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All the tea in China...
and everywhere else.
Spangly coffee chains may be stealing the limelight, but research shows that in Hong Kong, tea drinking is still number one. Black, green, red or even bubbly – the choices are endless, the pot is always hot. We take a look at what is brewing on the streets of the SAR.
Words Elle Kwan |
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Waiter, There’s a Ball in My Tea
In the crowded teahouses of Taiwan, milk tea globs of round jelly are favourites. And it is no longer just an Asian craze, with glasses of the milky brew now being served worldwide. Catch a gulp here at Saint Alps Teahouse (G/F, 206 Sai Yeung Choi St South, Mongkok, 2398 3991). Although the jelly is sticky and clogs up the straw, a green milk tea is thick and refreshing – or try it with ginger for a zing. Not recommended for tea connoisseurs – the tea is low grade – but otherwise bubble tea is trashy, sweet and addictive. |
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Fit For a King
Olivia Lui of Oolong specialists Ming Cha (7 Star St, Wanchai, 2520 2116) advises Honey Pearl Pekoe or White Peony Supreme for Oolong beginners. Both, she says, have delicate floral flavours. Oolong is the ancient tea of Fujian, and comes packed with healing antioxidants. It is also rich in history – Ming Cha’s most expensive brew weighs in at a hefty $2,200 for 70g, its first generation’s leaves were served to the Sung Dynasty Emperor. Like wine, Oolong varies according to location, condition, and even plantation owner for its vintage, but a good tea, says Olivia, always has resonance. We tried the Phoenix Supreme – it left a tanginess on the tongue with a sweet lychee-like aftertaste. |
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Get Fresh
Mint tea, used all over North Africa and throughout the Middle East, is refreshing and good for digestion. Karen Wan, One Fine Day Café’s (3/F, 85 Queen’s Rd, Central, 2810 6805) resident tea expert brews hers using Fortnum and Mason’s green peppermint tea with added mint leaves for cooling summertime refreshment. But this cup, perfect as a caffeine-free option, bears little resemblance to its African cousin. To try something more authentic, Karen suggests Habibi (G/F, 112 – 114 Wellington St, Central, 2544 3886), which serves an authentic black, or gunpowder, tea infused with mint. |
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Froth of Liquid Jade
Matcha, ground green tea, is brewed up all over Japan, whether for an official tea ceremony or less auspicious occasions. Using the whole leaf ensures maximum goodness, and a cup of this stuff is rich in antioxidants, high in vitamins A, B, C, E, and K, and said to slow the aging process. So where can you get your hands on such a potion? Despite the fact tea was served ground here long ago, few places serve matcha. Chado Urasenke (9640 3750) can arrange one-on-one lessons in the tea ceremony and will teach you how to brew, serve and receive the tea. Home brewers could try City’Super – 30g of Maruzen Uji No Maccha is $59, while Ippindou (108 Prince’s Bldg, Central, 2971 0080) serves tea, letting you try before you buy. Alternatively, for a quick green tea fix, Mix is now offering Matcha-licious ($30 small), though it tastes more pineapple than green tea. |
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I’ll Swap You These Leaves for Your
Best Stallion…
Peggy Wong became a tea expert in kindergarten, age three. Since the first fulfilling cup, she hasn’t looked back – these days she advises tea drinkers in the Goldlion teahouse (1/F, The Plaza LKF, 21 D’Aguilar St, Central, 2526 7735). This tranquil watering hole specialises in Yunnan province’s Puerh tea. Boasting a 2,000-year heritage, Puerh was once so valuable the Chinese exchanged it for Tibetan horses. It can still be pricey – one 100g pack in Guangzhou sold for HK$156,000, though Peggy wouldn’t recommend that for beginners. Mao Jin Mai ($168 per course) is a gentle introduction to the deep red brew, famous for its lively earthy taste. But for more practised drinkers Peggy recommends Royal Superior ($680 per course). The Chinese have long believed that Puerh aids digestion and clears excess oil and fat from the body, making it good for both physical and spiritual well-being.
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Tribal Gathering
Rooibos and Honeybush aren’t strictly teas, but for hundreds of years the South African tribes of the Cedarberg Mountains used the plants, steeped in water, to treat ailments and diseases. Word of their properties – high in vitamin C, rich in minerals like iron and sodium, and caffeine free – is spreading worldwide. Prepared like black tea, but usually served without milk, Rooibos (red bush in Afrikaans) is red in colour, with a deep nutty taste with Honeybush its lighter-coloured cousin. Both are available at H-Tea-O (C1 – 4, 1/F Queensway Plaza, 93 Queensway, 2529 7585) – owner Tony Dick recommended honeybush with lemongrass, which was light, grassy and felt very clean. Buy a plastic takeaway cup from the store – the cups were developed to circumvent the paper variety disturbing the subtleties of the tea.
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It’s Cold Up North
Cinnamon, cardamom, ginger, fennel, sugar and cloves all go into Indian masala, or ‘chai,’ tea. Assam tea leaves and milk form the base of the brew, which in India is boiled in metal pails on the street. Anuj Sood, manager of Veda (3 Arbuthnot Rd, Central, 2868 5885), the place to find good chai in Hong Kong, is Himalayan, and explains that in the cooler northern states Indians add extra ginger to chai for warming comfort – everywhere else, extra cardamom seeds are added. The light brown concoction is served small and sugary at Veda, in both cardamon and ginger varieties for a gentle blend of spices in the comfort of milk tea. |
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Tea Leaves
+ The oldest tea makers in the world are the Chinese. The British East India Company sent a missionary to steal Chinese tea plants and attempted to grow them, unsuccessfully, in India.
+ It was the Indians who showed their own indigenous tea plants to the British. These were easier to grow and much of the Indian tea drunk today is a hybrid of Chinese and Indian plants.
+ The East India Company monopolised tea sales, making tea available only to high society. The English Duchess of Bedfordshire invented ‘high tea,’ when she borrowed the idea of serving the brew with sandwiches.
+ Jane Pettigrew, in her book Tea and Infusions, says London’s first tea merchant, Thomas Garraway, advertised tea as having healing properties. Apparently it could cure age-old ailments such as dropsy, scurvy, memory loss, sleepiness and sleeplessness.
+ The Russians favour strong black tea sweetened with fruit jams.
+ Green tea is a known antioxidant, now often used to combat sun damage.
+ Puerh is served in courses of up to 10 cups. Its true flavour doesn’t come through until the third or fourth cup, so the first two are used for washing and warming the cups. |
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