May 22, 2011

New York: The Tea-riffic and the Tea-ribble

TEA-RRIFIC
Alice's Tea Cup

Growing up in Chinatown definitely made me tough and build my street cred (that's street lingo for "credit"). But it did shelter me from a lot of worldly fancy gringo practices and customs. When Chinese people say "tea time" we all know what that means. Yum-cha is one of the most hectic, calorie-burning and exhausting things you can ever do. Imaging standing in line with little old people for about 45 minutes on an empty stomach, then you are forced to cramp at a small table while constantly waving your hands for the good dim sum ladies pushing carts. You are doing all this while jabbering away with family members at the top of your lungs as your mom talks about what a tall awkward accountant you are. This is what "Tea Time" meant for me.

Here I am in the Upper East Side in New York with my friend at Alice's Tea Cup. It's definitely...different - think opposite of Yum Cha. Instead of gold and red dragons on the walls, Alice's was decorated with butterfly wings against a teal backdrop. I'm sitting near toddlers, with a menu, and my friend and I are having a nice friendly chat about the Jersey Shore.

Butterflies vs. Double Dragons

Gwai-Lo Yum Cha was definitely a treat. We opted for 2 scones and a pot of tea. Alice's Tea Cup offered over 100 tea selections and aftering spending more than 10 minutes deciding, we went with our instincts. We went for the most expensive tea on the menu and ended up with a delicious pot of Japanese Gyokuro Tea.

$52 a pound! Fancy.

 
Gyokuro is one of the most expensive and is considered the highest quality of tea in Japan. Unlike most teas, Gyokuro must spend 20 days in the shade and is harvested only once a year. Gyokuro is highly sought after for its clean and nutty green tea taste. We made a good choice. *Mental High-Five*


Pinkes Up!

Btw, if you run out of tea, that's it. Don't lift open the lid and expect more - its embarassing. Oops


Tea-rrific! Gringo Dim Sum is fun.



TEA-RRIBLE
St. Alps

Apparently, it's authentic. On its website, St. Alps prides itself as "the first leisure teahouse to introduce Taiwanese bubble tea to Hong Kong" WTF does that mean?

I'm not going to write much about them because I have nothing good to say. The only good thing about St. Alps was it gave me a good Asian venue to rest while I recover from my hives I contracted at the Brooklyn Flea.

**CONTEST**
Thanks to all your support and hardwork, www.wongevitea.blogspot.com is now the #1 and #2 search results on Google under the keywords: Brooklyn, Tea, and Hives. As a thank you, I am have a give-away contest to show my appreciation.

The first person to tell me correctly, what is wrong with  my "authentic" lemon iced tea from St. Alps will receive a Wongevitea tea package (Shipping is limited to the United States only. Guam, Puerto Rico and Brooklyn will not be accepted).


Please write your answer in the comments along with your REAL name and email address.GOOD LUCK!

5 comments:

  1. The tea is brewed in hot water opposed to cold. This creates foam from the denatured proteins of the tea leaves.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Authentic lemon tea doesn't have foam. I hope I win!

    Alice's Tea Cup looks cute from your photos. Did you guys have cake, too?

    Annie D.
    DaiAnn22@gmail.com

    ReplyDelete
  3. wtf, people be responding in dis areaz.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Can't believe I'm following this d-ribble :P

    ReplyDelete
  5. There is obviously no fucking ice in your lemon ICED tea. Plus, where is your damn slice of lemon?

    alicehang10@gmail.com

    ReplyDelete

If you've enjoyed this post, please leave a comment or subscribe to get future posts and giveaways.