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Michael Plant

Dominic 6/26/06

> Well, I managed to make it out alive, and with some crazy experiences,
> and hopefully great tea.
>
> First off, I wanted to extend a big thank you to DogMa, Michael Plant,
> and the rest of the guys who were hanging out at The Tea Gallery for
> the invite... however, regretfully, by the time we made our initial
> trip into Chinatown on Thurs. it was getting late and on top of that we
> never found it. NYC is big, and can be damn confusing. Also, in my
> infinite wisdom I forgot my cellphone charger, and having a bleeding
> edge new cell phone means no buying a new one - even in Chinatown - so
> I couldn't even call to figure out where the hell it was or if I was
> close.

For your future reference, police officers usually,
and subway station attendants nearly always, have
little books that tell them exactly where an address
is located and how to get there. Sorry you didn't
make it to TTG, but hope you had a wonderful time
in New York City.
>
> On to the tea. Ten Ren was pretty cool, I thought that they were waaaay
> overpriced and the staff was not very knowledgable or helpful. It was
> very slow and they could easily see I was spending some dough... yet,
> still no mentionable service. And after dropping far too much money on
> far to little tea, they still charged me $1 for a small cup of plum
> iced tea to head out with. Overall, I'd say a big thumbs down from me.
> I bought: Spring 2006 Lung Ching, upper grade Jasmine Green, Ti Kuan
> Yin, some lower end Pu-Erh Tuo Cha, some ginseng black tea, and the
> plum iced tea.

If the tea you bought was in heavy plastic transparent
bags on the counter, you probably did well enough. I
can't recommend them either for all the reasons you
mentioned.
>
> Kam Man. A Chinese grocery on steroids. I really liked this place. This
> is more like what I am used to in PGH but on a bigger scale. The
> selection was limited but they had some unique stuff and the prices
> were right where they should be. I bought: 1lb. of a Jasmine Oolong
> that was phenomenally good and $4/lb.! Some green jasmine mini-tuocha,
> A Yunnan Pu-Erh, Kelly bought some rose tea, a handful of artistic
> Lychee shaped jasmine green tea, dried hawthorne berries, and some
> Kings Tea. I also bought a very nice Gaiwan here for under $4. Thumbs
> up from me, I'd like to spend a lot more time in this store... but the
> actual tea was somewhat limited.

It's a fun store. There are others. Lew knows them all.

> Teany. Moby, the musician, owns this little out-of-the-way tea/vegan
> shop. I have been a Moby fan for some time and while my interest in his
> work has waned I did want to check out his tea shop. I have the Teany
> book written by Moby and his ex-GF and it is a funny book filled with
> Moby's energy and sense of humor. Also, the DVD titled "Play" is a must
> watch for some laughs... however, Teany not so much. The staff was
> useless. They were slow, slightly off-putting attitudes, and a touch of
> specialness I think. Plus the place is rediculous expensive for
> nothing. They have no idea about tea or much else, I was reduced to
> ordering by a number since the woman stated they didn't have Pi Lo
> Chun, but they did when I said #29. Ugh. Tepid water topped off my $6
> miniature pot of tea. Their tea prices are actually funnier than the
> Moby DVD, $16 for less than a teaspoon of 5 different common teas in
> little containers bundled together. What a joke.

We are on the same page. It's a lousy place.
>
> I had a few bubble teas, I actually liked the milk tea taste, but not
> the bubbles so much. There was a bakery that had iced tea and iced
> green tea with a fruit jelly in it that looked great though.

Bubble tea is great. You missed the point, which is this:
Draw a "bubble" into the straw, raise the straw, aim at
a passing car, and blow hard. You'll find your aim improves
with time and practice. Try not to hit anyone. That would
spoil the fun.
>
> Sadly, this was about it for teas... I couldn't find any other tea
> shops. I tried like crazy, but no luck. I never found The Tea Gallery,
> even after a second attempt, and missed out on Takashima (sp?) which
> was on 5th ave. I believe, due to time.

Well, don't worry. The experience you had is the
experience that counts

> I did find a great little store though called: Jade Garden Arts &
> Crafts Co. on Mulberry st. An absolute delight! Great people, great
> wares, and a wonderful selection of all kinds of pottery including some
> amazing Yixing teapots and mugs. Bonsai Pots, Orchid pots, Chinese
> brush painting supplies... and more. all tucked away from the busy
> streets. A+

Great.
>
> I also really liked Pearl Paint, an art supply shop along Canal st.
> that was like 5 stories of supplies. They seemed a bit overpriced and
> nothing overwhelmingly unique, but they did have some cool stuff and it
> was a nice stop.

And it is five floors, so they have a remarkable
amount of painting supplies and related stuff.
>
> The Empire State building failed to really impress me with the view,
> Times Square was OK but not that amazing,

Oh, man, I've completely lost faith in you!

> the Statue of Liberty was
> pretty neat to see in person but there isn't a whole lot going on there
> to get into it. Central Park was very nice, and I liked it a lot, it
> was one of the highlights. I finally got the hang of the subways the
> day I was leaving, and I probably walked 50-60 miles in 4 days,
> honestly. Rockefeler sq. was small, but there was a really cool
> Japanese book store that also sold Yokan which goes great with green
> tea... which was much better than the Carribean/*** parade that was
> happening there... not my cup of tea.

Rockefeller Center -- or Plaza or whatever -- was the private
domaine of the R family, but it has since been sold, I think,
to a Japanese company. Probably now in the hands of the Saudis.
Every year for one day they close down the center cross street
to maintain their

> As I go through the teas, I'll be sure to mention any outstanding
> ones.. but as it stands I really didn't end up with any real amazing
> finds beyond the Spring '06 Lung Ching from Ten Ren which seemed very
> high-quality. The Jasmine Oolong from Kam Man is GREAT, I'm drinking it
> now... happily back in good old Pittsburgh. Not even being biased, but
> I would believe you could find just about everything in NYC in PGH more
> condensed and easily accessible. The Strip District here rivals
> chinatown/little Italy, and most of the rest can be found here too...
> with the addition of trees and open spaces and at a much lower cost. I
> really thought I was not going to want to leave and it would make me
> want to live there.. and it would be cool for maybe a year, but that
> would be tops for me.

I can certainly understand your feelings on this, east
or west home is best, and zu hause ist su hause, but
we don't roll out our seedy underside for just anybody,
Dominic, and you can be glad we have stuff going on
in NYC that you will *not* find on the streets of PGH,
praise God. Unfortunately, the Black Fat Pussy Cat is
no more.

Thanks for your candid thoughts and review.

Michael