For my first real night in Berkeley I walked up to the Imperial Tea Court for tea and dinner. I had scoped out their tea menu before and new I wanted to order the gaiwan service of this tea. I also couldn’t resist ordering the Pork Dragonwell Dumplings… with dragonwell tea in them! Unfortunately the serene ambiance of the place when I came in has been ruined by a whiney little kid sitting at the table next to me.
When the waiter brought out my tea he brought out a gaiwan and pot of hot water, but no pitcher or other cup. He asked me if I had used this type of teacup before and I of course said yes, but I didn’t mention that I usually had another cup! I guess it was because this tea is a dragon well, but then I would have expected a tall glass for steeping I guess. Then I saw someone else actually sipping the tea through a crack using the lid to block leaves! Not sure if that is an actual “thing” or not but it worked.
Anyway, I did my best to blow aside the leaves and take sips, and the first steep of this tea was impossibly sweet and fragrant, like rose candy. This is a beautiful, beautiful rose tea. The dragonwell was light and buttery, and all around delicious. I knew I had to take some home with me, and that I did.
Also the dragonwell dumplings were delicious! Mostly porky, but with a burst of tea flavor.
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I think that’s a thing Imperial Tea Court does – I seem to recall them supplying gaiwans but no cups.
This sounds awesome!
That’s how they always used gaiwans in Chinese period dramas. I didn’t know about pouring the tea into a separate cup for drinking until Steepster. Sounds like a place I’d like to eat at sometime!
There was another woman who had a whole tray setup with pitcher and cups, so perhaps they only provide those with certain teas (black? puerh?). It was very fun, though.
Sounds totally fun! Is there a place in NYC where you can get tea service like this? Hmmm
Ku Cha in Boulder and Happy Luckys have gongfu service providing gaiwan/yixing/porcelain small pot depending on tea type. I spoke to the manager of the Dushanbe because the didn’t provide gaiwan’ s at all and are a famous tea house. You have to speak up and let shops know what you want so that they will begin to change.
That sounds absolutely stellar, dragonwell dumplings!??
I think that’s a thing Imperial Tea Court does – I seem to recall them supplying gaiwans but no cups.
This sounds awesome!
That’s how they always used gaiwans in Chinese period dramas. I didn’t know about pouring the tea into a separate cup for drinking until Steepster. Sounds like a place I’d like to eat at sometime!
There was another woman who had a whole tray setup with pitcher and cups, so perhaps they only provide those with certain teas (black? puerh?). It was very fun, though.
Sounds totally fun! Is there a place in NYC where you can get tea service like this? Hmmm
Ku Cha in Boulder and Happy Luckys have gongfu service providing gaiwan/yixing/porcelain small pot depending on tea type. I spoke to the manager of the Dushanbe because the didn’t provide gaiwan’ s at all and are a famous tea house. You have to speak up and let shops know what you want so that they will begin to change.
That sounds absolutely stellar, dragonwell dumplings!??