Great Chicago area shop for tea, Yixing, gongfu equipment, etc.

Glad to hear of a competent tea shop, they are a rarity unfortunately in most of the U.S. I checked it out and it appears to me that the prices are a bit on the high side, but (and it isn't often I say this) price isn't everything. The atmosphere, the owners, and the tangibility of being there in person vs. an online vendor have value. And in the same token, I've only seen the website and not the experience or the actual quality of the tea so I can't speak of much else. The Yixing and tea wares seem a bit high though even still. They have overhead and are dealing in a "niche" product so premiums are to be expected in a brick and mortar shop, if they deliver though, then the additional cost is more than made up for.

The only thing I'd be wary of was from your blog you mentioned that they had some dragonwell that they "bought up" to corner the market on... that raises a big red flag for me. Unless the tea is $800-1000/lb. and they have a very strong clientel to buy it this is generally not the truth. At $200/lb. they would have to be sitting on a hundred pounds to have bought out a small grower at least. With the rapid decay of greens this is generally not the case, to think there is a grower that only produces 20lbs. (which is still a lot to sell quickly) of tea and and took say $50-100/lb. for it is a little far fetched. Most likely it is just a tea that rarely gets exported and they are bolstering the price with a story. I could be totally wrong, but I've been in this game long enough to be skeptical. That was the only black eye on an otherwise great post/story.

- Dominic Drinking: Ten Ren 2nd grade Jasmine Green

Yes, they're terrific. I'm an irregular customer (I go when my family schedule permits). I have a rave for them on my web page (search for "Tea FAQ" to find it).

Strongly recommended.

Chris Roberson