TeaChat

On my way to a full moon shoot in the desert last weekend, I stopped at Wing Hop Fung in Chinatown, L.A. I went to the 2 story one, but the first floor is all Chinese herbs. The second floor is like a teaware Disneyland.

I picked up a bunch of decent teaware at low low prices, as well as a couple teas, an Alishan Supreme Oolong and a Gao Shan Guanyin Huang.

The Supreme Oolong is fruity and bready at the same time, which is just now starting to grow on me. The TGK is very smooth and green with low bitterness. I'll be stocking up next time.

From some if the reviews on here I was expecting attitude from the staff, but I found them all perfectly helpful, if slightly overattentive. One lady poured me a few teas when I asked about green TW oolongs.

I do wish they displayed the tea prices in smaller units than per pound. And if she asks you if you're ok with a little bit over, be prepared for a lot over. In the end it works out, since I really like these teas.

I got virtually all of my first teaware there, and just two days I made good use of a pair of cheap-as-could-be goldfish-decorated gaiwans for a comparison tasting of two Korean green teas (wonderful greens that I could hardly tell apart).

Glad you had a good experience there. It's a lot of fun to see so much tea stuff in one place. I unfortunately got an undrinkable High Mountain Fog Green Tea, uhh. What should I do with it...ideas are welcome. Basically, I learned not to buy green tea from a Chinese place, since what I'm after is Japanese.

I learned a lot from my early forays to WHF, but had trouble determining which teas in the jars would be fresh and delicious, and which would be stale and meh. The ladies brewing samples would always overbrew (heat and leaf) for my taste so it was hard to figure out by just sampling. So I gradually bought less and less there--frustrating because some teas on some occasions have been terrific, and the same tea on another trip--when not as fresh, likely--has been meh.

debunix wrote:....So I gradually bought less and less there--frustrating because some teas on some occasions have been terrific, and the same tea on another trip--when not as fresh, likely--has been meh.

debunix, do you recommend any teas there? just curious since I go to Chinatown every once in a while for shows.

I've had some nice Taiwanese mountain oolongs, some everyday Wuyi, and their An Ji Bai Cha ('precious rare white tea') has been quite good.

victoria3 wrote:I unfortunately got an undrinkable High Mountain Fog Green Tea, uhh. What should I do with it...ideas are welcome.

Add extra flavor (rose petals, osmanthus leaves, mint, etc.) and make cold-brew iced tea.

debunix wrote:I've had some nice Taiwanese mountain oolongs, some everyday Wuyi, and their An Ji Bai Cha ('precious rare white tea') has been quite good.

Thanks, later in the year I'll be branching out and exploring more oolongs.

tingjunkie wrote:

victoria3 wrote:I unfortunately got an undrinkable High Mountain Fog Green Tea, uhh. What should I do with it...ideas are welcome.

Add extra flavor (rose petals, osmanthus leaves, mint, etc.) and make cold-brew iced tea.

Good idea tingjunkie, when it gets hot here I'll try adding some notes.