the type, thus one will not see tea leaves in the teapot. However, the flower teas offered at TWG is refillable. Double Happiness ($14.00++) was recommended and is a combination of white tea, jasmine and pink amaranth. In terms of taste and fragrance, this is relatively mild when compared to Pi Lo Chun Imperial (碧螺春) I had the last time round.

Before signing off, many thanks for the sms notification sent by TWG managing director, Mr. Aum-Stievenard to inform us on the opening of TWG @ ION on 30th Sept 09 and the complementary pastries for the afternoon.

TWG Tea Salon & Boutique
ION Shopping Mall
2 Orchard Turn #02-21,
Singapore 238801
Tel: 6735 1837

Operating hours 10am to 10pm (Mon to Sun)
Website

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TWG Tea Salon

TWG Tea Salon

Second visit to TWG was indeed a very pleasant experience. This time round, we had a good introduction towards the various types of tea from the tea master of TWG. Pardon for the wrong information in my one of my comments in the previous post, I have indeed mistaken Pu-er tea (普洱茶) as a yellow tea. Instead, this is considered a matured tea whereby the tea is purposely left to age after being oxidized completely. In a way, it is similar to fine wine whereby the older it gets the more prized it becomes. Yellow tea, on the other hand, is not completely oxidized and has only one harvest each year, thus is expensive.

Daddy being a tea drinker decided with Pi Lo Chun Imperial (碧螺春, $11.50++), a type of green tea from Jiangsu. Unlike the popular Long Ching (龙井 from Zhejiang), this tea has a refreshing and light taste. Anyway, Japanese green tea tends to be greener and has a grassy after-taste while green tea from China, being pan-fried tends to have an stronger fragrance.


For non-drinker like me, I have decided on one of the tea blends available at TWG. The White House Tea ($10.50++) has a strong floral aroma but light in taste. Comparing with the Pi Lo Chun, this white tea blend has a slight sweetness and sourish while the former has a "cleaner" and slight bitterish taste. Due to its low degree of oxidation, green tea and white tea are generally low in caffeine.

For black tea lovers, one would not want to missed out Darjeeling; the unique aroma is due to the cultivation of tea at a cool environment of the hilly areas of Darjeeling district. Although the degree of oxidation correlates with the caffeine content, the South African red tea contains zero caffeine, despite it being 100% oxidized. What is more surprising is that this bush-like plant is only found in a small region of South Africa. Anyway for a brief introduction to tea and caffeine, Marigold gave a pretty nice and concise piece of information on my previous entry.

What surprises us is that Kwai Flower (Osmanthus, 桂花) is actually a type of Oolong (blue tea) from Fujian and a Chinese tea drinker like my dad was attracted by the green, rolled up tea leaves. Anyway, Kwai Flower Superior is priced at $17.25 nett for every 50gm. Also, expensive tea leaves tends to be more consistent and in TWG's context, a good tea is dependent on the age of the shoots. Apparently, the presence of the tip of the bud is a sign of quality since only the youngest shoots are used for the finest teas, thus determining the quality and the price of the tea. For instance, Yin Zhen (白毫银针, white tea) consists of tea buds thus is expensive ($45 nett per 50gm) while Pai Mu Tan (白牡丹), which contains two leaves and a bud proportion, is a cheaper alternative of Fujian's white tea ($8.25 nett per 50gm).


Of course, I couldn't resist the desserts at TWG and since I can't decide which tart to have, I settled with both the strawberry tart and raspberry tart (each at $8.50++). The raspberry tart, generously topped with whole raspberries look lovely in its presentation. Sitting on the base is a layer of raspberry jam which is a little sharp on the sour side, thereby overshadowing the rose tea infused in this dessert. The overall combination is light on the palate and has definitely impressed my daddy.


Strawberry tart, infused with Bourbon vanilla, strike the right chord for me. The pistachio paste has a similar texture to a peanut butter thereby has a rich nutty taste. In addition, the strength of vanilla is just right on the smooth pistachio paste, giving a nod to every bite.


Although the tea at TWG may be expensive to most, this might be due to a lack of understanding in which TWG is trying to deliver. In a way, they are not bringing in the most expensive tea but rather good quality tea leaves at an affordable price. Being a non tea-drinker, my satisfaction tipped towards the patisseries offered by the cafe but for a Chinese tea drinker like my dad, the information shared by the tea master and the consistency of the tea leaves prompt him to get a bag of tea leaves.

TWG Tea Salon & Boutique
9 Raffles Place, #01 - 22
Republic Plaza
Singapore 048619
Tel: 6538 1837
http://www.twgtea.com/

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TWG Tea Salon

TWG Tea Salon

Singapore-based TWG (i.e. The Wellness Group) Tea Company, aims to bring in top-quality single-estate teas and to promote the appreciation of the finest teas available in all parts of the world. According to TWG managing director, Mr. Aum-Stievenard, the wide variety of teas are achieved via the spontaneous effort to build rapport with tea planters. So some of the teas available in TWG are exclusive access to the finest harvests.


What caught my attention was when I first saw the ambience this place has to offer in 8 days last year. The first impression obtained from TWG's dining area is the neatly arranged old-fashioned painted tea containers in the warm timber cupboards. Adopting a Continental-style dining atmosphere with the use of Bone China dinnerware, TWG aims to bring tea drinking to a different level.


Flipping through the tea menu presents an astonishing selection of more than 300 varieties and blends from around the world and the fine concoction of in-house blends such as floral white tea and chocolate tea are only exclusively available at TWG.


The tea are served in uniquely designed teapots. To ensure that the tea is warm even after 1 hour, the Bone China teapot is housed in a shiny metallic casing, cushioned on the interior with black fabric to prevent heat loss. All the fine details to tea brewing such as the temperature of the water, the seeping time and its timing to remove the tea leaves are carefully monitored to maintain consistency of flavour. What surprises me was the use of cotton filters and the release of tannins beyond each tea's seeping time contribute greatly to the outcome of the taste. These gourmet teas are also not served with milk and only pure crystalized sugar are used to ensure the unalteration of taste. Extreme acidic lemon slices are a definite no-no but Mr. Aum-Stievenard recommended orange slices as a less-acidic option.


Apart from the teas, we are also keen about the cakes and patisseries. What makes it different from other places is that most of the bakes are uniquely infused with tea. In fact, Executive Chef Philippe Langlois has been attributed with the invention of tea gastronomy in France. So there is no way we are going to miss out the tea infused macarons as well as the Singapore Surprise, which are extremely popular.

Since we have no clues of what to have, we have settled with a Celebration tea time set ($28++) which comes with

• a pot of TWG Tea (of your choice),
• a selection of four fine finger sandwiches,
• a choice of 2 homemade tea pastries (selection ranges from Earl Grey infused Madeleine, Matcha Tea infused Financiers, Muffins or Scones) or 1 patisserie
• a choice of 3 macarons (see previous post for the flavours)
  

The assortment of finger sandwiches includes foie gras, smoked salmon, shrimp and crab mayonnaise served with green salad and house vinaigrette. The wholemeal bread is lightly toasted with slight nutty crisp crust and has a soft inner part. According to the staff, the bread is freshly baked by the chef daily. The fillings were lightly marinated and the moisture content was just right to prevent the bread from turning soggy.


Instead of choosing 2 tea pastries, we have settled with TWG specialty, a wild strawberry and pastry cream tart, Singapore Surprise ($8.50++). This is highly recommended for its refreshing and strong vanilla mousse which is the result of the vanilla Bourbon tea. The torched caramelized sugar eaten together with the vanilla mousse and berries has just a good mixture of sweetness, sourishness and a punch of vanilla. The tart pastry to complete the contrasting texture is worth every bit of your $8.50.


For the macarons, we have originally settled with the 3 recommended flavours, Napoleon tea (Black), Rose and Praline (Dark brown) but Mr. Aum-Stievenard was kind enough to allow us to sample all 6 flavours. A complete breakdown of each flavours can be found here.


TWG TEA Chocolate Fondant ($10++), is a melting chocolate cake served with a light caramel cream infused with vanilla Bourbon Tea. Mysteriously, this bears close resemblance to the sticky date pudding except that it was covered with chocolate. This should be eaten hot or the sticky feeling may be a put off. The combination of caramel, chocolate and tea was a little extreme for our taste buds and poor Yuan couldn’t really make out what he was eating.


Instead of the regular Crème Brulee ($10++), this is a refreshing twist to the traditional French Confection where Jasmine Imperial Tea is introduced. In a way, the introduction of tea into this dessert, makes it a little less sweet than the usual ones.

All in all, this was indeed an eye-opening experience for us, particularly when we are introduced alittle to tea processing and tea brewing. Definitely looking forward to our next chi-chi high tea session or should I say dinner given the time we reached the place.

Anyway, Timeless Facade happens to have an entry on TWG Tea Restaurant last Saturday.

TWG Tea Salon & Boutique
9 Raffles Place, #01 - 22
Republic Plaza
Singapore 048619
Tel: 6538 1837
http://www.twgtea.com/

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Tea-infused macarons

Tea-infused macarons

Macarons, these crispy almond biscuits are getting popular in Singapore and through our macaron spree, we have come across a wide variations of flavours. What TWG uniquely has in their macarons is the ability to infuse it with their signature tea. We have tried macarons that are flavoured with tea and we would say it was pretty disastrous. That was our encounter with GOBI.


Since then, our impression of tea-infused macarons became really bad until we get to try Evan's Earl Grey macarons. Did I mention that I ate at least 4-5 pieces in a go despite after a 9-course food tasting session. Yeh, it was good.


Given that the taste of tea-infused macarons can go either way, I would say such tea-infused macarons are pretty rare in comparison to chocolate, fruity and floral flavours. One of the place to go for tea-infused macarons is none other TWG. Their macarons are sold in packs of 6 ($12) and are also available at TWG Tea retail counter at basement 2 of Takashimaya.

Before going into details the individual flavours, we have to admit these are one of the best macarons we have eaten. All TWG's macarons are flavoured with their in-house tea and given the care in seeping the tea, the macarons are able to bring out the fragrance of each tea without leaving the bitter aftertaste of tannins.


Also, the winning factor of these macarons would be them being not-so-sweet but due to the reduction of sugar, the shells lack the crispy outer crust. Highly recommended for macaron lovers.

In case you are wondering what are the flavours, here is the breakdown

• Black - infused with Napoleon tea (a type of black tea), Tahitian vanilla and caramel dices.
• Dark Brown - infused with Camelot tea ( a type of black tea) and praline
• Brown - Earl Grey Fortune with chocolate gauche
• Pink - Bain De Rose tea (extracted from the Rose of Grasse)
• White - Moroccan Mint
• Yellow - Lemon Bush

Oh before I forgot, instead of the regular buttercream, their macarons are filled with either milk or white chocolate ganache, so the texture is pretty smooth and not cloying.

TWG Tea Salon & Boutique
9 Raffles Place, #01 - 22
Republic Plaza
Singapore 048619
Tel: 6538 1837
http://www.twgtea.com/

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