For roughly a week at the very tail end of December, I visited some family in Pennsylvania. While I brought tea with me, I was eager to see what Pittsburgh had to offer. In all I visited four shops and walked away with 6 oz. of tea.
The first two shops I visited were on a whim, we were in the area, though proved disappointing. The first, who's name escapes me, I figured would be a bust, clearly very much a coffee shop.
The second, Prestogeorge Coffee & Tea, had a large selection though taking in that the place still smelled strongly of coffee(which could possibly be absorbed by the tea) and the tea was all stored in very large glass jars(large = air and glass = light, two things you don't want to overly expose the leaf to), I decided to pass.
The latter two shops were purposely driven to, even if still an 'in the area' way as my little sister was getting her first tattoo done down the street.
First up was Te' Cafe. Mixed feelings, the staff was friendly, the tea seemed stored well, and they had a small selection of teaware but it just wasn't my cup of tea, so to speak. I imagine that someone who grinds their own coffee/largely brews at home/would have felt at home in those first two shops might feel the same way walking into a Starbucks as I did at Te' Cafe.
Despite this, I bought 2 oz. of their gyokuro and a 'pot' of their dong ding to go(they serve hot tea by the pot, a pot being roughly the amount of a large coffee complete with disposable cup). I probably would have skipped the latter, but my aunt who was with me is a coupon junkie and had one for 'buy one, get one' on a pot of tea from there so she got a flavored type(peach?) and I got the dong ding.
For a tea junkie, I'd say skip the pot and stick to their loose leaf. The gyokuro was pretty good. I'm no expert, but it was very green and fabulous. The dong ding? They brewed it exactly the same as the type they were serving my aunt and it tasted as much(re: really oversteeped). I mean, I can't really complain about a free cup of tea, but I couldn't see myself buying it.
Gyokuro secured and cup o' dong ding in hand, I then headed to the final shop of my trip, Margaret's Fine Imports. This was a tea shop caught between all manner of brew. There were many English-style pots, but I spied a yixing as well. Tea canisters, strainers, cups in all shapes and sizes, not a single gaiwan though plenty of selection nonetheless.
As for the tea? Unfortunately stored in jars that customers are free to open and sniff, if you manage to find something, you might want to ask to have your tea taken from the bags behind the jar instead of the jar. Unlike Te' Cafe, more information on the teas is provided. After a moment of looking things over, I settled on some Guangzhou Milk Oolong(careful with this, chances are very slim that it's been made with milk, China not being known for its dairy industry, milk is expensive there, though fake milk oolong does stand a higher chance of some manner of tampering) and the Zebra Sencha.
Both picks based on curiosity. While I'd read up on it, I had yet to try milk oolong, and something from Guangzhou made it all the more sweet. For the sencha, I'd heard of Japanese-style teas being grow/processed out of Africa, but had yet to give it a shot. In the end, the milk oolong was alright, likely wouldn't buy again, but the Zebra Sencha was a bit of a surprise. Light, roasted, has this hint of grassiness to it that makes for a decent cup when reaching for something cheap. I'd recommend it at least once.
So, there we go. Four shops, 6 oz. and a pot to-go.
Anyone know any other places for my next trip?
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