Apropos of Dan's experience, our local Ten Ren tea drinking shop on Mott
Street in New York City, close to their tea selling shop, serves tea in
small styrofoam cups. They also serve lots of bubble tea. I recommend
passing them up. BTW, I was in the selling shop a week ago to buy a simple
bamboo scoop and was accosted by the used car salesladies who had trouble
letting me walk out without a big tea order. Just pass 'em by. (They do brew
pretty powerful tea, don't they.)

Michael


Dan 4/11/04


> I think the local ten ren consistently oversteeps its lowest priced green
> (Long Jing ostensibly) and oolong, when purchased by the cup.
>
> They, of course, are convinced that these bitter tastes are normal.
>
> They're only steeping for 3 minutes, so I'm left wondering what else the
> trouble might be. Maybe they're using too many leaves? Maybe the
> scalding water they're using is too hot?
>
> The ten ren in question is "Cha for Tea" in Irvine, California. I'm
> curious whether people have had similar experiences with other ten rens.
> Or this same one.
>
> I know most Chinese teas are forgiving of oversteeping, but these just
> don't seem to be. Maybe we don't need to get into the "Is Taiwan part of
> China" controversy.