Market Friday: I discovered a new Chinese tea shop near Robinson mall.

There’s a little Chinese tea shop opened at the side street near Robinson mall on New Road. I was very surprised to see a new tea shop around this area as it would be much better to have such a shop in Chinatown. Around this area of New Road, there weren’t older generations of Chinese businessmen working around here. Most of the tourists staying in hotels nearby would be mostly European. So, I wondered if this Chinese tea shop would be able to remain opened very long.

So, one evening as I was walking from the pier towards Robinson, I had the urge to drop in this shop. Whenever I passed by this shop, I never saw any customers inside. I was curious why the owner decided to have his shop in this quiet side street. The decorations of the tea shop also raised my curiosity. The owner of the shop was taking a nap on his easy cushioned chair. He got up to greet me. I was very surprised by the wide selection of various types of Chinese tea. His collection was nicely displayed on wooden shelves.

It seemed he stocked all the well known Chinese tea with many premium varieties. This told me that the owner must be a tea specialist or expert. I asked him many questions about his shop. He was very nice and friendly as he answered all my intrusive questions. His young daughter was having her dinner under her grandma supervision. The owner has been to university in China that’s why his English was quite good. He has lived in Thailand for a few years. I didn’t realise how wealthy he was until he told me he had a factory here for processing tea leaves. He also had online store for marketing his teas.

He said his trade was going fine as he seemed to have new customers everyday. He has a big following of Korean people. So, his business has been growing despite the fact that young people were becoming coffee drinkers. It seemed that there’s a distinct difference between Chinese tea drinkers and coffee drinkers. Most people who regularly drink Chinese tea tend to be more concerned about maintaining good health. Chinese tea drinkers are usually well off businessmen as tea leaves could be very expensive, especially for old tea leaves. It’s a bit like red wine which is supposed to be good for health and some famous red wine could be very pricey.

I have been drinking Chinese tea for a long time, though I was very fond of Earl Gray tea when I was overseas. Good Chinese teas were too expensive for me. It was my Korean friend, a tea master, who taught me how to make tea and enjoy good Chinese tea. The whole process of making tea properly was too much of a hassle to me at that time. When I was back in my country, Chinese tea started to attract me once again. My Malaysian friend, who owned an art gallery and a keen collector of famous old Chinese paintings, introduced me to afternoon Chinese tea. She only drank top quality tea so I was hooked on premium quality tea.

Then I made friend with a Chinese tea shop at the mall where I could taste all the various tea leaves. Thus I started to drink Chinese tea regularly, I still had my Earl Gray tea with chocolate cakes from time to time. I had noticed that Chinese tea made me quite healthy as it helped in reducing cholesterol, fighting against virus and bacteria, reducing cavities. Most elderly Chinese tea drinkers seemed to have long life; tea is also good antioxidant so it helped in detoxing bodies.

The drawback of Chinese tea for me was that I kept me wide awake when I drank strong Chinese tea in the evening. The effect was very different from drinking black coffee. Chinese tea would make me very alert and active much longer without feeling sleepy. I would prefer a cup of black coffee as the effect would last only a few extra hours. In fact, I also used to brew my own fresh coffee. But the closure of my regular coffee bean shop meant that I had to stop brewing my coffee. It’s quite difficult to find a really good cup of coffee around my district in Bangkok. Though they could be very expensive and famous, I still found these hyped coffee shops quite disappointing. Luckily, I stumbled on a small and very humble coffee stall in the basement of a mall. So, when I wanted to enjoy good cup of coffee, I would give myself a nice treat there.

But for daily consumption, it has become very convenient to drink Chinese tea to look after my health. I have noticed that Chinese tea drinkers would usually look much younger with clearer complexion than others. I have become used to drinking fermented Chinese tea which has a deep taste with sweet fragrance. These fermented tea leaves have no caffeine which means I could drink this tea in the evening. The older the fermented tea, the higher the price. The owner of the tea shop let me choose which kind of tea I would like to taste. I chose the cheaper six years’ old tea.

His tea making set was much bigger and grander than my friend’s in the shopping mall. The owner was very skillful in his tea making rituals. Watching tea making seemed to calm me down so I could enjoy the tea when it’s ready. This average tea had nice colour with very faint fragrance. The presentation was pleasurable but the first taste was disappointing. It was too young to give me the punch I expected. Though the after taste was sweet in the throat. The owner agreed that the older tea leaves would be much better. He gave me a stronger cup of tea but the taste was still quite flat. I had to drink up all the tea as I didn’t want to waste any tea. He was very kind and gave me three grams extra for my purchase. Probably he could tell that I wasn’t rich enough to get a bigger order, I got the minimum 10 grams.

The owner of the tea shop asked me whether I would like other teas such as Oolong, Jasmine and other well known teas. I had tried all those teas long time ago but I was hooked on fermented tea. I could noticed the benefits fermented tea had on my health and vitality. After taking his time and questioning him a lot, I had to get some tea from his shop. I did settle for the ten years’old fermented tea (Pu Er) as I knew I would enjoy this tea. I had this one before as a round tablet which cost much more than loose tea leaves.

The problem of getting expensive tea was to find the time and space for enjoying thus special tea. I didn’t have the time to sit still quietly these days, so I still haven’t tasted this newly acquired tea. Drinking special tea should be undertaken properly as the process of making tea, serving tea and drinking tea has become a contemplative and meditative moments for me. This should be a relaxing and soothing pause amidst my fuzzy and busy daily activities.

Wishing you peace, good health and prosperity.

Stay strong and cheerful.

#marketfriday hosted by @dswigle.