TWG Tea opens world’s largest flagship and first tea museum at Changi Airport Terminal 3

SINGAPORE – Home-grown luxury tea brand TWG Tea has opened the TWG Tea Gallery at Changi Airport Terminal 3, its largest flagship store globally and home to the brand’s first tea museum.

The 2,700 sq ft space, located in the Departure/Transit Lounge North, is open 24 hours daily.

Visitors who look up will find the store’s most striking feature: a hand-painted world map spanning its 7m-high ceiling and tracing the drink’s journey across continents. Below it, a wall of more than 1,200 tea tins stretches across the boutique.

The TWG Tea Museum displays more than 170 antique teaware and over 50 antique Russian samovars – large metal urns used in Russian homes to keep water hot for tea throughout the day – dating back to the 17th to 20th centuries, which the brand says it collected from around the world over the past 15 years.

Several come from the renowned workshops of Tula, Russia, where makers stamped their pieces with hallmarks as a sign of quality.

There are also unglazed Yixing teapots from China, whose porous clay absorbs traces of tea over years of use, and silver bachelor teapots from the 1800s, designed to serve just one person.

Porcelain pieces trace how tea connected cultures. The iconic blue-and-white style emerged from an exchange between Islamic and Chinese potters, and by the 17th century, Chinese teaware was fetching such high prices in Europe that porcelain became known as “white gold”.

Decorated tea caddies, once used to lock away tea when it was a costly luxury, round out the display. The name comes from the Malay word “kati”, a unit of weight by which tea was traditionally sold.

The store also offers several creations available only at this outlet.

Grand Voyage Tea ($45.87), a whole-leaf green tea with notes of orchard fruits, rose petals, mallow blossoms and spices, comes in a tin with artwork that mirrors the painted ceiling. It can also be ordered freshly brewed, hot or iced, at the takeaway counter, where tea costs $8.50 for 450ml.

For gifts, the Singapore Surprise Gift Set ($89.91) bundles three signature blends: Singapore Breakfast Tea, Silver Moon Tea and 1837 Black Tea.

Those with a sweet tooth can head to the Takeaway Ice Cream & Sorbet counter, the only one of its kind in Singapore. Flavours with a local twist include Pandan Gula Melaka & Coconut Tea Ice Cream and Soursop & Temi FTGFOP1 Sorbet, at $6.50 for a single scoop and $10 for a double.

Exclusive tea-infused macarons and chocolate bonbons ($2.29 each) include a Mango Macaron with Alfonso Tea-infused Chocolate Ganache, and a Pistachio Praline with Creme Brulee Tea-infused Royal Feuilletine Crisp.

“More than a tea boutique, the flagship brings the past, present and future of tea into one immersive experience,” said Taha Bouqdib, who co-founded TWG Tea in Singapore in 2008. He is also president and chief executive of V3 Gourmet, the parent company of TWG Tea.

Jean Hung, managing director of airside concessions at Changi Airport Group, said: “This new flagship transforms a retail visit into an immersive journey through the heritage, artistry and culture of tea, reflecting the innovation and hospitality that define both TWG Tea and Changi Airport.”

Info: TWG Tea Gallery is located at 02-58B Changi Airport Terminal 3, Departure/Transit Lounge North, and is open 24 hours daily.