TeaChat

Hey,

Finally checked out Cha An Japanese Tea House in the East Village in Manhattan.


(not my photos, from yelp)

Menu

Two enthusiastic thumbs up. I had the Fukamushi Sencha and the Rice Porridge with Japanese vegetables set menu.

Dessert was Matcha Mochi balls, delicious.



They refill your Kyusu readily. Atmosphere was very pleasant, and prices are affordable.

Highly recommend to anyone visiting or living in New York!

you can probably count on me and my friend lerxst2112 possibly going there someday.

Excellent! Does it rival Ito-en's closed store?

at one time I believe they sourced at least some of their teas from Ito-en ,
now I see In Pursuit of Tea is one of their suppliers .
http://www.inpursuitoftea.com/SearchResults.asp?Cat=183

Chip wrote:Excellent! Does it rival Ito-en's closed store?

Well it's sort of apples and oranges- Cha An has a great selection for a restaurant but they're not a big importer like Ito En so they don'st stock 300 different teas.

But as for the pleasure of visiting, yes I'd say it is up there with the old Ito En store.

And Zencha yes I suspect Ito En may be a supplier, their warehouse and US office is still here in Brooklyn or Queens. Cha an isn't getting its Japanese teas from In Pursuit, maybe some items from other regions. Pursuit does supply high-end NY restaurants, when I worked at Blue Hill that was one of their tea sources.

Anyway it was funny, I went to Cha An with my mom and sis who was visiting, I tried to get them to pick Japanese tea- mom got the genmaicha but the sis got one of those chrysantheum flower-shaped chinese teas, oh well

This place looks exquisite. As Bryan said, definitely on the 'to try' list. Can't believe I was so close to it (Katz's Deli on Ludlow and E.Houston) and didn't stop in!

Must rectify this in the not-too-distant future. Thankyou so much for this post!

You've got my vote, Jess. I'mma start saving up some green.

Yes, I love this place. the food is pretty good and their teas in general are good too. Their japanese tea selection is actually a bit sparse considering that it's a japanese restaurant, but it covers the bases and alternatively they do have a large selection of other teas if you'd like to consider trying a few different types. I had a good tie guan yin once and they will do gong-fu cha, and have a special mini room for sado ceremony.

I can also recommend the sake mojito

Darn East Tennessee....

iannon wrote:Darn East Tennessee....

The East Village doesn't have mountains!

iannon wrote:Darn East Tennessee....

Hey man, all the Hipsters in Brooklyn pretend to be from Appalachia...