Tea Chapter

This is my 2nd visit to the tea house. It offers a peaceful and cool surrounding (good air-conditioning without it being too cold), with choice of Korean vs Japanese style of sitting. This is surely its strongest selling point.

It offers a fairly good list of black, green, white, floral tea and a small list of finger food to snack (such as tea egg, tea leaf beancurd, buns, siew mai, har kao) and to while the afternoon away. For those who never acquired the taste of chinese tea, do check out this place cos you'll come to realise tea smells as good as they taste and certainly help freshen you up in spite of the humid tropical weather in Singapore.

The tea instruments are available for those who are specific with the brewing their own tea. For the uninitiated, the staff are only happy to go through the basics and demonstrate how to brew tea the traditional way.

My bf has on several occasions suggested that we hang out at this place. However drinking chinese tea is something cheena to me and hence rejected him several times. Finally, I decide to give it a try yesterday.

This shop occupies all three levels of the building. On the first level, it sells tea and pottery. The second and third floors are meant for people to seat down in comfort and sip their tea away.

The whole place is authentically decorated with chinese painting, artifacts and other decorative items. Staffs were also appropriately dress to complete the chinese feel. I guess the only people who are out of place are probably the customers (which makes me one of them). This is largely attributed to the modern dressing.

The shop was pack with customers when we were there. Lucky for us, a group of customers just left and hence free up a table (Korea style). If not, we would probably have to wait for a while before a table will be available.

We were overwhelmed with the variety of tea available as well as its cost. On the average, each type of tea cost around $15.

We ordered the Eight Treasure Tea ($12). When the staff brings the tealeaves to you, they would ask if you know how to brew the tea. If you are unsure, they will seat down and demonstrate to you. I must say that it was a professional demonstration. They will explain the use of each teacup and also show what’s the correct method to hold the cup. The tea that we had was refreshing and sweet. It kind of brought temporary relief to my sore throat.

The shop also offers a variety of snacks that are not too expensive. Didn’t try the snacks, as we were quite full when we were there.

As the place was rather crowded, it was not as peaceful and quiet as I have expected it to be. You will constantly hear people talking and laughing loudly.

On the whole, I would say that this is still a nice place to hang out with friends and just laze your time away.
A few things to note when visiting this place.

1. You are only allowed to stay there for a maximum of 2 hours during peak periods. (Not too sure what’s their definition of peak period).

2. Minimum spending is $6 per pax. This would mean that if the tea that you have ordered were less than $6, they would still charge $6. If you order snacks, it will be counted separately and will not be counted as part of the $6.

3. Additional charges for special table. If you are having the “Korea table”, there will be an additional $5. An extra $10 will be charged for oriental room.

4. If you are parking opposite the shop, please do not try to cheat. Car park attendants frequent that area. Do note that its $1 for every half an hour (damn steep).

5. The staff will not remind you of any credit card discount. Remember to check with them if there are such promotions.

Its really a perfect setting to while your time away on a Sunday by sipping tea and doing nothing...

For those who appreciate the art of tea or even those who don't know, you can come over and take a look and try out the different variety of tea and drinking the way of being a true traditional chinese.

A minimum of $6 per head and if the tea you order costs more than you top up to the costs of that as well. There are traditional chinese games but we bought our own Citadel to play. We took the korean seating though, I would have prefered if the seat is wider as my lazy bones settled on the cushion, i tend to keep slipping away.

They have a variety of snacks too to choose from and the tea egg is very smooth, soft and melt in the mouth. We ordered alot of snacks like man tou, jian bing, tea egg and cookies. We had the Long Jin green tea. The portion of the tea was quite alot and it would have been perfect for a setting of 4.

And while we spend a Sunday afternoon lazing around on the korean setting and just spend time doing NOTHING... i really appreciate the peaceful-ness this place offers.


p.s: Please check the discounts before going because The promotions doesn't appear as it is on the net.
Towel: 0.40
Room charge (korean setting is extra charge): $5
Snacks: $7.50 (tea egg, jian bing, cookies, man tou)
Tea (long jin): $15.00 (less 10% for OCBC cards)