All the Tea from China to Your Door in Korea! Free Shipping!? Hot Gazoobies!

Ah, the problem of getting a fine Chinese tea at a decent price while here in Korea !

One option of course is, well, fly to China and get some. Rather costly for tea, although well worth the trip. 

Insadong in Seoul has a good Chinese teashop on one of it's side streets but, well, you run the risk of getting a nosebleed when you hear the prices they charge.

Nosebleed? Should've gone to Busan instead of Seoul for tea. No use crying over the bill. Consider it a lesson learned. See www.healthyfoodadvice.net for 3 cures (one of which involves vinegar and.. brown paper?)

(90,000won / $90USD for a 200gram bag of LapsangSouchong will do that to you).

Some these days are saying Seoul City's new motto "I Seoul you" is being used by some Korean people who complain about the rising apartment prices using Seoul as a verb in saying "Don't Seoul me! Lower the price a bit would you?"

 If you are willing and able to pay a price so steep there's a chance you're one of those high flyers who might even know the company of people like Prince Harry, Charles, Will and, grace: even the Queen!

Well then, you might as well get some from one of the companies the Queen has gotten a warrant out on: whose products she uses and thus have her coat of arms at the top labelled "By Appointment to Her Majesty the Queen".  

See? Coat of Arms at top with text beneath. Like this text. Only not warranted by the Queen like on the box of Lap' Mountain above.

By Appointment indeed! Even here in lovely Busan a good DaHongPao goes for 50,000won for a rather small box. 

Which brings me to Alibaba: The Chinese website that is making billions of dollars. Sadly for us lowly folk not in the mercantile industry we cannot order from them, unless we want to order a tonne of the same tea at a time : Alibaba deals only in bulk orders. A tempting thought though:

Buy all the tea from Alibaba in bulk...

  and hoard it ! Warehouse it even! Mmm awesome...

 Fortunately, however, we needn't buy in bulk were we to board ourselves a fine flashy firefox to surf or paddle our way to www.aliexpress.com

The below is just a tiny drop in the kettle as to the many teashops and vendors you'll find on aliexpress :

• Hangzhou Jia Ya-fang Tea Store (Zhejiang China) I ordered from them and the Black Oolong Tea (Hei-Oolong Cha) was amazing (pictured left).

• QingQinTang Teapots The Place for cast iron 'tetsubins'. The Japanese use a cloth to open the piping hot lid. The Chinese and early Japanese used to use a special tong-like fork. Or, originally a 'fork' that was not so Fork-like for $33.99 (aliexpress, of course).

• China Grandness Tea Co. Ltd. Online since 2012 offering a wide variety of teas.

• China's Tea Store products pull down tab or scroll to the bottom to see the varieties of tea they offer.

• Chinese Chaodao : Bam! : Bricks of Da Hong Pao! Other teas as well listed on the left of the site.

As a side note, one great app for Chinese characters I highly recommend is Pleco. The app has several versions : iPhone/iPad, and two versions for Android. I often use the handwriting interface to look up Chinese characters like  陳元龍 for instance.

Later I'll do a review on the Black-Shady Dragon that is Hei Oolong Cha and how it is taken in China and Japan. Until then, do find yourself in steeped condition keeping warm with a fine cup of the camellia. 

Tea and Craft Fair at Bexco this weekend !

Well, I've updated the Tea Treasure Map of Busan to include the 2 new 오가.다 teahouses in Busan and also the wonderful O'Sulloc Teahouse located in Someyeon's NC Department store. I shall be writing a review on that fine teahouse in the next few weeks. They, like many of the new teahouses these days, are offering special seasonal menu items along with their regular menu items.

     Also, this weekend the 14th Busan International Tea and Craft Fair will be held at Bexco. It starts this Thursday Nov.19th and goes until the 22nd. 10am-5:30pm.3000won/person.  There will be many demonstrations of tea ceremonies as well as things to buy from various vendors.

I'm looking forward to the seeing the cast iron tea cauldrons that they are making nowadays in South Korea.

For those interested in 'matcha' or "malcha" in the Korean : I recommend looking out for the vendor that sells various teas in powdered form : they sell not only traditional green but various other non-caffeinated powdered leafies for wisking up in a teabowl (i.e. : barley leaf powders etc.).

One other vendor to keep an eye out for is the one selling 'golden bamboo shoot tea'. I hope they will be back again : last time they were handing out samples and it was wonderful ! Anyhow, I'm off to hit the sack after a fine Chamomile. Best wishes and stay steeped!

A New Starbucks-Like Teahouse : Seomyeon

A rather excellent teahouse has opened up right in the center at the heart of Busan's downtown area of Someyeon! It's called Hyung-Cha 향차 or Scent of Tea and its 2 doors down from the Seomyeon Rotary intersection.

It has been said that many of the teahouses in Someyeon tend be rather small cramped and crowded But this one is an exception ! Its style is very Starbucks like in its atmosphere and front counter. 

  Much like Starbucks the menu is up on the wall behind the counter and they offer a wide variety of tea infused drinks. I highly recommend their Oolong Latte although it is also possible to get tea 'straight up' as well. 

 The teahouse is easy to get to : Just come up from the Someyeon Subway station Exit 11. As you come up from the underground do not U-turn, do not cross any streets : Just walk 2 doors straight around the curvy corner and you'll see...

Straight ahead the green red and black sign and there, on the ground floor Hyung-Cha ! There's lots of seats and a great place to meet! Best Wishes and Stay Steeped! --M.W.T.