On Jul 20, 8:54*am, wrote:

I have been to several tea venues in New York, and they are all less
than satisfactory~
Franchia was a total letdown, I went there 3 times and they couldn't
brew a green tea right; T Salon & T Emporium, I would be surprise if
they are still around! The tearoom upstairs was like a Harry Potter
set, and the white tea in the jars might well be older than my
granny. Teany was the doom of tea drinkers.
As for Tea Gallery, I didn't have a good experience with the place in
the beginning, but that was because I went there twice (once in the
torrential rain), and found the place closed on weekdays! Then I found
out that I have to all ahead to inform them, which I subsequently did,
and the time I spent there was wonderful.
The Tea Gallery does not profess itself a place that sells ready made
tea for you to drink, it does not expressively sell you tea, and there
are no serving staff around to show you to the table. If you like
looking for a tea place like The Tea Box @ Takashimaya, Wild Lily Tea
Room, where it is a commercially established with full set of staff in
waiting and tables where you can sit down and drink tea undisturbed,
you have probably gotten a wrong impression. There are only about 2
tables in The Tea Gallery, where guests sit around and Michael or
Winnie brews tea painstakingly for the guests to sip and sample. You
probably have misconceived ideas that The Tea Gallery is a regular
teahouse. It isn't.
It's like walking into Urasenke Chanoyu Center and ask for a cup of
tea because you are thirsty.
Kevo

On 2008-07-23, Kevo > wrote:

> Franchia was a total letdown, I went there 3 times and they couldn't
> brew a green tea right;

I haven't had a lot of other Korean wild green teas, but I think
Franchia (and Hangawi) do a pretty good job of brewing green tea - they
use very cool water, especially for the first and second picked stuff.
The taste is light, and more subtle than most of the Chinese green teas
I've had.

Usually, when I've been there, they have you brew the tea yourself, so
I'm surprised you said they can't brew the tea right - I've mostly seen
them give you a ceramic infuser tea cup or a small pot, along with a
thermal carafe of water, at the temperature they think is right for that
tea, and let you brew everything after the first brew yourself.

w

On Jul 25, 1:31*am, Will Yardley >
wrote:
> On 2008-07-23, Kevo > wrote:
>
> > Franchia was a total letdown, I went there 3 times and they couldn't
> > brew a green tea right;
>
> I haven't had a lot of other Korean wild green teas, but I think
> Franchia (and Hangawi) do a pretty good job of brewing green tea - they
> use very cool water, especially for the first and second picked stuff.
> The taste is light, and more subtle than most of the Chinese green teas
> I've had.
>
> Usually, when I've been there, they have you brew the tea yourself, so
> I'm surprised you said they can't brew the tea right - I've mostly seen
> them give you a ceramic infuser tea cup or a small pot, along with a
> thermal carafe of water, at the temperature they think is right for that
> tea, and let you brew everything after the first brew yourself.
>
> w

Haha~ probably this is a case similar to what Joanne went through! I
probably had a poorer experience because I was there with a different
expectation for the tea they have to offer...next time I visit NYC, I
should go there with more local friends and observe their reactions to
the experience of the place. The first time I was there I was with
some friends and I ordered a vegetarian platter which was oily, that
probably didn't cut well with green tea. The other 2 times I was
there I ordered just the same tea, the utensils provided were nice
(Korean pottery), but the tea was not well stored, it had a whiff of
oxidation starting. The water provided was hot to the touch, and I
had to let the water cool off for a while. It must have amused the
staff to see this guy constantly dipping his finger into the pot...

I'll give it a 4th try since you have a good experience there!

Kevo

I bet there is some health code that says it has to be some minimum
temperature probably somewhere in 190F+ range.

Jim

Kevo wrote:
> On Jul 25, 1:31?am, Will Yardley >
> wrote:
> > On 2008-07-23, Kevo > wrote:
> >
> > > Franchia was a total letdown, I went there 3 times and they couldn't
> > > brew a green tea right;
....its not the way you do it...if it was you wouldnt be in business...
> The water provided was hot to the touch, and I
> had to let the water cool off for a while. It must have amused the
> staff to see this guy constantly dipping his finger into the pot...
>
> I'll give it a 4th try since you have a good experience there!
>
> Kevo

>>> Franchia was a total letdown, I went there 3 times and they couldn't
>>> brew a green tea right;

>> I haven't had a lot of other Korean wild green teas, but I think Franchia
>> (and Hangawi) do a pretty good job of brewing green tea - they use very
>> cool water, especially for the first and second picked stuff. The taste
>> is light, and more subtle than most of the Chinese green teas I've had.

>> Usually, when I've been there, they have you brew the tea yourself, so
>> I'm surprised you said they can't brew the tea right - I've mostly seen
>> them give you a ceramic infuser tea cup or a small pot, along with a
>> thermal carafe of water, at the temperature they think is right for that
>> tea, and let you brew everything after the first brew yourself.

>> w

> Haha~ probably this is a case similar to what Joanne went through! I
> probably had a poorer experience because I was there with a different
> expectation for the tea they have to offer...next time I visit NYC, I
> should go there with more local friends and observe their reactions to the
> experience of the place. The first time I was there I was with some
> friends and I ordered a vegetarian platter which was oily, that probably
> didn't cut well with green tea. The other 2 times I was there I ordered
> just the same tea, the utensils provided were nice (Korean pottery), but
> the tea was not well stored, it had a whiff of oxidation starting. The
> water provided was hot to the touch, and I had to let the water cool off
> for a while. It must have amused the staff to see this guy constantly
> dipping his finger into the pot...

> I'll give it a 4th try since you have a good experience there!

> Kevo

The first time I went there, I got a pot of their best Korean green. They prepared it in a small porcelain kyusu, and supplied small matching cups. We brewed after that, and they offered us more water as we needed it. the water was appropriately cooled down. The second and third time I visited, they put the leaves into one of those shallow metal strainers that sit in a big pot full of off the boil hot water. When I tried to get them to replicate the earlier presentation, they didn't know what I was talking about. So, time apparently intervened. I'd be happy to hear that they switched back to their earlier more caring approach to their empty-your-wallet green Korean tea.
Michael