TWG Tea to launch new luxury collection of ice teabags

SINGAPORE - Home-grown luxury tea brand TWG Tea will be launching an easy-to-make Iced Teabag collection this July, featuring some of their most popular flavours such as French Earl Grey and Eternal Summer Tea, as well as their exclusive blends Sweet France Tea and Cocktail Hour Tea.

The decadent new collection selected 15 of the best TWG Tea flavours most suited for making iced teas, and had their proportions tweaked so that the drinker can enjoy an intense and flavourful drink. The tea bags are made from silk sachets and carefully hand sewn with thread instead of metal staples or glue to ensure no impurities affect the taste.

Six ice teabags sachets will be nestled inside a white box resembling a miniature chest, complete with a pull-out drawer and a gold handle. Embellished on the exterior is the signature TWG Tea logo which is monogrammed in gold.

Planning for the new product took two years, said a TWG Tea spokesperson, and a big part of the development went into creating the precious-looking packaging of this tea collection.

Easy as it sounds, a good glass of iced tea is not just about popping a few cubes of ice into a pitcher of hot tea and letting it sit before serving it.

A tea master at the boutique said that the secret to making a great-tasting iced tea beverage is by using simmering water and chilling it with large ice cubes after.

Simmering water, he explained, is just below boiling water temperature. Anything above that temperature will spoil the tea leaves and thus, lose the rich flavour.

Each bag contains 7.5 grams of whole tea leaves and makes one litre of iced tea. The new collection will be retailed at $35 each at TWG Tea boutiques.

TWG Teas was established in Singapore in 2008.

It currently has over 800 tea flavours available at its boutiques globally including Indonesia, Saudi Arabia, Seychelles, Russia. A new boutique is set to open in Shanghai - their first in Mainland China - later this year.

Its teas are sourced all over the world including places like Hawaii, New Zealand and South Africa.

According to The Straits Times, TWG Tea was co-founded by TWG Tea chief executive Taha Bouqdib, The Wellness Group chairman Manoj Mohan Murjani, Mr Bouqdib's wife Maranda Barnes, TWG Tea managing director Rith Aum-Stievenard, and TWG Tea executive pastry chef Philippe Langlois.

The year 1837 which accompanies the TWG Tea logo is a tribute to year that tea trading started in Singapore.

wjeanne@sph.com.sg