Tuesday, February 1, 2011

Coffee or Tea. 31 Jan 11

Typically, I favour coffee over tea, especially on a rainy day. But today, it is a gals gathering and we are in the mood for English tea.

TWG Ion has opened for some time but we didn't find the chance to visit till the last day of Jan 2011.Although the highlight of the day is tea, we were famished by the time we meet. For lunch, I ordered vegetable lasagne while my friends had vegetable quiche and scrambled egg. The lasagne was not overly cheesy, taste great but portion a bit too small for my good appetite.

Ate a few mouthful of my friend's quiche, unlike most quiche which is heavy on eggs, this taste lighter but just as tasty.

For tea, we started with Passion flower tea (as above, together with the lasagna photo). It has a light fruity taste combined perfectly with tea. I don't like those with just the taste of fruit or overly sour, but this is just nice, pleasing and very apt for one of my friends, who like her tea/coffee light.

I took a long time to decide on my tea, asking the waiters a number of times to smell various tea. Below are some that I have smelt:
  • Margaret's Hope (Autumn Flush): Can't explain why, but I think I dislike all Darjeelings.
  • Chocolate Tea: Dark chocolate with black tea, the smell is exactly that. Not exactly sure if I can accept the combination though it does smell nice.
Also smelt a Jasmine tea and other teas, but they either smelt too much like Chinese tea or green tea, which are both not my cup of tea.

Finally, I settle for Paris Breakfast tea, a rich blend, strong and slightly bitter with some flavours (probably spices) which I can't exactly say what they are. But I think I've picked the right tea and I like it very much.

Paris Breakfast tea

The last tea we had was Midsummer Night tea, less bitter than Paris Breakfast, it tastes warm and slightly sweet, with hints of chocolate and lingering taste of mint. I like it for its warmth which is nice for a rainy day, but combining chocolate with tea needs some time to get used to. My friend who selected this tea actually did not like it.

And finally, a blackcurrant macaroon to end off the delightful tea session at TWG.
I think I should have tea more often, at least tea as good as what we had this afternoon.

9 comments:

  1. seems interesting... i'm always amazed by the array of tea selections TWG offers. btw gryphon tea has nice selections as well.

    ReplyDelete
  2. I'm amazed too. Are there more types of coffee or tea in this world? After looking at TWG's range, I'm inclined to think that there are more types of tea than coffee.

    Is Gryphon what Rose Verandah used to serve? I vaguely recall you mention Rose Verandah now uses TWG. Would like to go for tea there too.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Yup, Rose Veranda currently serves more than 101 TWG teas. Gryphon tea has less selections but the teas are very fine and unique. Some cafes serve Gryphon teas. You would be surprise it is a local tea distributor company.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Ya I think I see Gryphon teas in some cafes. TWG is also local?

    ReplyDelete
  5. U just started yr blog? 你的文笔很舒畅,好喜欢啊。希望你继续写,我一定会支持你哦。。。

    ReplyDelete
  6. I started half a year ago. Thanks for your encouragements. Feel free to give your comments. Sorry, who are you?

    ReplyDelete
  7. Oh, I know who you are now, OSM. :p

    ReplyDelete
  8. TWG can be considered local. Actually I prefer Gryphon teas for its quality. Rose Veranda used to serve Ronnefeldt teas before which is really good.

    ReplyDelete
  9. Now I can't remember if I have tried Gryphon or Ronnefeldt when I went for high tea at Rose Veranda. But my experiences have been good whenever I go to Rose Veranda and I like the fact that they refill with hot water and also allow change of tea during the tea session without additional charges.

    ReplyDelete