I had an hour between meetings in NYC on Tuesday, so I took the time to try out Tea Drunk, in the East Village. I had heard of Tea Drunk several times since it opened last year, and then discovered that one of our resident bloggers, Nicole Martin from Tea For Me Please, works there. So what a perfect opportunity to mix business and pleasure!
East 7th, near Avenue A, is a slower part of Manhattan, a fairly quiet residential area – local cafes, a nearby park, folks and dogs out for a stroll. So on this beautiful, sunny June afternoon, I already felt quite relaxed just walking down the street. Tea Drunk is a small store front, wedged between a couple of local shops, so you could almost miss it. But inside, the clean, white, simple cafe, with an inviting, long tea bar is deceptively larger (no Tardis jokes, sorry!). And here I was warmly met by owner, Shunan Teng, and our friend Nicole.
The surprise was not so much the menu, although there are about 50 teas to choose from, but learning that, for a couple months annually, Shunan goes backpacking through China to personally select and buy her Chinese tea stock. For me, tea is all about its authenticity; and it doesn’t get more authentic than this. For each tea we try, Shunan offers a little fact, or a story, or a tasting note, while she serves other patrons relaxing at the bar over small porcelain cups of green or wulong maybe…
After Nicole walks me thru the menu of blacks, Pu’erhs, greens and wulongs, I notice Gua Pian, a Fujian green. The name translates as melon seed, but the locals call this early spring harvest variety, “Stupid Tea”. That sounded like my cup of tea! And exactly as Shunan described it, it had a certain sweetness, not in the taste – the sweetness was in the texture, the feel. And of course, she was right.
And then a rare treat – The Monks Tea, a light black tea, or as the Chinese would call it – red tea, also from Fujian Province. On her travels, Shunan receives the tea each year from a monk she visits regularly at the South Shaolin Temple. It’s not a purchase, and he will not accept payment. It’s on the Tea Drunk menu, but you can only taste it in return for a cash donation. Teng gives all of the money donated directly to the monk to support his tea making efforts. He accepts it but only to pay the local villagers who assist him. So I feel quite honored to share in this special gift. And as a regular Keemun drinker, this was a real joy.
I could have stayed hours, and the patrons looked in no hurry to leave either. Tea Drunk is an authentic tea experience. Nicole tells the story of the bass player of a Nebraska punk band who recently showed up, and came back four days in a row. I’m not surprised. What a fine way to spend an afternoon…
