Re: Hanoi Trip
Thanks for posting the location link. I'll be in Hanoi in March and will try to find the tea stores you visited!
Re: Hanoi Trip
Tried some really bad Vietnamese shu pu erh today, as well as a wild assamica green tea and a black tea. The shu tasted like dirt. 15 year old shu and it was the worst pu erh, by far, that I've ever had.
The green tea had an exhaust/chemical note to it...for a USDA certified organic tea, I was pretty disappointed. It was also brewed extremely hot.
The black tea was better, but still nothing to write home about.
Ended up buying some very good Thai Nguyen tea and some Lam Dong oolong from a store I saw earlier in the day. Store wouldn't let me try the loose leaf teas, but I did try a green tea teabag. The quality was apparent, so I bought 100g of the best green and best oolong they had.
The green tea had an exhaust/chemical note to it...for a USDA certified organic tea, I was pretty disappointed. It was also brewed extremely hot.
The black tea was better, but still nothing to write home about.
Ended up buying some very good Thai Nguyen tea and some Lam Dong oolong from a store I saw earlier in the day. Store wouldn't let me try the loose leaf teas, but I did try a green tea teabag. The quality was apparent, so I bought 100g of the best green and best oolong they had.
Re: Hanoi Trip
With johnb's location link, I found a street full of tea dealers and bought the highest grade of Thai Nguyen tea I've seen yet! No good shan tuyet around though, but I may just wait for Hatvala to restock for that. Thanks john! Found a store full of modern Yixings at a mall at the end of the street and had a convo in Mandarin with the owner, who used to live in Beijing.
Re: Hanoi Trip
Bought some supermarket Shan Tuyet, then came across a wholesaler in a very non-touristy part of town. Got much better Shan Tuyet and Shan Tuyet black tea, and got a nice modern Yixing! The store had three decent pots and several crappy ones. They threw in 100g of their second best Thai Nguyen too. Try as I might, I'm going home with 700g of tea and a new Yixing!