The Tea Cellar Edit

This place was such a disappointment especially since I was really looking forward to going there. The tea was expensive and then incorrectly brewed. The staff stuck us in a corner and then ignored us. The so-called tea sommeliers knew nothing about the teas. And did I mention that the teas were were incredibly expensive!!! But they did have some lovely looking teas on the menu.

This is a high end place, in cost and environs. It’s in the Park-Hyatt and you wouldn’t be out of place coming in with a suit and tie. I’ve been here twice and enjoyed it a great deal. If you want to talk tea, go on a weekend and ask to speak with the tea sommelier. (Some folks do not seem to like using the word sommelier to refer to anything but wine, but it seems to fit here and that was the term the Tea Cellar was using. However it seems they changed that to “Tea Expert” on their website so perhaps someone complained. I liked the idea of a Tea Sommelier.) Unfortunatley the average servers may not be knowledgeable in tea, but the sommelier/expert will answer any questions you have about the selection and make recommendations if you tell her or him your tastes. The first time I was there, the tea sommelier on duty was a young Japanese woman, who took many tea classes in Japan. She was soft-spoken but kind and helpful.

The selection of tea is very nice and they have several rare teas, and we had a sampler of three different pots. A simple pot isn’t too expensive but the bill can add up very quickly depending on your taste. There is a $300 pot of Puerh. We went with the less expensive cave-aged vintage reserve at about $25, though you can find many pots of greens or blacks at $8-15. The emphasis here is on the tea experience.

The Tea Cellar’s style and decor is very modern chic and sometimes there is a dessert bar. At times the service seemed slow, and I wasn’t certain whether we were actually being neglected or purposely left to quietly enjoy the tea. It was busy that day. Because of the cost, I will not go here frequently, but it was fun and I do recommend it for a bit of a posh kind of tea experience.

The cafe/dining/tea room was relatively empty and waitstaff lacking, so we had to hunt down a waiter and asked to sit for tea and to see the list of teas.

Blown away by the sheer expense of almost every tea on the list, including obscure white teas that quickly ran upwards of 20-30 dollars and vintage puerhs that ran up to 300, I selected the cheapest puerh, a 1999 tuocha, not realizing that it would probably be one of the mini-tuos we saw in the showcase. The description for the tea did not differentiate between sheng or shou (they did for others), so I asked our waiter if the 1999 tuocha was a green, or sheng, puerh, like the 2003 entry listed below it. He said, “Yes, that’s a green tea.” I should have left then and there, either that, or I should have made it clear that I knew a thing or two about tea, because I think he took me for sap. Instead, I thought, “Well, this is a well-established tea venue, I’ll take his word that it’s a green sheng.” He, however, must have thought, “This guy must want some green tea.”

What came out was a pot of Japanese Gyokuro. At this point, I gave up and just let the experience be what it was going to be. The tea was okay, with too hot water and too little leaf. I quickly blew out the tea candle that had been placed beneath the tea pot. We sat and drank the mediocre gyokuro and discussed our plans for the day. Fortunately, he didn’t bill us the listed $26 for gyokuro and we paid our bill and left. I should have known better.

There was something alluring and enjoyable about the room and what I had heard about the place, but, honestly, it’s obviously just a place to suck the wealthy dry of free cash for what they must be perceiving as the finest in tea. On top of the brainless service was the fact that the dining room was filthy. There was food smeared into the carpet that looked liked vomit and half of the tables were cluttered with dirty dishes. I just don’t understand how such a supposedly prestigious establishment (and I’m extending this to the Park Hyatt) can run such an embarrassing operation.

Full blog post: http://tea.theskua.com/?p=445

This place is a pinkies-out type of tea room. I love the aesthetic, so I’m all over it, but I can certainly see this being a not-for-everyone type of location.

The tea is pretty good. I have a feeling that the people there are pretty knowledgeable about the tea, but we were just there to drink tea and chat and catch up with each other, so we didn’t really take advantage of our server. Apparently, a tea master comes around and does tea tastings on occasion, so I’ve got my eye on nabbing a ticket [though it might be a while, as it runs something like $180 a head].

The tea itself actually isn’t terribly expensive, especially since they’ll continue filling your pot up with hot water so you can spend a good amount of time there. They do have some vintage pu-erhs that’ll put you back a bit, but we’ve got plans to go back and split a pot to cushion the blow. I had the Hidden Orchid Oolong and I thought it was pretty delicious. It ranked as my favorite among all the other teas our table had [Gyokuro, Genmaicha, Yerba Mate, and First Flush Darjeeling].

They also have a little spread of finger sandwiches and desserts. The watercress and creme fraiche sandwiches were particularly scrumptious. The hotel’s reputable Blue Duck Tavern is also adjacent to the Tea Cellar, if you find yourself hankering for a meal afterwards.

All in all, the space is absolutely gorgeous, if not necessarily applicable to all situations. I probably wouldn’t feel completely comfortable traipsing in with flip-flops and a ratty t-shirt, but this is also the type of place that I’d go to for the experience and I think that getting a little dressy supplements that. I’m putting some pictures up because really, my words can’t adequately describe the breathtaking atmospheric quality of the space. They are from my phone, so I apologize in advance for the fuzziness.

If you’re in the area, definitely consider dropping by here as it’s soooo pretty. They recommend making reservations, but the cap is for four people. It was a bit empty when we were there, so I’m not sure how busy it gets. The website also says that tea is served all day, but tea tables are only available for a couple of hours on the weekend. [I think they mean if you want to have a supervised tasting, but I’m not 100% positive.]