TeaChat

My family will be going on vacation to Seattle and Vancouver next week. Any recommendations for good tea shops to visit? I'm mostly into puerh and oolong, but I'm open visit any good purveyor.

Thanks!

Most of the places in these two threads are still around.

http://www.teachat.com/viewtopic.php?t=7367
http://www.teachat.com/viewtopic.php?t=6254

In Vancouver, most of the good stuff will be in Richmond, not in Vancouver proper.

You can also try:
http://www.thechineseteashop.com

I think it's been mentioned already, but under its previous name.

The ones I'd say you should definitely try are Best Tea House in Richmond (Vancouver area) and Floating Leaves (in Seattle). After that, probably Aroma (Lam Kie Yuen's Vancouver branch, which I've not visited, but have bought tea and teaware from).

Wow! That was quick. Thanks for the great response. I'll definitely check them out!

Don't forget to look around too, floating leaves has some extra goodies that aren't on her website.
Couple that come to mind are the nilgili and a brick of puerh. I liked the nilgili a lot.

It's not in Seattle proper, but it is between Seattle and Vancouver, so if you don't mind making a little side trip off of I-5, I recommend Xiu Xian Tea, in Kent, VERY highly--she has some amazing teas, including several varieties of high mountain tie guan yin, and does tea tastings for anything you might be interested in. http://www.xiuxiantea.com/

As far as Seattle proper, the New Century Tea Gallery in the International District has some really nice stuff, including some new 2011 harvest greens. And of course, Floating Leaves is excellent.

I'm not as familiar with Vancouver, and have only managed to visit one tea shop in Portland so far--the Tao of Tea one in the Chinese garden--which left me rather underwhelmed. Beautiful garden, gorgeous surroundings--lousy service and so-so tea.

Oops--I suppose I shouldn't have assumed you were talking about Vancouver, Washington instead of Vancouver, Canada, eh?