Mooncakes and tea Make a party at tWG
The ceremonial, almost meditative practice of tea drinking does not always have to be pure and stripped down — sometimes it can be a party. In time for the Chinese mid-autumn festival, or in the Philippines, the entry of the “ber” months, TWG Tea offers its Mooncake collection and TWG Tea Moonlight Tea Time Set.
Combining the traditions of English afternoon tea and the celebration of the moon, the Moonlight Tea Time experience feels opulent and exciting — there are seven new flavors of mooncake on top of the original lotus paste and duck egg variant, and several teas to choose from.
The set of tea-infused traditional mooncakes include the classic Constellation cake, infused with Singapore Breakfast Tea, with lotus filling, roasted melon seeds and a salted-egg center; the Harvest mooncake, which has mixed almonds, hazelnuts and pecans and is infused with Camelot tea; the Jewel mooncake with a rich chocolate crust and an infusion of chocolate tea; and my favorite, the Ruby mooncake, which has a blend of apricots and cranberries, is infused with Geisha Blossom Tea, and has a bold red crust.
TWG also has a Tea-Infused Snowskin Mooncake set, which adds a modern twist to the traditional mooncake. Each flavor has a mocha-like, pastel snowskin crust. Perhaps the most indulgent is the Pure mooncake, a white satin snowskin patisserie embellished with gold leaf. It is filled with smooth white lotus and lemon paste, infused with the fruity and flowery notes of White Sky Tea.
The Serenity mooncake, a blush-pink snowskin with Earl Grey Fortune Tea, contains a tangy orange marmalade and a praline-and-white-chocolate center — no doubt a hit with the flatlaying crowd.
The Jade mooncake has Paris-Singapore Tea and a velvety pistachio paste with an Amarena cherry heart.
Last is the orange snowskin Illumination mooncake, which has Okayti Tea, crunchy chocolate pearls, and a banana-passionfruit confit center.
The TWG Tea White Sky Tea Mooncake gift box is a set of four tea-infused mooncakes and *retails at P2,150 for the traditional mooncakes and P2,588 for the snowskin mooncakes.
Individual mooncakes retail for P498 (traditional) and P598 (snowskin).
The Moonlight Tea Time set for dine-in features tea-infused sandwiches and canapés, along with a choice of snowskin mooncake and a pot of White Sky Tea, priced at P1,150.
Until Sept. 23, if you want to feel like a cross between Marie Antoinette-meets-Astrid Leong, sample TWG’s Mooncakes or indulge in the Moonlight Tea Time set with a friend.