The world is often portrayed as having two sorts of humans: dog and cat lovers, people who awaken early versus people who sleep in, fitness freaks, and bon vivants. Let’s not neglect the beverage classification: tea and espresso fans. Many of those distinctions substitute for actual human beings on one facet of the spectrum. Even as they indulge in the alternative, they hardly ever move over into the alternative with any relevance.
Let’s recognize the only ones applicable to this column: tea and coffee. At the same time, I like my pre-10 am cappuccino and the occasional skinny mac (a macchiato made with skimmed milk foam); I in no way, without a doubt, crave a cuppa joe. Instead, I am serious about a very good cup of tea in its purer leafy form. Which is the only kind that people with any refinement have to drink or want to drink? So, for an upcoming project, I have decided to invest some extreme time and resources to ensure that the tea that leaves the kitchen or bar is precise in all the proper ways.
TWG Tea is an employer primarily based in Singapore. Even though it is very young — 2008 is when it became established — their sourcing and blending place them at par with some of the arena’s satisfactory and oldest tea merchant houses. My team and I went through a tasting of virtually two dozen teas, carefully prepared and curated by using their in-house tea instructor. It becomes a marvelous workout of the organoleptic range, truly a treat for the senses. It reminded us together what most of us would do under the guise of tea on a normal day, and why good money spent on sourcing proper tea is in no way wasted.
But then, TWG is doing to teas what Starbucks did to espresso—creating an experience greater than an area to consume or purchase a beverage.
The hassle is that while coffee is seen as cool, pleasant, and hip like beer, tea is more recognized than wine, old-fashioned, arrogant, and boring. TWG isn’t seeking to change that, or not significantly, at least. But what they are doing is sincerely upgrading the carrier paraphernalia — the cups and other China of their keep, as additionally some very fancy jugs, albeit darned luxurious for ordinary use, will make everyone gather a polished English patina in their accents when they’re pleased with those sets at home. They are quiet and contemporary, something that may be stated about popular tea sets.
The tea-tasting workout became so enthralling that it reminded me why I chose tea over espresso. In a country where tea is not an unusual beverage, we appear to treat it pretty badly, so the joy of an excellent pot diminishes through the years. On the other hand, Indians want to take a moment to hook up with our morning breakfast rituals with extra enthusiasm. Certainly, we must make a trip to remind ourselves of what makes tea the second most drunk beverage in the world, second best to water (and tidily in advance of even beer and truly in advance of espresso!).
