Travelling to New York City

Travel logs and questions
Noonie
Posts: 360
Joined: Tue Dec 12, 2017 12:30 pm
Location: Ontario, Canada

Wed Apr 25, 2018 5:44 am

I’ll be in NYC for work in June and I have a little under two days to explore. I’ve been there twice before. Last time I visited some museums. This time I want to walk around more and do some tea exploration!

So far on my list I have: Ippodo, Cha-An, 29B, Te Company, Tea Drunk and Radiance. I have a Sunday/Monday so have planned around their hours.

The middle three are close together, so I’ll probably end up ‘tea drunk’. I’m not looking to buy tea to take home or teaware, just to drink a lot of tea and chill.

Two questions for those familiar with Manhattan:
1) Any other cant-miss tea shops?
2) In the areas around these shops, anything else with seeing?

Food wise, I’m planning a sushi lunch at least once, and may grab a nibble from a couple of the tea shops. I like live music and may hit up a jazz bar (for a late dinner if available).
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ShuShu
Posts: 335
Joined: Mon Dec 04, 2017 9:36 pm
Location: New York

Wed Apr 25, 2018 6:31 am

Noonie wrote:
Wed Apr 25, 2018 5:44 am
I’ll be in NYC for work in June and I have a little under two days to explore. I’ve been there twice before. Last time I visited some museums. This time I want to walk around more and do some tea exploration!

So far on my list I have: Ippodo, Cha-An, 29B, Te Company, Tea Drunk and Radiance. I have a Sunday/Monday so have planned around their hours.

The middle three are close together, so I’ll probably end up ‘tea drunk’. I’m not looking to buy tea to take home or teaware, just to drink a lot of tea and chill.

Two questions for those familiar with Manhattan:
1) Any other cant-miss tea shops?
2) In the areas around these shops, anything else with seeing?

Food wise, I’m planning a sushi lunch at least once, and may grab a nibble from a couple of the tea shops. I like live music and may hit up a jazz bar (for a late dinner if available).
I somehwat prefer TSHop to TeaDrunk and there is also Floating Mountain which is nice. But I don't go to these tea places very much. (@Shine Magical here is more familier and maybe can help better)
To taste good tea I usually go to LC Tea Trading in Chinatown. They have the best yancha in the area, though communication is somewhat challenging and only cash. :-)
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d.manuk
Posts: 655
Joined: Wed Nov 01, 2017 4:13 pm
Location: Dallas

Wed Apr 25, 2018 9:22 am

After exploring most of the NYC tea shops, the ones that I think are best are T Shop and Te Company. :D
Hopefully the owners will be back from their tea sourcing trips by the time you're here.
If you like durian you can visit NYC Durian if you go to T Shop or LC Tea Trading.

29B is also nice but I find it too expensive for what you get. But at least the extra expense is somewhat justified as opposed to what you get at Tea Drunk.
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teaformeplease
Posts: 38
Joined: Thu Dec 14, 2017 6:15 pm
Location: Bayonne, NJ
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Wed Apr 25, 2018 12:50 pm

You're to-do list is pretty spot on. I'd also add T Shop:

https://www.tshopny.com/

If you are a fan of matcha, I definitely recommend a quick visit to Setsugekka:

https://www.setsugekkany.com
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Victoria
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Wed Apr 25, 2018 2:36 pm

Te Company has delicious food prepared by Portuguese chef Frederico, husband of Elena Liao the owner. The menu changes weekly. A while back I posted a few food picts here; viewtopic.php?f=13&t=13&p=2221&hilit=Te+Company#p2221
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Manttea
Posts: 28
Joined: Thu Mar 29, 2018 12:44 am
Location: North America

Sun May 06, 2018 12:52 am

Noonie wrote:
Wed Apr 25, 2018 5:44 am
I’ll be in NYC for work in June and I have a little under two days to explore. I’ve been there twice before. Last time I visited some museums. This time I want to walk around more and do some tea exploration!

So far on my list I have: Ippodo, Cha-An, 29B, Te Company, Tea Drunk and Radiance. I have a Sunday/Monday so have planned around their hours.

The middle three are close together, so I’ll probably end up ‘tea drunk’. I’m not looking to buy tea to take home or teaware, just to drink a lot of tea and chill.

Two questions for those familiar with Manhattan:
1) Any other cant-miss tea shops?
2) In the areas around these shops, anything else with seeing?

Food wise, I’m planning a sushi lunch at least once, and may grab a nibble from a couple of the tea shops. I like live music and may hit up a jazz bar (for a late dinner if available).
I remember visiting Cha-an,
had an oolong I've now forgotten the name of, but the taste stuck with me throughout the day, it was really quite nice. Would definitely go again
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iGo
Posts: 35
Joined: Mon Dec 11, 2017 10:22 pm
Location: Brooklyn, NY

Mon May 21, 2018 3:37 pm

If you have a bit of time and can handle a trip out to Brooklyn, the Orchid Tea House is worthy of your attention.
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Victoria
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Tue Mar 05, 2019 1:18 pm

Article on tea shops in NYC ;
6 Remarkable Destinations for Tea in NYC
Janice
Posts: 262
Joined: Tue Oct 10, 2017 11:11 pm
Location: New Jersey

Tue Mar 05, 2019 2:26 pm

Here I am practically within walking distance* of Manhattan and I’ve never been to any of these tea shops. Setsugekka offers a matcha-making class for only $20. I can’t attend in March but I’m going to watch for a class in April.

*google maps gives walking directions that instruct you to walk to the ferry, ride across the Hudson River, and then continue on foot to your destination.
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teaformeplease
Posts: 38
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Location: Bayonne, NJ
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Tue Mar 05, 2019 10:30 pm

Janice wrote:
Tue Mar 05, 2019 2:26 pm
*google maps gives walking directions that instruct you to walk to the ferry, ride across the Hudson River, and then continue on foot to your destination.
It would probably just be easier to take the PATH to 9th Street. Setsugekka and a lot of the East Village shops are a decent walk from there :lol:

I thought this might be helpful for folks who are visiting NYC. I recently put together a list of all of the tea places I've written about on my blog and organized it by neighborhood.

https://www.teaformeplease.com/where-to-get-tea-nyc/
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teasecret
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Location: Massachusetts
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Wed Mar 06, 2019 3:59 pm

(don't forget puerh brooklyn, it's a nice space, there's nice tea, I work there)
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Victoria
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Wed Mar 06, 2019 6:02 pm

teasecret wrote:
Wed Mar 06, 2019 3:59 pm
(don't forget puerh brooklyn, it's a nice space, there's nice tea, I work there)
Oh, how great that you work there, say Hi to Grippo. It’s a spectacular tea space, and has very good tea and teaware selections.
Chadrinkincat
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Wed Mar 06, 2019 9:25 pm

iGo wrote:
Mon May 21, 2018 3:37 pm
If you have a bit of time and can handle a trip out to Brooklyn, the Orchid Tea House is worthy of your attention.
Best shop in NYC for serious yixing. Qing-modern teaware. Good 90’s loose puerh and many other oddities that you won’t kind anyware else in nyc. 80’s bug poop tea
Janice
Posts: 262
Joined: Tue Oct 10, 2017 11:11 pm
Location: New Jersey

Thu Mar 07, 2019 1:16 am

teaformeplease wrote:
Tue Mar 05, 2019 10:30 pm
Janice wrote:
Tue Mar 05, 2019 2:26 pm
*google maps gives walking directions that instruct you to walk to the ferry, ride across the Hudson River, and then continue on foot to your destination.
It would probably just be easier to take the PATH to 9th Street. Setsugekka and a lot of the East Village shops are a decent walk from there :lol:

I thought this might be helpful for folks who are visiting NYC. I recently put together a list of all of the tea places I've written about on my blog and organized it by neighborhood.

https://www.teaformeplease.com/where-to-get-tea-nyc/
Good point about clarifying for out-of-Towners that public transportation is better than walking for this purpose.
Ethan Kurland
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Tue Jun 18, 2019 6:48 am

I spent 3 days in New York. I will write about a visit to Pu'erh Brooklyn after a short account of 2 days before visit.

I was planning on being away from Boston for 5 days; so, I had a good supply of tea. About halfway to New York at a service center of I-95 my sister and I were eating lunch we had packed on a table outside. The noise of the highway was too much so we took our food inside.

In our room in Brooklyn, I was unpacking and noticed I had lost a bag. I was so disturbed I was not even sure where or how. It was at the aforementioned stop. I had left it at that table. Anyway, my tea, laptop, & other stuff was in the reliable white canvas bag that I have had for years. (It is often my airplane carry-on)

Alas, one of our brothers, Jonathan, telephoned my sister to say someone was looking for me. Indeed a good man had found the bag, read my name I had written on the white canvas with a pen years ago. found a list of phone numbers inside, and called Jon K and a couple of others. This good Samaritan was in Northern New Jersey for a weekend and would be traveling up I-95 on Monday. We arranged to meet at a service center just before lunch time there for him to return the bag.

That's the good news. I was without my tea and would need to cut my trip short, but that is very good news.

I should have spent the whole weekend thrilled not to have lost my laptop forever and that some people are honest etc.; however by Sunday morning I did not care so much about that and being able to eat real bagels & real pastrami. I really wanted some good tea. So, my sister & I drove from Crown Heights to the newly hip section of Williamsburg where Pu'erh Brooklyn has cushions on the floor & small low tables downstairs. There we enjoyed drinking an 18-year old pu.

I have rarely enjoyed a tea more, though it was rather simple tea. Now a couple of days later, I just think of it as smooth & pleasant. Tasty enough, both of us got tea drunk! I had a wonderful feeling of well being, much of it physical. Definitely the type of experience I want from puerh & have not had since Jayinhk, Bok, & I drank at Wisteria a few years ago. Back to New York: Perhaps 20 infusions. We had drunk about 25 ounces of pu each. Topping that off, a friend of the owner, Grippo, had arrived from Taiwan with a large piece of luggage filled mostly with tea. He was unpacking it while sitting at a table by us & drinking tea. Of course, I could not stop myself from bothering him. As Miriam (my sister) & I stopped drinking the pu, we were given some Oriental Beauty by him. We got a gaiwan to use & some fresh hot water to prepare it.

Again, we were drinking a tea that did not have flavors one could pick out, not spices nor fruits. Yet, it was tasty; the first infusion actually a thrill. The second infusion had us completely satisfied for the day. I still drank a third (because I am a vendor wanting to come to an analysis in that regard). For me it is an O.B. of highest caliber but not really my cup of tea in the long run. I prepared a fourth infusion & took a sip of it. Indeed, it showed me enough to let me know I knew where I was with it. (Reminds me of the best aged, roasted oolongs in that developed palates taste underlying flavors while almost everyone else gets a pleasant, smooth taste that is too simple.)

We went upstairs & my sister who is very charming & a good listener got most of the life story of one of the staff, Michaela, while I found an excuse to talk with another, August (who happens to be stunningly beautiful). I did get a couple of minutes alone with Grippo to talk generally about tea & his teas; then more of his time with Miriam who could not understand why his O.B. was priced at $53 an ounce. (She was polite not to say that she likes mine better at about 1/3 of that price.) Somehow the 3 of us concluded that she should buy a Japanese black, the most she had ever paid per ounce $10 but one of the least expensive teas for sale there.

All in all it is a nice indulgence to have a session at Pu'erh Brooklyn. There is street parking in that neighborhood which is just over the Williamsburg Bridge from Manhattan (subways get you there also)). We had sprawled out, I was half asleep part of the time, & my sister was on a large pillow they provided her when she mentioned her bad back. Truly a laid-back place.
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