T shop

 

T shop is a tearoom, which opened last year, located downtown between East Village and China Town near Houston Street. It’s a very tiny shop hidden at the back. This teahouse is specialized in Taiwanese tea. The owner goes several times a year in Taiwan to the tea field to choose the tea by her own.

They have several choices among Oolong tea, Puerh tea, green tea and black tea. The owner explained that the tea varies a lot with the region; an Oolong tea from China will taste different from an Oolong tea from Taiwan.

She offers two possibilities in the shop: you can either have a tasting with her, which lasts for about 20mn with the traditional set or you can do it by yourself with your friends at a table. Some people prefer to do it by themselves as they find it more fun.

I wanted to try something I have never had before so she recommended me the Oolong tea. The tasting cost me only $10 without having to pay any tip (quite interesting in terms of price). It’s a place I will highly recommend you. It’s quiet and cheap and especially there aren’t many tea places like that, which provide a traditional tasting.  

http://www.tshopny.com/

Ten Ren Tea

                          

This time I decided to have a bubble tea in China Town. An advice: never go there a Friday around 5pm, it’s too crowded.

The tea place is very modern, meaning, don't expected a nice ancient teahouse but more a casual place. You can order "for here" or "to go". There are only five tables; it's a small place but pretty nice.

If you are tired of having traditional tea, but you don't want coffee or juice, bubble tea is a great choice. It’s a great mix I think. I’m sure many of you have already tried. I particularly like bubble tea, it’s refreshing during summer and if you feel a bit hungry it’s a good compromise.

http://www.tenrenusa.com/

Podunk

                  

  

After a failure with the Lady Mendl’s, I went to Podunk located in the East Village. 

Little story-I almost made a mistake with the picture I saw on Google. A few numbers before is located an apartment with exactly the same style in front (picture 3) so I was going to open the door but a woman looked at me with a weird face. Be careful of not going into a stranger’s apartment.

This place is also pretty atypical. It doesn’t look like a tearoom at all. Instead of being a proper teahouse, the owner decided to opt for something different. There isn’t a table or a chair that looks like each other. It adopted a garden style or let’s say a lumber room style. You can pretty much find anything that has no relation with each other; umbrella, piano, garden tables, paintings, watering can, table napkins etc. A customer said it could be an art place.

I ended up being the only customer as everyone left when I arrived. Wondering why…  

The owner is a very nice old lady who talks with everyone. She is the only person working there, but the tearoom is very small so it’s manageable.

I took the best seller Apricot tea as I was looking for something fruity. It was actually really good! The owner explained to me that it is because it’s actually made with real apricots and not artificial flavor, so that's why it makes the taste stronger.

http://www.podunktearoom.com/