Next to water, tea is the world’s most popular beverage of choice. On a visit to Berkeley last weekend, I went to the Imperial Tea Court on an Edible Excursions Gourmet Ghetto Tour. Although Berkeley’s locale is not America’s first traditional Chinese teahouse (the first was in San Fran), it is the third tea-house opened by Chinese tea guru, and original founder, Roy Fong.
What is a traditional Chinese teahouse exactly?
In China, a tea house (茶馆, “cháguăn” or 茶屋, “cháwū”) is very similar to the American coffee shop, albeit centered around Chinese tea varietals rather than coffee. Usually Hong Kong-inspired teahouses, like Imperial Court, feature pagoda-style decor and small teapot tea service.
Fun Facts About Chinese Tea
- Water for brewing black tea, the most oxidized of all the Chinese teas, should be at 190-195 degrees. But this temp is too hot for brewing white or green teas, therefore burning the tea.
- White tea is the least oxidized with most anti-oxidants and least caffeine.
- Dragon Well tea (black tea) is one of the top ten most popular teas in the world.
- Pu-erh or Pu’er tea (in photo above), a circular compressed ‘cake’ of fermented black tea, is traditionally given to newlyweds in China. Because Puerh tea gets better with age, it’s like a good luck charm. Each year on the couple’s anniversary, they drink tea from this wedding Puerh tea.
- Imperial Tea House was not only the first Chinese teahouse in the U.S., but also the first to introduce Jasmine Pearls to the U.S. market.
- When buying Jasmine Pearls, the smaller, more compact the pearls are, the higher the quality.
How to Do a Tea Tasting
As with wine or spirits tasting, there is a method to examining the flavors of tea as well. First take a sip, as you normally would, to immerse/cleanse your palate. Then slurp the tea (no, it’s not rude, go ahead) with your next sip to release the subtle bouquets of flavors.
About Imperial Tea Court
The first traditional Chinese teahouse in America, San Francisco’s Imperial Tea Court, was founded by Roy Fong in 1993.
Fong, a native of Hong Kong, was schooled in the ways of tea since he was young, and spent countless developing trust with tea growers and producers in mainland China and Taiwan. On he is still hands on. Each year he visits select tea gardens to supervise all aspects of production – from planting and cultivation to harvesting, processing and grading.
Currently, Fong, an ordained Daoist priest, is endeavoring to reestablish the ancient rite of tea dating back to the time of China’s greatest tea master, Lu Yu, who lived during the Tang dynasty and wrote his famous book the Cha Ching (“Tea Scripture”) around the year 780.
He is also the author of Great Teas of China.
Tea Festivals
Love tea? Here’s where to celebrate it:
February 9, 2013 Victoria, BC Tea Festival
March 10, 2013 2nd Annual S. F. International Tea Festival
March 23-24, 2013 NYC Coffee and Tea Festival
October, 2013, Los Angeles International Tea Festival