My San Francisco Tea Adventure

Thanks to everyone for their store and blend suggestions. Today was the day I went to SF. First was the Westfield Center on Market. Went to all three tea shops there. David’s Tea- tried the Cherry Snowcone, it was good iced. Picked up some Nepal Black tea, as I don’t have anything from that region. Teavana- tried the various over-sweetened iced samples. Then ask about the sale, still only the 2oz. Told the clerk my opinion about why they should sale their teas in smaller quantities, she was nice about it. Didn’t by anything. Lupicia- tried the Napa Blanc tea of the day. Got to try the Melon Oolong, which was good. Bought my Strawberry Chocolate Puer. Then got a home sample of Momo black and a tea bag of Cookie. Great store.

Chinatown- I just walked along Grant and stopped at all the tea shops I could find. Found some oolongs I liked for future purchase from Vital Tea Leaf. I did buy this pretty dragon designed sipping cup, since it was a good price. Even tried Iron Goddess Oolong for the first time, so good. Tried some Rose Oolong and others teas at Ten Ren’s Tea. They tried to get me to buy large amounts of tea, which I politely declined. Later tried some more samples in other Vital Tea Leaf locations. Went by Red Blossom, but weren’t sampling at the moment. Then I walked to the Maritime Park and had some iced tea while watching the waves in the bay.

I came home to find a Teavivre order. It was a great day for tea.

10 Replies

Sounds like great fun!

It was. Going to the Chinese shops made me want a gaiwan even more.

One day I’ll even learn to pronounce it correctly.

Cwyn said

Awesome, thanks for sharing all this, interesting the idea of wandering those smaller shops. Was the tieguanyin dark roast or light green?

Pretty sure all the oolongs I tried were green. I liked their Milk Ooolong a lot too.

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Dustin said

There is also Aroma tea shop on the outer edge of Chinatown where it meets North Beach on Broadway. I wish there was a tea store in Japantown.
Sounds like an awesome day!

I found that one, but I think they were either out for lunch or didn’t have anything brewed for sampling when I went by.

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carol who said

You were so smart to go with tasting all the teas and buying very limited amounts! I bought out all the teas in Sarasota (37 different kinds) and spent way to much money. It sounds like SF has a ton of tea shops. Maybe that should be our next destination. :)

Already knowing what teas I would get where helped. And also that I had my Teavivre order waiting when I got home.

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MzPriss said

It sounds like you had a lot of fun!

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cookies said

What a fun adventure. I wish I had been into tea when I lived in SF!

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