Garden Party: The TWG Iced Teabag Collection Launch

On May 24, I finally got to attend my very first event and I was so glad that it was going to be with one of my absolute favorite brands in the entire world - TWG Tea! If you haven't heard of them, TWG Tea is the finest luxury tea brand in the world which started all the way back in 1837 in Singapore! They're well known obviously for their amazing selection of tea blends that make use of ingredients from literally all around the world, oftentimes regarded as the haute couture of tea! :)

Just to clarify: I was only just my sister's plus one to this event. Haha! She's a food blogger and you can check out her awesome blog here! Still great to be able to attend all the same. Hopefully someday I'll be invited to one of these too! Anyway, read on to learn more about the amazing Iced Teabag Collection Launch!

The event took place at Central Square in Bonifacio High Street and it was my first time there so my sister and I got a little lost at first. Once we got inside the mall, there was no mistaking this beautiful entry area for the event!

Quick visual tour of the TWG Tea Boutique. Almost all of the branches look like this. Even abroad! The walls will be decked in different varieties of teas from all over the world and you shouldn't be afraid to ask for help as the staff really really know the teas.

You can also purchase tea pots made in amazing quality. Certainly for the experienced tea enthusiasts! Would love to own one of these but maybe when I've actually started earning my own money. Haha!

Tea canisters too adorable for my life. Also for sale!

Now, let's get on the Iced Tea!

TWG Tea launched their Iced Teabag Collection just in time for summer! A lot of them are actually adaptations from their most famous teas such as French Earl Grey, Eternal Summer, Moroccan Mint, and Darjeeling. The 15 varieties in this collection were laid out on this long wooden table for all attendees to see the crazy gorgeous packaging as well as sniff the cups to see what variety they like the most!

Issa Litton hosted the event and did a wonderful job introducing the new collection. #Fanboy

The teas were formally introduced by sending these models in which kind of confused some people because the whole plan for a dramatically stylish entrance kind of backfired because there were so many people in the boutique! Haha!

Michael Huang of Store Specialists, Inc. was also there to say a few words.

The Iced Teabag Collection is packaged like so. When you push out the box from the cover strip, the gold pull tab is revealed and you just pull it like an ordinary drawer. In every box, there are 7 packs which make about a liter of iced tea per pack if you want the flavor to be more intense.

Notice the really big difference in the tea leaves used in every flavor? Some are comprised of dark herbs while some like Sweet France have these beautiful dried flowers! I actually regret not trying Sweet France as it smelled absolutely heavenly. It reminded me of macarons and all things, well, sweet!

Another variation I love is the French Earl Grey! If I'm not mistaken, the dark blue leaves you see are actually lavender and it makes the tea smell so amazing!

My personal favorite, however, is the Red Chai! I got to try it in the event and I loved how it's like this classic tea except with TWG's masterful blending that it became more fruity and sweet with less of a semi-medicinal aftertaste brought on by Chai.

1837 Green Tea was a very classic variation. It also had a sweet little twist which I love but can't quite pinpoint the added essence. The blends have so much dimension to their flavor that it's quite hard to describe sometimes! :)

TWG Tea takes pride in the fact that their tea bags are all hand-sewn and do not use metal staples like most tea brands do. They also use muslin as a filter instead of the more common paper filters.

There are actually two ways of preparing the iced tea. The first way is to place the teabag in a tea pot and pour 1 liter of pure simmering water. Let it steep for 5 minutes, and afterwards you can serve it in glasses that are filled to the brim with ice and then just sweeten it to your liking.

The second way is better if you have more time to prepare. You can steep the teabag in one liter of water and just leave it in the refrigerator for about 12 hours to really make sure the tea is fully infused. This is actually what we did at home and the fridge smelled so sweet and wonderful afterwards. Haha!

Accompanying the release of the new tea collection were these carafes retailing at 6295php each. Made from durable Plexiglass material, the carafes come in 8 pretty colors and they were designed to hold the perfect quantity of water to produce the exact recommended serving for the tea!

I still can't get over how cool the staff was! They were always on the go and ready to answer any questions I had because I sometimes forgot the fancy name of the variety I was trying. Haha!

Of course, what fancy garden would be complete without hors d'ouevres?

Got to try this delicious chocolate cake. Like most of what I've tried in TWG, it was so unreal. I love that they take so much time and effort into thinking about what makes their product different from the rest and I think it's the incredible level of quality and depth of flavor that they give their products. For example, when I ate this chocolate cake, it wasn't just your usual dark chocolate cake. It felt like this crazy party in my mouth. It wasn't only chocolate, but also an infusion of tea that gave it so much depth that just made you wonder what was going on with your tastebuds! Haha!

Personally, the BEST example of what I'm trying to say is through their macarons. I was absolutely over the moon when these were served during the event because these truly are the best treats I've ever tasted in my entire life. No exaggeration! If you haven't tried the macaron bigwigs like Laduree, Pierre Herme, and PAUL, then I implore you to try TWG's! Forget what you know about the macarons at your nearest mall, this is the thing to beat! Haha!

This is me in my type of kid-in-a-candy-store scenario. Amazing tea and equally amazing macarons? I don't think I've ever been so happy. LOL

This is the Brothers' Club Salted Caramel Macaron and it's one of the flavors on my must-try list. The thing about TWG's macarons are that they're tea-infused as well which gives it just this amazing depth that puts you in this state where you try to dissect all these sensations happening simultaneously in your mouth and it's just such an amazing experience! You really have to try it to believe it! If you ever decide to try it, my personal recommendations, other than the Salted Caramel, would have to be Grand Wedding, Earl Grey Chocolate, and Rose! Just thinking about it makes me want to drive down to get myself a dozen!

Lastly, there was also a gelato cart! I've been so obsessed with the tea and macarons that I never even knew that TWG had an ice cream collection as well! I took this opportunity to finally try it!

My sister and I tried the Silver Moon Tea ice cream which was this lovely raspberry sorbet, and the Earl Grey Chocolate, your classic dark chocolate gelato with a TWG Tea twist! As interesting as the Silver Moon Tea ice cream sounded, I was a bit overwhelmed by the sweet raspberry flavor. At times, it felt like I was eating jam. I would've liked it if it were more tarte but it's still pretty good. The Earl Grey Chocolate, on the other hand, was fantastic. I swear, there is no better marriage than Earl Grey and Chocolate, and TWG does it so perfectly I can barely put into words how much I love it! The chocolate ice cream wasn't sweet at all, but rather you're just surprised by how many levels of deep there is with the taste.

Quick blogger pose shot just to commemorate my attending my first event ever! Haha!

And selfie with the sister! Couldn't have had such a great time if it weren't for her!

The 15 varieties of the Iced Teabag Collection are 1837 Black Tea, 1837 Green Tea, Eternal Summer, Tea Party, Moroccan Mint, Caravan, French Earl Grey, Pomme Prestige, Alfonso Tea, Grand Jasmine, Pink Flamingo, Cocktail Hour, Darjeeling, Red Chai, and Sweet France. (Retailing at 2595php per box of 7.)

You can check out the tea collection more at a TWG Tea Boutique near you! They're open at Central Square, Greenbelt 5, EDSA Shangri-La East Wing, and Resorts World Manila. :)