Wednesday TeaDay 9/02/09 Local tea shops?

[Chip]

Greetings TeaFans. Welcome to TeaDay. Please come in and share what is in your cup throughout the day.

Yesterday we discussed fave teas for the month of August. You can still vote and discuss yesterday's topic.

Today's TeaPoll and discussion topic. Do you have a local place that sells tea that YOU WOULD ACTUALLY BUY AND DRINK? Please share with us.
I am looking forward to sharing another TeaDay with everyone. Bottoms up.

[Salsero]

There is a local pan Asian restaurant where I once had tea, chosen from a list, that was shockingly ... well, acceptable! I have considered going back, but I would have to buy a full meal to go with the cup of tea.


Assam Gong Fu

[Trey Winston]

There are no tea shops or tea rooms in my area, just c*ffee shops that could probably serve some bagged tea if you absolutely insisted. One restaurant not far from here does on occasion serve a semi-decent cup of sencha, but it's the luck of the draw whether it's served at the boiling point or not.

It's oolong day at Casa Trey today. Yay!

[Drax]

There's a very nice Japanese restaurant that I've gone to a few times that serves a very good genmaicha. But it's not a dedicated tea store.

I might buy bagged tea from the local grocery store to help feed my kombucha, though.... right now, I'm using up the gobs of black tea I have from adagio.

This morning, I think I've had my last round w/ this shu. Although, I noted that after 8 cups, the tea has somehow managed to stay in three big clumps, which makes me wonder if I broke them up manually, if I'd have another couple good cups? Maybe I'll try that this evening.....

[Selaphiel]

There is no such thing that I'm aware of at least. Or I'm often served a nice cup of tea when I go to the local tea store here, but no place where I could go and order what I want.

Still enjoying my bag of Cui Que She. This is an amazing tea, one that I would gladly recommend to anyone who are interested in Chinese green tea.

Have a nice tea day everyone!

[Victoria]

Yay poet Trey!

Starting the morning with some of my reserve Glenburn Vintage Wiry. This one is going to be so hard to let go of. Just like the Glendale Handmade. I have about 30g left, so it's a special treat.

As for local vendor yes - one local here in Orange County that I have found so far anyway. More in LA of course.

Have a nice day everyone!

[Jack_teachat]

Theres a couple of places near me in Leicester which serve the whole leaf bagged tea by Teapigs which is ok, but definitely not worth paying nearly 2 pounds a cup for! The local noodle bar where I first discovered Chinese tea also does a pretty decent brew to go with a meal, although it appears to have closed again!

Started the day with some Ice Wine Ceylon tea which turned out to be way too sweet for the morning! Will probably have a session later with some 2006 Xiaguan Tuo Cha (Shou) which I picked up (rather unexpectedly!) on my travels in Cambridge last week!

Jack

[leiche2]

There are a few restaurants reasonably close that serve decent tea, including the place where I had a good plummy, non-bitter pu erh with dim sum. As far as I know, there are definitely no good tea shops around here. I think I would have to travel down to the Boston metro area for that.

In my cup: Adagio's Irish Breakfast. It's like a gentle kick in the pants.

[brlarson]

Cardullo's Gourmet Shoppe in Cambridge has a large selection of good-quality, packaged teas (Mariage Freres, Foojoy, Mem Imports, ...), and Swan's Cafe in the Boston Park Plaza offers afternoon tea that is exceptional -- Cynthia Gold is their tea sommelier. Besides these two spot it's difficult to find good tea unless you like black tea.

Kaboku for breakfast! Today is my wife's birthday so I'm taking her to the beach.

Have a good TeaDay folks.

[fweever]

Very close by (I live in Albany, NY) is an excellent tea shop called The Good Leaf. The owner, Michelle, is warm and knowledgeable, and her tea is excellent. She creates her own blends on a seasonal basis, and encourages people to try different kinds of tea. The tea shop is a tiny, basement place on Lark Street, the more eclectic part of downtown. This is probably one of my favorite places in Albany, especially on a cold, winter day.

About 20 minutes away is a larger tea place called The Whistling Kettle in Ballston Spa. This place is luxury for the weary traveler. I've performed here on piano for their evenings. I was given free tea and snacks, which made me a very happy musician. One evening I chose a tea I had never heard of before, and the woman serving me brought me a small pitcher of milk and no sweetener. I usually only put honey in my tea, but I didn't want to be a pain, so I poured in milk (ick) and took a sip. Wow, wonderful- the tea lady knew what that particular kind of tea needed.

I'm happily spoiled here

[Intuit]

Odd that replies keep mentioning restaurants, rather than the shops where you buy tea for drinking.

The only shops selling tea on the 'right' side of the mountains in WA (that's more than 60% of the landmass of the state, but less than 1/2 of the population, a hint) are natural foods stores, and one grocery store. The shops are hardly 'reputable' and don't seem to know diddleydosquatolla about quality teas. They stock whole, mostly organic leaf, that their distributors carry. Fortunately, they are decent quality but the selection and turnover is limited and teas aren't very well stored.

It's a step up from grocery store bagged teas, but it's hardly tea nirvana.

Tiger Hill OP in my cup for starters.

[Maitre_Tea]

Okay, how close does it have to be for it to be considered local? I live on the edge of LA County, and everything is like "20 minutes away, +/- traffic."

Within five minutes, there's a small tea shop that I buy crappy tea to tide me over with breakfast, usually Indian blacks. And there's Tea Habitat, which is a little further. Man, I feel kinda spoiled...

[geeber1]

The only shops selling tea on the 'right' side of the mountains in WA (that's more than 60% of the landmass of the state, but less than 1/2 of the population, a hint) are natural foods stores, and one grocery store.

Intuit, do you only have to drive about an hour to get to those stores? There are only two stores that I know of locally that sell loose-leaf tea, one downtown that looks like the stock has been there a LONG time, and a Tea/Gift store that sells lots of perfumey teas. Life is tough here on the 'right' side!

I'm happily spoiled here

Fweever, lucky you! I'm jealous!

Japanese Black in my travel mug this morning.

[Intuit]

The 'local' store is an hour round-trip with 20-miles each way being dusty and slow construction zone. The next nearest shop is a two-hour trip. Looks like one of the major bulk tea supplier to the organic food stores has been bought out; they've stopped offering oolongs entirely. Blech.

Yeah, life on the 'right' side is pretty thin for tea. Not exactly choice for the fine arts, either! Fortunately, there is the web.

Si ji chun (Four Seasons) oolong in my cup.

[brad4419]

Fortunately, there is the web.

I second that Intuit, small buisnesses around here(chillicothe) just don't due well, all we have a big box stores that all sell about the same things so I shop online for everything. Especially tea!

We had a Joy of Java cafe about 15 minutes from my house but when they moved location a few months ago the owner said they wouldn't be selling much, if any tea at all. They had a very nice selection of teas. Nothing rare or anything for example they sold "sencha" or "formosa oolong" and the workers there had no idea how old they were or where they came from. I think there stock was very very old so I didn't buy much until there 75% moveing sale. Now The closest place is about an hour away.

Fuka-midori today