100 little cups of tea
Coffee drinkers often stick with coffee long after they wish to “get off coffee.” But they think that tea ist just the watery semi-flavored stuff you get in bags at the grocery store or neighborhood cafe. I used to be one of those coffee drinkers.
One Christmas I came home for the holidays and my father had a new obsession: Chinese tea. It took me a while to wrap my head around this totally different way of drinking tea - a thousands of years old tradition. But soon, despite the particular temperatures, cups and brewing vessels, I was hooked, and now drink only the occasional espresso out of desire, but not need. The aspects of the practice of drinking this tea which at first I found strange and a little cumbersome became a treasured ritual.
Well, if you are lucky enough to in the San Francisco Bay Area, there is a place you can go to get the hang of Chinese Tea. Just around the corner from the Pete’s Coffee on 4th Street in Berkeley nestled among the bright shops, is a haven of Chinese tea: Teance. Here you can sample their daily choice, or buy a sampling of all kinds of Oolong, green tea, pu-erh tea, white tea. The staff is knowledgeable and communicative. The owner Winnie is a wealth of information about Chinese tea and also Taiwanese tea. (for more info see www.teance.com)
If you delight in subtlety try her oolongs, greens and whites. If you prefer thick earthy flavors try the pu-erh. Remember that the more aged the pu-erh, the less the caffeine, the more earthy.
The quality of Winni’s stock of teas is quite high. None of that cheap stuff! But there are affordable solutions to be found there as well, if you are on a budget.
I never did give up coffee, I found Chinese tea.
Posted in Chinese Tea, Drinks |
By s on Feb 13, 2008 | Reply
I have send some chinese tea to a friend who lives in ireland,but,seems most people like westerner don’t like real chinese tea.and a friend who has been work in England before told because most of westerners think real chinese tea way kinda inconvenient.you know,we put the tea leaves in the tea pot,and when we drink tea,some leaves mix with the tea.and i also heard most of westerners only drink teabag.is it true?i dont think people understand the real chiense tea drink way even they know chinese tea is famous but never try the real way..
By s on Feb 13, 2008 | Reply
even chinese tea have a lot of stuff,and all of them are totally different.in different season different places different situation you are suppose to drink different tea.But i would like to tell you if you work for an IT company and sit front of the computer all day,you should try a cup of green tea everyday.but if your stomach doesn’t work well,you should never try drink green tea when your stomach empty.
By Stefanie on Feb 13, 2008 | Reply
Thank you so much for your commment.
I had no idea you shouldn’t drink green tea on an empty stomach. What about pu-erh? I drink pu-erh in the morning, but should I wait til after I eat breakfast?
You are right about westerners and tea. For my father and me, once we were shown the way, we could never go back to tea bags. I think this could be true for many people in the west - so I am trying to get the word out here about how wonderful Chinese tea is.
If there is a Chinatown in one’s city, often there is a tea shop where they offer tasting and show the different kinds of tea and how to brew. In Los Angeles, it is in a big two-story store that offers more than just tea. But these are not the same as the shops that serve boba and milky tea drinks!
Chinese tea is a totally different experience than tea bags. It is much more than a drink, don’t you think?