Interesting that that's the case in China. Here in NYC, you can't find a gaiwan at the Chinese dept. stores, only at the specialty tea places. And one of the proprietors of Tea Gallery (they carry lovely tea, zishu and porcelain teaware) was grumbling that she doesn't get many Chinese people in there (and they're in Chinatown).
Joe.
Joseph snipped-for-privacy@mb-m05.aol.com12/21/04
11: snipped-for-privacy@aol.com
Joe,
I used to get them in the Chinese department store at the mouth of Mott Street -- if Canal is the tail end -- but I think they closed down their operation. I thought Kam Man and Great Wall both sold them. Maybe they're becoming a thing of the past. So, what's the next big thing? Coffee? Very rare beans! Only 1200 kilos produced. $40. an ounce. Get on board before the train leaves the station.
Michael
Michael
I was actively looking last week. Great Wall and Pearl River have none, unless you count the tiny gaiwans included as parts of those cellophane-wrapped tea sets. Kam Man has only one kind, heavy enough to use as a doorstop. I don't know the Mott St. store you speak of.
There's a little grocery-cum-ceramics shop on Lafayette just above Canal that has $4.50 gaiwans, a little nicer than Kam Man's. Everyday stuff, but it would work. I'll probably buy one of those, and a fancy one from TG for when I have, you know, illustrious tea persons over. :-)
Joe
I just found this place on the way to big apple. I really like it there.
--Tom
-oo- ""\o~
------------------------------------ "Homo sum, humani nil a me alienum puto." Terrance
We have them in Chinese grocery stores in Philadelphia, but they tend to be a seasonal item -- as if the potteries in China made them at certain times of the year. They're not as common as the regular tea pots and the covered mugs. I've also seen a bunch of Yixing pots at different times in Philly, and the exchange student said that those are considered to have health-giving properties. And Ti Kuan Gying (I'm not checking a reference right now--Iron Goddess of Mercy) oolong is really strong, she said.
I usually have the server select an oolong to serve me gung-fu style. While I do this for myself at home, some of the staff do it so gracefully, their hands seem to be dancing.
Decor wise, I only have eyes for those ornate wood chairs. While I don't find them to be particularly comfortable, I am semi-obsessed with the look & feel of them.
I've also boght some of their tea for home (especially ornimental jasmines) but some of their prices seem high in this area such as the CNNP pu-erh.
What do you drink there?
--Tom
-oo- ""\o~
------------------------------------ "Homo sum, humani nil a me alienum puto." Terrance
snipped-for-privacy@mb-m28.aol.com12/22/04
07: snipped-for-privacy@aol.comfrown
I notice lately that the server is a young lady; the guys are absent. It's nice to watch other people do it. Have you visited The Tea Gallery? It's a cut above.
May we use the word "uncomfortable"? While you're sitting in those obsessed wooden chairs, you need to let your eyes roam up to the ceiling, suspended from which are plastic leaves and flowers of a garishness quite in keeping with the statuary. I kind of like the whole thing myself.
Well, high for the area, but low for the quality -- at best, that is. I've bought wonderful Wulong from them, but it seems to be missing from the list these days.
Oolong, depending on what my pocketbook will bear. I shy away from their greens since their storage methods are not of the best. Hope they get some of that Wu Long before long.
snip
Michael
In my Chinatown they're located in the grocery stores in the kitchenware aisle. I'm in a store yesterday looking at what I thought was a light color brown decorative ornate Yixing teapot and trying to figure out how to get the lid off and saw it was sealed with a white bead looked at the display again and noticed it was made of gingerbread. I was fooled for a good five minutes.
Jim
Rebecca Ore wrote:
places. And one
certain
considered
checking a
Wow, you could have your tea and cakes all at once! No muss, no fuss.
Don't tell them over at Teamail, they'll be asking where to buy them.
Joe
Joseph snipped-for-privacy@mb-m10.aol.com12/22/04
10: snipped-for-privacy@aol.com
Joe,
What's "Teamail"?
Michael
Here is the brewing instuctions for my West Lake Dragon Well from Chinatown:
I guess I get the idea. After decades of searching this is my anytime green tea with no hint of astringency or having to pretend you enjoy the taste of dried, roasted, fried green tea when the lymph nodes in your neck ache. It has an understated taste so you don't feel you've been on the mower for hours. The leaf is various shades of green almost blade like grass. This one comes in a hermetically sealed apothecary style glass jar. Other teas by other exporters are showing up packaged this way. The best commercial packaging I've seen. These jars would be $10 in the stores and they're selling it with great tea for less than that. This is the first time I've ever seen a commercial recommendation for more than one infusion. The quidessential leaf style for gongfu and gaiwan. The leaf doesn't get messy when infused.
Jim
Rebecca Ore wrote: ...Scrooge was here...
Dragonwell
Don't play dumb with me, Michael. I've seen enough of your bundt cakes and doilies for you not to know.
Joe
No. Where is it. I didn't know about Big Apple untill you started writing about it.
--Tom
-oo- ""\o~
------------------------------------ "Homo sum, humani nil a me alienum puto." Terrance
"Does it come with gingerbread cups and saucers too?"
No worry about Jim ratting out on us. His posts could never get past the capricious censor-squad at Teamail.
--crymad
I've heard Michael gives good bundt. This is just what I've heard. Those folks in Teamail are an insular bunch.
--crymad
Joseph snipped-for-privacy@mb-m10.aol.com12/22/04
13: snipped-for-privacy@aol.com
Speaking of doilies, when I was in Holland the first time -- forty years ago, it was -- I saw some ladies producing lace using a series of spindles on the ground which they twirled over one another in rhythmic sequences thus producing the designs in the lace. It was extraordinary. There is something to be said for doilies. The only offensive thing about a doily is the word. That's why I dislike G&S so much, I suppose. As for bundt cakes, my sole attempt was a complete disaster. That's why we have women, right? BTW, we're talking about workers' and children's rights over there, which is a good place to do it because there are so many vendors listening in.
So, my doily collection has not gone unnoticed, eh?
Michael
Tom,
The Tea Gallery is on the west side of Allen Street, about a half block north of Delancy. A very cool place, with a profound respect for the teas they sell.
Michael
[Tom] [Michael]snipped-for-privacy@corp.supernews.com12/23/04
00: snipped-for-privacy@xprt.net
I am peerless. Therefore peer pressure will get you nowhere. I will frolick where and with whom I choose. Yuk. Happy holidays. These too shall end.
Michael
I was so embarrassed I didn't stick around to notice. I'm going back after Christmas to find out if there was a set. If anybody wants to know we have a chain of arts and crafts stores called Michaels. Ah censorship nothing more than a whip for politically correct hypocrites. Plus I like to pontificate or as my critics charge pondefecate. I feel a running string of consciousness coming on better shut it down now. We got some new blood this year. Didn't you mention you got kicked out of TM?
Jim
crymad wrote:
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