Wednesday, February 11, 2009
Bites Tea for Two: Green Tea in Nashville?
Posted by Lee Stabert on Wed, Feb 11, 2009 at 6:17 AM
As I've alluded to, I recently spent a month in Asia, traveling around Thailand and Malaysia with a dear friend who teaches English in Krabi Town (near Thailand's southwest coast). On my trip back I had a 10-hour layover in Japan and spent a day in Narita, a small city an hour outside of Tokyo that's home to the international airport.
The city is also home to a large temple and a bustling street food market filled with stalls hawking warm fermented rice crackers, grilled meats, noodles, various pickled vegetables and fried chicken (with mayonnaise--an addiction we've passed overseas). Narita is also famous for its broiled eel. Small restaurants reel in customers with window-front butchering of contorting live eels (look! fresh!!) and then grill the fillets over charcoal and paint them with a sweet, brown glaze. Any unagi fan should be salivating at this point.
I eventually made my way into a place with a line down the block and ordered some eel. While I waited, I was served a complimentary cup of green tea, poured from a cast iron kettle--and constantly topped off. The smell! The color! This green tea blew my mind. It was like something out of Tea Fight, a Japanese film about magic green tea capable of making a dragon, which I enjoyed on one of my flights.
I then spent a large portion of my afternoon buying a tea pot and using my best smiling and pointing skills to locate a green tea shop. After being intensely frugal and prudent with souvenirs in Thailand, I splurged on over $60 worth of fresh loose tea.
As I near the bottom of my first aluminum sleeve of earthy goodness, the panic sets in. Is there anywhere in town I can procure a close-enough substitute? Or will I be forced to turn to the Internet?
Comments (11)
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great post
i'm not up on the whereabouts of good authentic tea, but i do love it
still, this was like a mini zuckerman segment. any other good asian food stories - please share...
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looks like sencha to me, but I'm no expert. Japanese green tea as a whole is far more "vegetal" as green teas go. Try K&S, or the little market next to the UHaul place over by West Nashville shopping center/ Big Lots/Costco area, or the place on 8th next to the now defunct used bookstore (across from one of the habitat stores).
(as you can tell, I can never remember their names...)
believe it or not, if your place of work has a Flavia beverage maker, they have a Japanese green tea packet that is the real deal. Get them to order some.
I am a huge fan and collector of teas and all things tea. There is a tea shop in Cool Springs that sells loose-leaf tea, and has some decent tea-wares.
However, it is actually Whole Foods that is the best place in town for wonderful tea. By-pass the "tea-aisle" and move on over to the coffee area of Whole Foods and along the wall next to the coffee there is an area specifically for Rishi teas. They are mostly fair-trade organic loose leaf teas.
I have an un/healthy (depending on how you look at it) obsession with Rishi teas. I have been buying their teas for years, including ordering rare teas you cannot find at Whole Foods from them online. Rishi has an amazing variety of Chinese white, greens and blacks, light to fully steamed Oolongs, loose or cake Pu-erh, to Japanese Sencha and matcha, and even herbal teasans. Their website has hundreds of varieties (www.rishi-tea.com)
If I remember correctly, Whole Foods in Green Hills has Sencha, Plain or Sweet Matcha, Jasmine Pearls, Chinese Breakfast, Silver Needle, Silver Needle w/ Jasmine, Earl Grey, Earl Grey w/ Lavender, Jade Cloud, Pu-Erh, Pu-Erh w/ Ginger, Rooibos, Rooibos w/ Blueberries, Rooibos w/ Peppermint, Darjeeling 2nd Flush Muscatel (one of my personal favorites).
While most of the teas on the coffee wall are sold in tins, make sure not to miss the pre-weighted bulk rishi teas they have in a basket next to the actual bins of coffee.
I should have said...do NOT go to K&S or any other of the smaller Asian markets in town. I used to buy these in the past. These teas are not fresh, and are of low quality compared to what you can get from Rishi or even from the tea shop in Cool Springs (World Cup of Tea: located at the intersection of Caruthers and Baker's Bridge).
It should be noted that World Cup of Tea does not really focus on fair-trade or organic teas, though they are of good quality. I stick to Rishi, because of the immense variety, the fair-trade/organic aspect, and because I am repeatedly blown away by the quality of their tea.
However, I do suggest you visit World Cup of Tea. I buy my matcha from them, because it cost less, and is of the same quality Rishi has. I also think they have some great tea-wares at good prices.
If you go to WF today (wednesday, 11FEB09), ask how your purchase can be applied to the Magdalene Project/Thistle Farms fundraising activity today. I'm fuzzy on the details but I think WF is donating 5% of your purchase if you designate it. Kay may have more info on the actual nuts and bolts of it.
Well !!
Two points - first, I don't think it's at all fair to say the tea is always old at these other markets, but it certainly will never get fresher if people diss them in favor of corporate WF. The tea is in tins for a reason, to ensure freshness. It's not sitting in a glass jar in the window with steam gathering on the inside...
second, if you're going to WF anyway, go today, and find out how they will donate 5% of your purchase to Magdalene Project/Thistle Farms. I'm fuzzy on the details, but I know it's today (Wed, 11FEB09) and possibly limited to GH location. Kay may know the details on the nuts and bolts.
My new tea addiction is is Partners Tea, which, I think, is now available at Bread & Co. The owner is from Nashville and travels all over the world picking out her blends. The tea comes in beautiful little sachets that are sealed in canisters. Every time I open the canister it makes me happy when the fruit and vanilla scents hit me.
SL, it is a subjective opinion, but it should also be said that I did not call the tea old. I said they are of low quality, and not fresh (which does not necessarily mean old).
I have been an avid tea drinker for years, and I used to buy tea from these markets all the time. However, when I started to become serious about tea, and began buying tea from sources that specifically focus on tea, I began to realize that the teas you get at these Asian markets are typically of lower quality and just simply are not fresh.
A lot of this has to do with the fact that they do not specialize in tea. Buying green tea from most Asian markets in Nashville is like going to Kroger to buy black tea. It's not old, it's just—relatively—not that good. It comes from tea providers that do not handle their tea as well as others, and this affects the quality and freshness of the tea.
It seems you have an issue with me suggesting Whole Foods as a source of buying products, because they are a corporation. I could care less if you purchase anything from Whole Foods. I frequent and support International Market on Belmont, K&S, and the Philippine Asian Store (in Antioch). While I shop at these places for food, I do not shop at them for tea.
I also suggested a locally owned tea shop, and also noted that I occasionally order directly from Rishi-tea (and even provided the website). Lee asked for a local source of good tea, and Whole Foods just happens to be one of them.
I bet if you did a blind taste-test between the teas from most Asian markets and teas from Rishi or World Cup of Tea, you would agree with me.
I have fallen in love with Numi Teas, after having their desert lime tea over ice one hot summer day at Jackson's a couple years ago. I order them online directly from Numi. You can buy them in bags or loose. They also try to abide by sustainable practices, like organic and fair trade. I usually try to keep at least 3 different kinds in my drawer at work, as well as a whole cabinet at home. I adore all the different and exotic types of tea leaves they use.
I think I was more taken aback at the abrupt nature a friendly suggestion, made in response to a well-intended question, was cast aside with such little regard. I've been in the South too long, perhaps, and may have grown accustomed to the nuances of conversation that might suggest an alternative with a nudge rather than a push. At least that's how it feels from this seat in the peanut gallery when someone says, whatever you do, don't go where that person just said...
well, since my partner and I own a tea bar in Nashville, I'm going to have to say I like our company Green Pergola the best! LOL
It's true. There aren't many good places to find tea in Nashville. Our store is in Donelson. We have loose teas, herbs, tea and bongo java coffee by the cup and all of our aromatherapy products. Customers are always telling us that its a long drive to find loose tea. Most who live near Green Hills end up going to Teavana. A good deal of the others come to us since Donelson is so centrally located to the rest of Nashville.
It doesn't hurt that we're on the same road as the airport, either. There are always tea drinkers coming in from out of town who find us right away.
