Team Tranquil Tuesdays lunch on hutong rooftops today.  Our team keeps on growing! At neighboring Aimo Small Town restaurant on Fangjia Hutong which specializes in Yunnan-style cuisine.  Yunnan is the most southwest province of China and where our Ancient Tree Raw Pu’er tea is from. _____________________________________________________________________ If you enjoyed this article, sign up for Tranquil Tuesdays’ newsletter to Explore the stories behind each of Tranquil Tuesdays teas and teaware Travel with Tranquil Tuesdays seeking the best teas and teaware in China Learn the historical and cultural elements that make Chinese tea and teaware so unique Sign up for Tranquil Tuesdays’ newsletter now!
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Team Tranquil Tuesdays lunch on hutong rooftops today.  Our team keeps on growing!

At neighboring Aimo Small Town restaurant on Fangjia Hutong which specializes in Yunnan-style cuisine.  Yunnan is the most southwest province of China and where our Ancient Tree Raw Pu’er tea is from.

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tasting three different Chinese #teas with dim sum in Suzhou. Yesterday we went to a popular and reputable Cantonese style dim sum place in Suzhou and took a chance on their tea menu which yielded pleasantly surprising results!  While nicer restaurants always have a tea menu, the quality and ability to prepare it well is very spotty, can be very overpriced, and is basically like rolling the dice here in China.  Yes that is weird, because we are in the land and origin of tea itself, China, but the story of quality, consistency, trust and responsibility in food consumables in China is a whole other blog I’m not going to start with this post. Anyways, I was in a good mood, and since we were so close to famous tea growing regions (Suzhou being one for 碧螺春 biluochun), southern Chinese are more knowledgeable and acquainted with tea than their northern counterparts in general, fresh spring harvest teas should have flooded the market by this point, I was feeling adventurous and ready to roll the dice. The tea menu was reasonable enough—tightly edited selection of “greatest hits” of Chinese teas at fair prices.  It oddly did not have any locally grown selections (glaring omission: 碧螺春 biluochun) butit did quite predictably reflect the tea tastes of Cantonese tea drinkers which made sense since we were at a Cantonese style dim sum restaurant. We ordered three different teas by the cup, which each came in its own gaiwan and had a dedicated tea server (separate from the normal waitstaff) to brew and decant it for you.  It was a brilliantly simple set up which nicely reflected some basic respect for tea drinking.  The tea itself was better than we expected and I can’t wait till more food establishments outside of China start using this tea service model as the norm to provide some decent tea with good food.  _____________________________________________________________________ If you enjoyed this article, sign up for Tranquil Tuesdays’ newsletter to Explore the stories behind each of Tranquil Tuesdays teas and teaware Travel with Tranquil Tuesdays seeking the best teas and teaware in China Learn the historical and cultural elements that make Chinese tea and teaware so unique Sign up for Tranquil Tuesdays’ newsletter now!
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tasting three different Chinese #teas with dim sum in Suzhou.

Yesterday we went to a popular and reputable Cantonese style dim sum place in Suzhou and took a chance on their tea menu which yielded pleasantly surprising results!  While nicer restaurants always have a tea menu, the quality and ability to prepare it well is very spotty, can be very overpriced, and is basically like rolling the dice here in China.  Yes that is weird, because we are in the land and origin of tea itself, China, but the story of quality, consistency, trust and responsibility in food consumables in China is a whole other blog I’m not going to start with this post.

Anyways, I was in a good mood, and since we were so close to famous tea growing regions (Suzhou being one for 碧螺春 biluochun), southern Chinese are more knowledgeable and acquainted with tea than their northern counterparts in general, fresh spring harvest teas should have flooded the market by this point, I was feeling adventurous and ready to roll the dice.

The tea menu was reasonable enough—tightly edited selection of “greatest hits” of Chinese teas at fair prices.  It oddly did not have any locally grown selections (glaring omission: 碧螺春 biluochun) butit did quite predictably reflect the tea tastes of Cantonese tea drinkers which made sense since we were at a Cantonese style dim sum restaurant.

We ordered three different teas by the cup, which each came in its own gaiwan and had a dedicated tea server (separate from the normal waitstaff) to brew and decant it for you.  It was a brilliantly simple set up which nicely reflected some basic respect for tea drinking.  The tea itself was better than we expected and I can’t wait till more food establishments outside of China start using this tea service model as the norm to provide some decent tea with good food. 

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Tea leaf and pork dumplings (猪肉茶叶饺子) for lunch at Tranquil Tuesdays today! We are very fortunate the Tranquil Tuesdays offices are located really close to one of Beijing’s best dumpling restaurants: Xian’r Lao Man 馅老满.  I used to travel across town to eat here regularly when I didn’t work as close as I do now.  In fact, I even brought famed food writer and Beijing restaurant authority, Savour Asia, here back in 2008. Anyways, so we are lucky to get to eat at Xian’r Lao Man a lot for lunch.  Or even better, get the dumplings delivered straight to us.  Last time we were there, Xiao Zhang noted they had a “tea leaf and pork dumpling” on the menu and resolved to try it next time we ate there. So today when we decided we both wanted dumplings for lunch, she ordered the tea leaf and pork dumplings.  With one bite the predominant flavor from the tea leaves was very floral and we each and jointly concluded they used jasmine green tea (a Beijing tea favorite) which is a green tea scented with jasmine flower oils.  So in the end it was just ok.   I mean, it wasn’t really the flavor of tea leaves anyways, but rather the flavor of the jasmine oil that we were tasting. You will note from the photos, that we are using our Crystalline Glaze tea cups as a vinegar dipping bowl for our dumplings.  As we tell all our customers, our tea cups and teaware are multifunctional! _____________________________________________________________________ If you enjoyed this article, sign up for Tranquil Tuesdays’ newsletter to Explore the stories behind each of Tranquil Tuesdays teas and teaware Travel with Tranquil Tuesdays seeking the best teas and teaware in China Learn the historical and cultural elements that make Chinese tea and teaware so unique Sign up for Tranquil Tuesdays’ newsletter now!
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Tea leaf and pork dumplings (猪肉茶叶饺子) for lunch at Tranquil Tuesdays today! We are very fortunate the Tranquil Tuesdays offices are located really close to one of Beijing’s best dumpling restaurants: Xian’r Lao Man 馅老满.  I used to travel across town to eat here regularly when I didn’t work as close as I do now.  In fact, I even brought famed food writer and Beijing restaurant authority, Savour Asia, here back in 2008. Anyways, so we are lucky to get to eat at Xian’r Lao Man a lot for lunch.  Or even better, get the dumplings delivered straight to us.  Last time we were there, Xiao Zhang noted they had a “tea leaf and pork dumpling” on the menu and resolved to try it next time we ate there. So today when we decided we both wanted dumplings for lunch, she ordered the tea leaf and pork dumplings.  With one bite the predominant flavor from the tea leaves was very floral and we each and jointly concluded they used jasmine green tea (a Beijing tea favorite) which is a green tea scented with jasmine flower oils.  So in the end it was just ok.   I mean, it wasn’t really the flavor of tea leaves anyways, but rather the flavor of the jasmine oil that we were tasting. You will note from the photos, that we are using our Crystalline Glaze tea cups as a vinegar dipping bowl for our dumplings.  As we tell all our customers, our tea cups and teaware are multifunctional! _____________________________________________________________________ If you enjoyed this article, sign up for Tranquil Tuesdays’ newsletter to Explore the stories behind each of Tranquil Tuesdays teas and teaware Travel with Tranquil Tuesdays seeking the best teas and teaware in China Learn the historical and cultural elements that make Chinese tea and teaware so unique Sign up for Tranquil Tuesdays’ newsletter now!
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Tea leaf and pork dumplings (猪肉茶叶饺子) for lunch at Tranquil Tuesdays today! We are very fortunate the Tranquil Tuesdays offices are located really close to one of Beijing’s best dumpling restaurants: Xian’r Lao Man 馅老满.  I used to travel across town to eat here regularly when I didn’t work as close as I do now.  In fact, I even brought famed food writer and Beijing restaurant authority, Savour Asia, here back in 2008. Anyways, so we are lucky to get to eat at Xian’r Lao Man a lot for lunch.  Or even better, get the dumplings delivered straight to us.  Last time we were there, Xiao Zhang noted they had a “tea leaf and pork dumpling” on the menu and resolved to try it next time we ate there. So today when we decided we both wanted dumplings for lunch, she ordered the tea leaf and pork dumplings.  With one bite the predominant flavor from the tea leaves was very floral and we each and jointly concluded they used jasmine green tea (a Beijing tea favorite) which is a green tea scented with jasmine flower oils.  So in the end it was just ok.   I mean, it wasn’t really the flavor of tea leaves anyways, but rather the flavor of the jasmine oil that we were tasting. You will note from the photos, that we are using our Crystalline Glaze tea cups as a vinegar dipping bowl for our dumplings.  As we tell all our customers, our tea cups and teaware are multifunctional! _____________________________________________________________________ If you enjoyed this article, sign up for Tranquil Tuesdays’ newsletter to Explore the stories behind each of Tranquil Tuesdays teas and teaware Travel with Tranquil Tuesdays seeking the best teas and teaware in China Learn the historical and cultural elements that make Chinese tea and teaware so unique Sign up for Tranquil Tuesdays’ newsletter now!
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Tea leaf and pork dumplings (猪肉茶叶饺子) for lunch at Tranquil Tuesdays today!

We are very fortunate the Tranquil Tuesdays offices are located really close to one of Beijing’s best dumpling restaurants: Xian’r Lao Man 馅老满.  I used to travel across town to eat here regularly when I didn’t work as close as I do now.  In fact, I even brought famed food writer and Beijing restaurant authority, Savour Asia, here back in 2008.

Anyways, so we are lucky to get to eat at Xian’r Lao Man a lot for lunch.  Or even better, get the dumplings delivered straight to us.  Last time we were there, Xiao Zhang noted they had a “tea leaf and pork dumpling” on the menu and resolved to try it next time we ate there.

So today when we decided we both wanted dumplings for lunch, she ordered the tea leaf and pork dumplings.  With one bite the predominant flavor from the tea leaves was very floral and we each and jointly concluded they used jasmine green tea (a Beijing tea favorite) which is a green tea scented with jasmine flower oils.  So in the end it was just ok.   I mean, it wasn’t really the flavor of tea leaves anyways, but rather the flavor of the jasmine oil that we were tasting.

You will note from the photos, that we are using our Crystalline Glaze tea cups as a vinegar dipping bowl for our dumplings.  As we tell all our customers, our tea cups and teaware are multifunctional!

_____________________________________________________________________

If you enjoyed this article, sign up for Tranquil Tuesdays’ newsletter to

  • Explore the stories behind each of Tranquil Tuesdays teas and teaware
  • Travel with Tranquil Tuesdays seeking the best teas and teaware in China
  • Learn the historical and cultural elements that make Chinese tea and teaware so unique

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Last night Tranquil Tuesdays had lots of fun at the 2012 TimeOut Beijing Food Awards! It was great being in a room full of Beijing’s Food and Drink community and bumping into so many of our friends, colleagues, and gracious supporters including the one and only Lillian Chou (pictured on the right in her awesome Chinese ethnic minority inspired ensemble—her cool style inspired the photo) who hosted the night as the outgoing TimeOut Beijing Food Editor.  Lillian, Chinese food authority, fellow food lover, chef, and food writer extraordinaire (including among many other things former Gourmet food editor), has been such an encouraging supporter of Tranquil Tuesdays and our teas as we grow and we are so flattered! _____________________________________________________________________ If you enjoyed this article, sign up for Tranquil Tuesdays’ newsletter to Explore the stories behind each of Tranquil Tuesdays teas and teaware Travel with Tranquil Tuesdays seeking the best teas and teaware in China Learn the historical and cultural elements that make Chinese tea and teaware so unique Sign up for Tranquil Tuesdays’ newsletter now!
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Last night Tranquil Tuesdays had lots of fun at the 2012 TimeOut Beijing Food Awards! It was great being in a room full of Beijing’s Food and Drink community and bumping into so many of our friends, colleagues, and gracious supporters including the one and only Lillian Chou (pictured on the right in her awesome Chinese ethnic minority inspired ensemble—her cool style inspired the photo) who hosted the night as the outgoing TimeOut Beijing Food Editor.  Lillian, Chinese food authority, fellow food lover, chef, and food writer extraordinaire (including among many other things former Gourmet food editor), has been such an encouraging supporter of Tranquil Tuesdays and our teas as we grow and we are so flattered! _____________________________________________________________________ If you enjoyed this article, sign up for Tranquil Tuesdays’ newsletter to Explore the stories behind each of Tranquil Tuesdays teas and teaware Travel with Tranquil Tuesdays seeking the best teas and teaware in China Learn the historical and cultural elements that make Chinese tea and teaware so unique Sign up for Tranquil Tuesdays’ newsletter now!
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Last night Tranquil Tuesdays had lots of fun at the 2012 TimeOut Beijing Food Awards!

It was great being in a room full of Beijing’s Food and Drink community and bumping into so many of our friends, colleagues, and gracious supporters including the one and only Lillian Chou (pictured on the right in her awesome Chinese ethnic minority inspired ensemble—her cool style inspired the photo) who hosted the night as the outgoing TimeOut Beijing Food Editor. 

Lillian, Chinese food authority, fellow food lover, chef, and food writer extraordinaire (including among many other things former Gourmet food editor), has been such an encouraging supporter of Tranquil Tuesdays and our teas as we grow and we are so flattered!

_____________________________________________________________________

If you enjoyed this article, sign up for Tranquil Tuesdays’ newsletter to

  • Explore the stories behind each of Tranquil Tuesdays teas and teaware
  • Travel with Tranquil Tuesdays seeking the best teas and teaware in China
  • Learn the historical and cultural elements that make Chinese tea and teaware so unique

Sign up for Tranquil Tuesdays’ newsletter now!