Hello, I'm going to be visiting NYC (Manhattan) for a brief time and
was hoping to find a place to drink some good tea. I saw a reference
to Wild Lily on earlier posts, which looked ideal to me, but it looks
like the place closed down. I'm mostly interested in Chinese teas
(e.g., oolongs) and would like somewhere to drink gongfu style if
possible. My wife will be with me though and she will drink something
milder, possibly a tisane. Anyone know of good places to visit?

> Hello, I'm going to be visiting NYC (Manhattan) for a brief time and
> was hoping to find a place to drink some good tea.
[...]
> Anyone know of good places to visit?


The Tea Gallery
http://www.theteagallery.com/

Their website isnt much yet but I can personally vouch for the
proprietors (Michael & Winnie) knowledge and dedication to tea.

Mike
http://www.pu-erh.net

Mike Petro wrote:


> The Tea Gallery
> http://www.theteagallery.com/
>
> Their website isnt much yet but I can personally vouch for the
> proprietors (Michael & Winnie) knowledge and dedication to tea.

Their website is a shuck and jive, in fact. If you didn't know them
personally, you'd be dissing it as a bogus webfront, Mike! :-)

XXXXX

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX <XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX> writes:

> Mike Petro wrote:
>
>
> > The Tea Gallery
> > http://www.theteagallery.com/
> > Their website isnt much yet but I can personally vouch for the
> > proprietors (Michael & Winnie) knowledge and dedication to tea.
>
> Their website is a shuck and jive, in fact. If you didn't know them
> personally, you'd be dissing it as a bogus webfront, Mike! :-)

Shuck and jive? Excuse me? That's pungent, if possibly dated,
language, but I'm not sure what you're referring to.

Disclosu Winnie and Michael are friends of mine, and I buy tea from
them, but that's it. I don't even get discounts that I'm aware of.

/Lew
---
Lew Perin /
http://www.panix.com/~perin/babelcarp.html

Thanks for the information. I'm not sure about "shuck and jive"
either, but I notice their links don't seem to work for me. Given that
I generally prejudge based on websites, it is useful to know that this
criteria may not be applicable here. In any case, can I walk in, sit
down and drink tea here or is it primarily a store that sells tea to
take home? (I am looking to do the former, though may still visit if
the store is just for the latter).

Charles

Charles,

The links work, it's just that they are all links to the main page.
Except for "contact us". Anyway, I presume this is just an initial cut
at a web site and that it will be fleshed out later.

Alan

On Aug 2, 3:43 pm, cha bing > wrote:
> Thanks for the information. I'm not sure about "shuck and jive"
> either, but I notice their links don't seem to work for me. Given that
> I generally prejudge based on websites, it is useful to know that this
> criteria may not be applicable here. In any case, can I walk in, sit
> down and drink tea here or is it primarily a store that sells tea to
> take home? (I am looking to do the former, though may still visit if
> the store is just for the latter).
>
> Charles

cha bing > writes:

> Thanks for the information. I'm not sure about "shuck and jive"
> either, but I notice their links don't seem to work for me. Given that
> I generally prejudge based on websites, it is useful to know that this
> criteria may not be applicable here. In any case, can I walk in, sit
> down and drink tea here or is it primarily a store that sells tea to
> take home? (I am looking to do the former, though may still visit if
> the store is just for the latter).

It's primarily the latter, but they'll certainly let you taste before
you buy. Also, they arrange tasting sessions where buying isn't the
focus. Either way, make sure you call in advance, for this month
their hours are irregular.

/Lew
---
Lew Perin /
http://www.panix.com/~perin/babelcarp.html

> Thanks for the information. I'm not sure about "shuck and jive" either,
> but I notice their links don't seem to work for me. Given that I
> generally prejudge based on websites, it is useful to know that this
> criteria may not be applicable here. In any case, can I walk in, sit down
> and drink tea here or is it primarily a store that sells tea to take home?
> (I am looking to do the former, though may still visit if the store is
> just for the latter).

> Charles


Hi Charles,

Lew and I discovered the Tea Gallery together one afternoon some years ago, and I join him in stating that Winnie and Michael are friends of mine, that I buy tea from them with fair regularity, and that I do not get discounts. Let me add a few things: In my experience, their teas are among the best I've drunk. They buy small quantities and have not yet entered into market for bulkier, albeit lesser, teas. Finally, and clearly, they are new to internet marketing, having preferred to enjoy tea and people face to face and cup to cup. I suspect they will improve the links. You can indeed walk in and drink tea, although it is, as you say, primarily a store that sells tea to take home. Highly recommended.

Michael

On Aug 2, 7:36 pm, cha bing > wrote:
> Hello, I'm going to be visiting NYC (Manhattan) for a brief time and
> was hoping to find a place to drink some good tea. I saw a reference
> to Wild Lily on earlier posts, which looked ideal to me, but it looks
> like the place closed down. I'm mostly interested in Chinese teas
> (e.g., oolongs) and would like somewhere to drink gongfu style if
> possible. My wife will be with me though and she will drink something
> milder, possibly a tisane. Anyone know of good places to visit?

I also would strongly recommend the Tea Gallery, although since both
Lew and Michael have talked about that, there's no point in mentioning
it again.

Another alternative, not quite an intuitive one, is Cha-an. While
their name and location (in East Village) suggest a mostly Japanese
offering, they do have some Chinese tea and will give you a gongfu set
to brew should you order the right kind of tea (roasted TGY, IIRC, was
what I ordered). They are a little stingy on the amount of tea they
give you, at least for my personal taste, so I ended up ordering two
portions, but you can spend a whole afternoon there making tea.

If your interest is Chinese tea though, I'd still recommend Tea
Gallery as your first stop. If your goal is to make conversation with
friends and don't want to have to deal with store owners (this does
not mean that M&W of Tea Gallery are unpleasant -- merely that perhaps
you wish for privacy or some such) then Cha-an can be a good
alternative to go.

They're located on 230 E 9th St, between 2nd and 3rd IIRC.

MarshalN
http://www.xanga.com/MarshalN

Thanks, everyone, for your advice. I indeed went to Tea Gallery and
found it to be as great as everyone said. In fact, it was exactly what
I was looking for. I ended up spending two hours drinking a bunch of
mostly great oolongs and talking about tea with Michael. It was an
experience more akin to stopping by a friend's house than stopping by
a business. I also learned a lot about tea in the process, and ended
up spending a lot more money than I had planned. In some ways, my only
regret was that I didn't take the opportunity to talk more about pu-
er, as it seems hard to find tea shops (or tea drinkers for that
matter) that actually know anything about it. Oh well, there is only
so much you can accomplish in a day I guess.

Thanks again!
Charles