nothin “Best” Teahouse Toasts Its Success | New Haven Independent

Best” Teahouse Toasts Its Success

Paul Bass Photo

It’s customary to lift a glass of wine, or champagne to celebrate an accomplishment — except in the case of a celebration Thursday that featured a raised cup of tea.

The readers of CTNow.com voted The Green Teahouse at 1008 Chapel St. the best of its kind, and owner Ting Luo staged an intimate celebration Thursday to toast the honor. The teahouse snagged the honor ahead of Tea with Tracy in Seymour and Savvy Tea Gourmet in Madison.

Markeshia Ricks Photo

Luo (pictured), who launched The Green Teahouse in West Hartford, opened her Chapel Street location last year. (Read more about that here.) She said she wanted to bring authentic, Chinese tea culture,” and what she described as the harmony of tea drinking,” to New Haven.

I think our customers think the experience is so unique,” she said. Many have never seen or tried the ancient Chinese tradition.”

People like Park New Haven COO Sam Parry (in the photo at left), Yale University Properties’ Patrick O’Brien (at center) and Ten Thousand Villages Manager Shaams Goodwin (at right) got to enjoy tea infused cookies and a special tasting of Dragonwell First Flush. They used a traditional Chinese tea cup (with no handle), a saucer and a lid.

Luo said the green tea leaves were handpicked this spring from a farm in China, then pan-fried in special woks to develop the flavor. Her secret to drinking from the traditional tea cup? You can use the lid to hold back the loose leaves and sip, or take the lid off and simply blow the leaves to one side of the cup before sipping.

The traditional way to drink the tea is without any kind of sweetener, Luo said. I’ve grown up drinking it that way, so it’s the perfect way for me,” she told Goodwin, who said he is used to drinking sweetened tea. Even a little sugar is too much for me,” Luo said.

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