HK Milk Tea at Out the Door

Funny how you never heard of something until you go to a foreign country and discover it. Then you come back and you see it every where. That's the case with Hong Kong milk tea, or lai cha.

I tried this beverage for the first time during my trip to Hong Kong last month, and I loved the simplicity of it but how it was like morning coffee because of its intense flavor and creaminess. My understanding is that lai cha, or HK milk tea, is made with tea and either evaporated milk or sweetened condensed milk, which creates a nice caramel-like color to the drink.

Since I've been back, I've spotted HK milk tea at a restaurant in Oakland's Chinatown, and I read about it starting to be served at Out the Door, the casual sibling of the Slanted Door. There's several locations of Out the Door, but I got my lai cha at the counter at the Ferry Building.

When I ordered it, the server made sure that I understood that this was a hot drink, and not the Hong Kong-style bubble tea that people are used to here. I told her I knew it was hot, and she then told me it would take about three minutes to prepare. I ordered a steamed chicken bun ($3) as I waited.

When my HK milk tea arrived, it had the exact same aroma as the one I had in Hong Kong, that slightly floral but smokey fragrance. But this version was sweeter, and I checked later and the server said their version is with sweetened condensed milk. Even though I don't have a sweet tooth, I really liked the authentic flavor of the drink. It wasn't super sweet, but was what I imagined a latte would taste if I were a coffee drinker.

Now, the cost of $3 is probably how much I would pay for a full breakfast and milk tea in Hong Kong, but the memories this drink inspires are worth the price instead of paying for a plane ticket to Hong Kong. So I think I have a new Saturday morning routine: get a steamed bun at Out the Door and sip on a cup of HK milk tea. All I need is a Chinese newspaper and a chirping bird in a bamboo bird cage and I can retire as the Chinese old man.

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Red Blossom Tea Company in San Francisco

When I need to replenish my tea supply, one of my regular stops is Red Blossom Tea Company in the heart of San Francisco's Chinatown.

I'm not sure why I've never featured this tea institution found right on the touristy Grant Avenue. The tea is solid here, of the highest quality and generally in the most traditional forms. And since Imperial Tea House closed down its original Chinatown location and headed to its posh Ferry Building store, Red Blossom has taken over the role as premium tea vendor in this neighborhood.

There are several tea shops along Grant Avenue offering tea tastings to the tourists, but I find the people at Red Blossom gives the best educational experience. When I visited recently (during the Chinese New Year festivities), it was crowded with tea tasters.

I've noted that I'm a big fan of blended teas, but Red Blossom isn't the spot for me to quench that thirst. Instead, I come here for my pure teas, especially the oolong. Red Blossom offers some of the best oolong from Taiwan, which is home to some of the premium oolong producers. The tea descriptions do talk about a variety of flavors, but oftentimes that comes from hints of flavors from the specific tea leaves. Still, there are a few tea blends, but I wouldn't say Red Blossom goes crazy with the blended flavors. (And most of the flavors are found in the herbal section, which is actually non-caffeinated, non-tea teas known as tisanes.)

While Red Blossom offers a lot of authentic teas and tea ware, way in the back of the store you'll find a traditional herbalist section where roots and herbs and special teas are concocted to improve your health.

The prices are a bit high, but you pay for the quality. And I find the people there always patient to explain their teas or make recommendations. If you're a regular tea drinker, you should make Red Blossom one of your regular suppliers.

Red Blossom Tea Company, 831 Grant Ave., San Francisco. PH: 415.395.0868. www.redblossomtea.com

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Blending Tea at Workshop SF

I love tea, especially those with a lot of fragrances that just takes me to another place. Many of my favorite teas in the past have been blended ones, with appealing ingredients like peach, rose, lavender, or mint.

But I think I’ve mentioned in the past how I can find a lot of interesting teas in my travels to New York, Paris, or London, but I can’t seem to find very original tea here in the San Francisco Bay Area. I’ve found that the shops here are mostly purists, who don’t like the idea of blending tea with anything other than the specific variety of tea leaves.

So when I heard about a Tea Blending Class at Workshop SF, I signed up right away. Workshop SF is a nonprofit space over in the city’s Panhandle area, where a lot of DIY classes are held. I actually first learned about it last month when I visited for a pop-up bake sale around the holidays.

It was there that I met Christopher Coccagna, a certified tea specialist who just started selling his own line of blended teas. He told me about the class that he taught, so I checked the Workshop SF calendar to find the next one, which happened to be this past Sunday.

Coccagna is really passionate about tea, and he spends the first half of the class giving people an introduction to the different types of tea. It was interesting to learn new tidbits about tea, and to dispel some myths I apparently had. For example, one of the myths I had about tea is that the label explains the ingredients. But that’s not always the case. Take mango tea, I always thought it had mango bits or maybe came from mango leaves, but the tea leaves have probably been flavored with some kind of mango flavor or extract.

While Coccagna encourages blending tea, he is also a bit of a purist and doesn’t like to use flavorings. So much of the natural flavors he infuses into his tea are through adding interesting or unusual ingredients such as ginger root, cocoa nibs, or rose petals.

A special note to all the single guys out there: This class is a chick magnet. I was one of only two guys in the class, and the rest of the class was filled with young, pretty girls. If you want to expand your knowledge of tea and meet some young ladies in the city, this is the class to join. I’m just saying.

Back to the class, after the introduction, Coccagna let us hit the blending, throwing us into our own little adventure in creating our own signature tea using the various ingredients he laid out in what he called his “tea buffet.” I was really impressed how everyone just jumped into the blending, picking at ingredients and blending them together.


I, on the other hand, was a little overwhelmed. (This is why I’m not a fan of sales because I get overwhelmed by the decision-making process.) So I started off a bit conservatively, I have to admit, going with flavors that I just thought I liked, not really thinking much about whether they would complement each other.

So my first concoction started with a mix of black tea (keemun), a bit of green (Jasmine), and some ginger, dried orange peel, and cinnamon. The smell was like a holiday tea, but when I added hot water to make a test cup, the ginger was just too strong and I didn’t like the overall taste.

So it was back to the drawing board and I started with the black tea again (I like black tea as a blending base), and this time added coconut ribbons (an ingredient I never saw before in tea but thought was exotic), cocoa nibs (for that chocolate flavor), and lavender, which is one of my favorite flowers/herb.

Despite being a lavender lover, the lavender had too much of an herbal taste to the overall tea and I was looking for more rounded edges to my drink. Maybe I put too much lavender? Even though I thought lavender was pretty, I thought maybe it was too powerful for the other ingredients. So I scrapped it.

I kept much of the other ingredients – black tea, coconut ribbons, cocoa nibs – but instead of lavender I substituted rose petals, another one of my favorite flavors. This time it tasted much smoother with the rose, instead of the sharp herbal taste of the lavender. But it needed a bit of a punch, I felt.

Even though the ginger was overpowering in my first batch, I added some ginger root to this final blend – just a little bit because I learned my lesson. And the slight tinge from the ginger gave my overall tea a nice complexity, so this became my final blend.

Everyone was coming up with names for their tea blends, but I couldn’t think of anything creative on the spot, so I just listed the ingredients and put a big B for my initial. But if I had to name this signature blend, I think I would call it “Hawaiian Rose,” just because I’m from Hawaii and that plays off the coconut in the tea, and rose because the rose petals are one of the main ingredients.

Spending a whole afternoon playing with tea and talking to others who love tea was such a great time. Some of you know I’ve been renovating my kitchen, so I haven’t had a chance to brew myself a pot of my signature tea yet, but I’m looking forward to doing it in my new kitchen.

If you’d like to learn more about tea and play with creating your own signature blend, Coccagna’s next class is on Sunday, Feb. 13, right before Valentines day. Sign up with your special someone or maybe go to meet someone. Just like the tea, it’s nice when you can blend things together.

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Wandering Into DarTEAling Lounge in SOMA

The harsh afternoon sun streaking in through the window facing one of the typical empty industrial alleys of SOMA bounced off the delicate chinaware and colored glass jars. The sound of traffic is kept at bay as velvet cushions and draperies dressed the room in the familiar comfort of grandma’s parlor.

Glass chandeliers sparkled quietly in the corners, and the entire room sat empty waiting for life with a splash of tea.

This is how I found the DarTEAling Lounge in San Francisco’s gritty SOMA district.

A few weeks ago I took a day off during the week to go to a Giants game at AT&T Park. Afterwards, I walked up Third Street toward Market when I noticed this fairly new tea salon. (I think they’ve been open since March.)

It’s not where I would think to find a tea lounge, tucked on the corner of an alley that’s overshadowed by Interstate 80. But there it was. And as a tea lover, I had to check it out. Afternoon. Tea. What could be better?

DarTEAling presents itself as a Parisian tea lounge, and you get that feel looking at the wall of antique tea jars with labels the owner collected from various tea houses in Paris. For the rest of the space, it was one of those eclectically designed room where nothing matched but they all gave a sense of English tea with Mrs. Crumpets.

As I hinted to earlier, I was the only one this afternoon. It was intimidating to have tea alone — really alone — but it was my day off so I decided to throw caution to the wind.


The menu has an extensive selection of tea services and tea. I ended up getting the Charlotte’s Simplici-tea, which for $15 gives you two sandwiches, a green salad and tea biscuits. For my tea, I wavered between the Creamy Dreamy Earl Grey (named for the touch of vanilla added to the Earl Grey) or the Peachy Apricot. I went with the Earl Grey, a classic favorite.

My tray arrived with the sandwiches I selected (curried chicken and classic cucumber) and a lovely salad. Everything looked like it should have been shared with someone else, so my afternoon snacked really turned out to be a late lunch.

Everything about DarTEAling is quaint and cute. It’s the perfect spot to bring your girls or host a bridal shower. The only negative I detected here is that they don’t have air and the windows are sealed shut, so on a hot SOMA afternoon it can feel stuffy with the only source of air being the front and back door.

Otherwise, DarTEAling is like an oasis in an industrial neighborhood. A place to escape the traffic and stress of the city and sip your way to enchantment.


DarTEAling Lounge, 470 Third St. (near Bryant), San Francisco. PH: 415.644.0142, Open Wednesday through Sunday, 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. www.dartealing.com

More tea posts:
Starting My Day at Teaism (Washington, D.C.)
L'Orangerie at the Alvear Palace Hotel (Buenos Aires)

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Starting My Day with Teaism

Continuing reports of “The Single Guy Goes to Washington” as I blog about my vacation visiting my sister in the Washington, D.C. area.

WASHINGTON, D.C.
The weather in Washington, D.C., wasn’t as beautiful and sunny as my week in New York. In fact, it rained a few mornings and was otherwise overcast.

But nothing gets me back to the right state of mind than a cup of tea. So one morning when I had the day to explore D.C. on my own as my sister went back to work, I decided to start my day at Teaism.

Teaism is a local tea shop and restaurant with three locations within the Beltway. I visited its original location in Dupont Circle, just a few steps from a corner Starbucks.

Walking in, the décor reminded me of a lot of tea houses with the warm wooden furniture and colorful teapots on display. But the counter looked more like a café than a tea shop. You order at the counter and then pick up your food when it’s ready. Normally, this wouldn’t be a big deal if I was just grabbing a sandwich and juice, but I was planning to drink a pot of tea and relax in the dining area, which was on the second floor. (The first floor had counter seating along the window where several people plugged in their laptops as they sipped their morning cup of tea.)

The restaurant is open for breakfast, lunch and dinner and serves a menu of dishes inspired by popular tea-drinking regions like Thailand, Japan, and India. For breakfast, they had a limited menu made up primarily of eggs, French toast and naan/raita.

I ended up ordering the cilantro scrambled eggs with tea-cured salmon ($9) and a pot of Earl Grey tea ($2.75). When my food was ready, I grabbed my tray and found a seat in the upstairs dining area, which is decorated with black-and-white photos of scenes from various Asian countries.

First off, I give Teaism points for brewing my pot of tea and removing the tea leaves. I always find this to be a nice distinction because many times when people leave the tea leaves in the pot, the tea just gets darker and bitter. So I appreciated this detail.

As for my cilantro scrambled eggs, I thought it was odd that there was not one piece of cilantro in it. Not even for garnish. Instead, it had bits of green bell pepper and slices of green onion (or spring onion some might say). While it tasted fine, it just bugs me that people publicize one thing and deliver another. To me, it’s like they think customers wouldn’t know the difference between cilantro and green onions.

If they had to make a substitution because they couldn’t get cilantro in all of D.C., it would have been nice to be told.

As for the rest of my plate, the tea-cured salmon was luscious and tasty, although I don’t know if I could detect any particular tea flavoring. I especially liked the naan, which was nice and warm. I don’t usually have naan for breakfast, so it was a nice twist.

Sitting by the window watching the drizzling rain fall upon the flowers below in Teaism’s front garden, I forgot about the silly balancing of the tray of tea pot and food as I walked up a flight of stairs and the fact that they don’t know cilantro from green onions. It’s amazing how a sip of tea can do that.

Side note: Teaism has an extensive list of quality tea for sale, but when I perused the inventory, none of them sounded rare or something I wouldn’t find in the Bay Area.

Teaism, 2009 R St. NW (at Connecticut), Washington, D.C. (Other locations in Lafayette Park and Penn Quarter). PH: 202.667.3827 www.teaism.com (To order tea for delivery, call 1-877-8TEAISM.)



Travel here too:
L’Orangerie at the Alvear Palace Hotel (Buenos Aires)

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Travel Dish: L’Orangerie at the Alvear Palace Hotel (Buenos Aires)

This is part of a series of reports recapping my recent trip to Buenos Aires, Argentina. Check back every Monday and Tuesday when I’ll be giving you a taste of my food adventures in this South American metropolitan city.

Escape with a Royal Touch of Tea
Av. Alvear 1891 (at Ayacucho), Buenos Aires
Recoleta district
PH: 11/4808.2949
Tea service Mon.–Sat., 4:30–7 p.m.; Sun., 5–7 p.m.
Major credit cards, reservations accepted
Web site

BUENOS AIRES
For the ultimate afternoon meal, there’s nothing that can surpass afternoon tea at L’Orangerie, inside the ornate Alvear Palace Hotel.

The Alvear is considered one of the most luxurious and exclusive hotels in Buenos Aires, and it is home to one of the best known French restaurant in South America (La Bourgogne). But because I’m such a big fan of the whole ritual of tea (which is why I love London), I made it a point to visit L’Orangerie instead.

Just walking through the hotel lobby and seeing the breathtaking view of the formal dining rooms, you really do feel a bit out of place. The history of Argentina’s elite just drips from the gilded wall hangings and crystal chandeliers. L’Orangerie’s tea service is a tradition for portenos (or locals), many coming for special family gatherings on holidays.

The Alvear Tea at L’Orangerie is a fixed menu and price (AR$85 or $30). You can pay extra and get the special Alvear Tea with Kir Royale. I went with the standard Alvear Tea, which is still a lot for one person.

The setting has all the formality of a royal tea party, with suited servers in white gloves and polished silverware. Despite the formal atmosphere, my server was very friendly and accommodating, making me feel at home but pampered at the same time.
The main spot to be is the garden courtyard, where the servers wear a special red coat and you’re surrounded by elegant floral displays. I did not sit there because you need to make a reservation for that prime spot. So I was relegated to the indoor seating (which was still plush and special) and the hostess gave me a table with a view of the garden so I can be even more jealous.

I started off by ordering the special “Blend Alvear” tea, made with black tea accented with the fragrances of almonds, Mediterranean citrus and rose petals. My server came and prepared my tea at the table, letting it seep and then returning to pour me my first cup.

Taking that first sip made me forget about all the days of walking the gritty city and the exhaustion of lugging my camera bag everywhere. I felt like I was in the middle of a spa, just breathing in the smells of spring.

Then the server brought the tower of food—four levels of scones, finger sandwiches, puff pastries and dessert. I was going to be there for awhile.

I started with the scones, which were served with three types of marmalade. I have to say, the scones were a disappointing start. They felt dense and heavy, and not very flavorful. I only ate one and left the other two behind.

But then I started eating the sandwiches, and each one was a delightful surprise. While some were simple standard tea fare, such as the cucumber sandwich, they each tasted fresh and distinctive. I felt like I was eating that flavor for the first time. Along with the cucumber, there were a turkey with tomatoes (and what tasted like pesto mayonnaise), tuna salad on wheat bread, and iberico jamon (Spanish ham) with arugula.

Next I tackled the mini patisserie plate, which included three savory puffs. One was filled with mascarpone cheese and bits of ham and another was a mini smoked salmon burger. I forgot what the other one was, but this plate was my favorite of all the courses because of the rich savory flavors encased in the fluffy puff pastry.

Here’s a closer look of the salmon burger. At this point I was nearly full, so I took a break and mostly sipped my tea and people-watched. A piano player started playing and the room filled up with mostly businessmen and tourists.

OK, on to the desserts. One of my favorite was this chocolate toffee bar with a coco cream topping. It was an amazing mix of coco flavors with a light-as-air feel.

This is the rest of the dessert plate, which included two fresh fruit tartlets, a chocolate mousse-like cake and a custard-like square. The fruit tartlets were fine, although I thought the crust was a bit average and I didn’t like the slice of chocolate cake, which was a bit dry. The custard square was very enjoyable.

At this point, I was totally filled of pastries and two pots of tea. But then my server came to tempt me again, this time bringing in the reserve arsenals and showing me this dessert cart. She said I could choose one dish that came with my tea service. I told her I was so full, but she insisted so I decided to go for a pear tartlet because I thought it’d be light and it looked so pretty.

Here’s the pear tartlet. It turned out to be just OK, nothing like the savory puff pastries or finger sandwiches. The pear was a bit firm, so it made it kind of difficult to eat.

Even though I’d paid my bill already, my server just wouldn’t stop tempting me with food. She offered me a selection of one of these truffles beautifully displayed at one end of the room. I had to be firm and told her I just couldn’t eat any more.

The tea service at L’Orangerie is the kind of place where you can treat yourself when traveling because that’s the whole idea of a vacation, isn’t it? To just feel like you’re special and you’re living a whole new different life half way around the world.

Single guy rating: 3.75 stars (Elegance in Small Bites)

Explanation of the single guy's rating system:
1 star = perfect for college students
2 stars = perfect for new diners
3 stars = perfect for foodies
4 stars = perfect for expense accounts
5 stars = perfect for any guy's dream dinner

Bueno … life in BA
If you find yourself having tea at L’Orangerie, or even if you don’t want to take in its formality, you should definite make a trip to the Alvear Palace Hotel and check out one particular store in its promenade: Tealosophy by Inés Berton.

Berton is an Argentine painter who started this tiny boutique tea store inside the hotel. (She’s since opened another location in the city and a store in Barcelona, Spain.) I discovered Tealosophy as I was window shopping in the hotel, waiting for L’Orangerie to start its afternoon tea service. Since I’m a tea lover, I had to check out the store, but there was a long line of shoppers coming out of the tiny store (I mean really tiny, it’s almost the size of large bathroom).

So I had my tea at L’Orangerie (where I discovered that Berton helped to create some of the blends, which she has done for hotels around the world) and returned to the shop to buy some tea. Yes, it was a tea kind of day.

Berton was actually at the shop and she’s a very personable and unassuming tea connoisseur. What I like about her shop is that she’s willing to create her own special blends (tea purists hate blended tea, but I’m a big fan of them and wish I could get more of them in San Francisco). Blends like Cornelia Mood (grapefruit, sunflower, mango, hibiscus) or Plum Rose (Assam with plums and rose petals) is just an example of what you’ll find. It can be overwhelming to pick what to buy, which is why many shoppers study Berton’s list of tea varieties before getting in line to order.

I ended up getting the Royal Fruit blend (like I mentioned, I discovered this around the city but never outside of Argentina) and a Peach Apricot blend, both of which I’ve tried since returning home and love. (I just wished I bought more.) Some say Berton’s tea is uber expensive, which is probably true on an Argentine income. But the conversion to U.S. dollars makes her tea quite affordable compared to what I’ve paid in New York or London. I hear her tea might be sold in the United States soon, so remember her name. It’s worth checking out.

Tealosophy, Ave. Alvear 1883 (inside the Alvear Palace Hotel), Buenos Aires. PH: 11/4808.0483. http://www.tealosophy.com/

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