Tea Houses

Do you have a particular tea salon or tea house you've been to and love?

For me, I like high tea at the Pennisula Hotel or Intercontinental in Hong Kong, the Shandong Elite Teahouse, here in Jinan, China where I now live, Marriage Frere in Kyoto and the little tea houses around Insadong in Seoul. In Seoul there's a place full of antiques, that has little birds flying around.

I've been to the Mariage Frères tea shop in Paris, which was very nice!

My list goes on forever, but I was at Tea and Sympathy (NY) yesterday. It's the best Brit-fix around!

I had a lovely tea there the last time I was in New York.

I recommend The Lavender Lounge in San Clemente, CA or The Julian Tea House in Julian, CA. When we're up north, we always make a point to enjoy tea and scones at The Tuck Box in Carmel, CA.

My bookstore is going to be serving tea, soon. ♥

Miss Marple's Tea Room in Sassafras (Victoria, Australia) is just wonderful. It's just the sort of place Miss Marple would love. It's so good you often have to wait for seats to become available.

I used to love the old tea house at QiBao, an area of Shanghai. It was so peaceful to sit in one of the corner alcoves with the shutters open on two sides so that the breeze came in. You could gaze at the boats on the little canal; see the chefs surrounded by billowing steam in the kitchen of the restaurant across the canal; be thankful that you were not in the crush of people on the stepped pedestrian bridge leading to the narrow food street; and stay there as long as you liked, filling your teapot at intervals from one of the two battered kettles on the stove top bench. The choice of teas on offer was extensive, including a range of oolongs and pu'ers, as well as a host of fresh green tips and flower-enhanced teas. Each tea was of course served on its own tea tray in an appropriate tea set for the style of tea. To accompany the tea you could choose from a variety of nuts and dried fruits or order a steamer of xiao long bao ( Shanghai-style dumplings) freshly cooked in the kitchen across the canal & carried over a little bridge to the tea house.
However, on my last visit a few weeks ago, I was disappointed to discover that the tea house was being renovated & modernised.
Closer to the more downtown area of Shanghai, I like to visit the Song Fang Maison De Thé in Yongjia Lu near Shaanxi Nan Lu. I love the calm ambience once you step inside from the busy street and wind your way up the stairs to the wonderfully peaceful room on the second floor. The tea selection is very good and the choice of little patisserie treats on offer is delightful, particularly the tiny and deliciously gorgeous tea flavoured friands.

#8

I wish posts had doors so I could open that one and step right into it right now!

>9 LolaWalser:

The doors are between the posts.

You sure about that? My one worry is falling into the canal.

Best not to chance it, then. You definitely do not want to fall into that canal. Safer just to peek as you read and then pass on by.

I am now picturing a canal full of tea.

I am now picturing myself as the Kraken of the Tea Canal!

Hi Tea Drinkers - Anyone have any comments about Peet's Coffee and Tea (mostly in California)?

Peet's is pretty good as a tea store, however, to be snobbish, it is not a tea house. Much as a neighborhood bar is not a pub. There needs to be a certain ambiance. Imho.

Thanks rathad - how is their tea? Guess this is the wrong thread - still, any thought about their tea?

I've found their tea to be good; they have a rather broad selection, and sometimes have estate teas. They do, however, focus more on coffee than tea.

I belong to a knitting group that meets weekly at a local Peet's, and it's a pleasant place to spend the evening; free wi-fi available, so there's usually several folks with their laptops hanging out.

Afternoon cream tea in the solarium at the Argyll Hotel on the Isle of Iona, Scotland. Looking across the bay to Fionnphort on the Isle of Mull, watching the boat and ferry traffic. Even got a look at the old paddle-steamer, the Waverley, especially sweet for a Walter Scott fan.

I must admit that I don't recall if the tea was wonderful (I'm sure it was just fine, at least) - the company (newly minted friends from Scarborough, UK) and the view on a beautiful, clear day is quite memorable.

Os.


Photo of the Argyll Hotel, Iona, Scotland courtesy of Iona.ws


Photo of the view of Fionnphort from Iona is courtesy of TripAdvisor

If you're in California, I think I like Philz Coffee more than Pete's, and a small non-chain café that a frequent actually does tea very well.  I'm too shy to say which one it is, though.

In London, my go-to tea shop was Camellia's Tea House, in Kingly Court on Carnaby Street. It had just opened when I found it, and I'm very pleased to find that it's still open without my weekly patronage! Because they sell some of the best tea I've ever had, but it's in kind of an out-of-the-way spot.

Thanks for the reminder! I'm going to London next week and I missed going to Camellia's last time.

Must make a note of that, for my next visit.

Thanks for responses. I need a day in Berkley for Philz and books!

Luna, you win the teahouse contest.