High Class Tea Drinkers of Chiang Mai and Thailand, Know of Any Tea Houses, Tea Tastings?

[butterisbetter]

At the airport, there is a store that sells some great teas from Doi Mae Salong. They are eager to let you taste their wares. This store is actually an outlet for one of the biggest tea growers in Mae Salong. They also own Mae Salong Villa which is a hotel.

===Is there anyway someone could post the name and telephone number?===

I would like to try calling before I go.

Also, 'how great it is' that it is at the airport because you can just call an airport taxi for about 120 Baht where ever you start from in Chiang Mai city!!!

Then spend a few minutes or hours walking around the vicinity of the airport.

After sampling some good tea.

Thank you very much!

I don't have the phone number. However, if you track down the number of Mae Salong Villa, they should be able to help you ( provided you can communicate.)

The store is located in the domestic portion of the terminal on the ground floor not far from the Royal Project store.

Edited July 28, 2013 by butterisbetter

[cmsally]

http://www.maesalong-villa.com/Maesalong/contactUs.php

[FolkGuitar]

To date, I've found only tolerable teas grown in Thailand. I spent about an hour and a half tasting dozens of teas (freshly made as I sat there) in the tea shop off of Changklan Rd. While the oolongs were drinkable (and only just,) the greens weren't up to the standards of better Chinese or Japanese green teas. When I want to drink a good Oolong tea, I'll buy "Te Quan Yin," or a Fujian Oolong from the Chinese shop behind Khontiem Market.

I found no black teas at all in the shop, which is really what I prefer. I drink 3-4 liters of tea every day (and pee a LOT!) I order my tea from various purveyors, but my usual 'go to' teas (all loose leaf teas) are;

Teavana's "Yunnan Golden Pu-erh" tea

Taylors of Harrogate's "Yorkshire" tea

Taylors of Harrogate's "English Breakfast" tea

McNulty's Tea & Coffee's "China Black"

McNulty's Tea & Coffee's "Keemun"

McNulty's Tea & Coffee's "Lapsang Souchong" Extra Smokey (perfect drink for colder rainy mornings.)

East India Company's "Royal Breakfast" tea

East India Company's "English Breafast" tea

East India Company's "Keemun Downy Bud" tea

Ahmad's "English Breakfast" tea

Ahmad's "English Breakfast No.1" tea

Dilmah's "Ceylon" tea

Rimping used to carry "Yorkshire" tea but no longer does. While their tea section is quite large in some of their shops, the tea that they are selling falls short. If one is a real tea lover, and prefers the higher quality teas, then one needs to be willing to spend the money to import it. Liptons, while making a horrible cup of hot tea, actually works very well for iced tea.

As a dedicated tea drinker, I'm afraid I'll have to forgo Thai teas.

Edited July 28, 2013 by FolkGuitar

[rookball]

i am a avid oolong drinker, im abit lost. may i ask why dms dongding? dms have some very decent unfermented green teas and oolong but dongding, cing xin beauty etc are a very bad varient of the original dongding, orient beauty, alishan etc etc and taste nothing like it. the red package dms oolong 12 is so much better

[LawrenceChee]

Hangzhou long jing is still my fav although it seems impossible to get any in CM which is why i bring them into CM whenever I visit

Oolong has great medical values in drinking them and is another great option

[OldChinaHam]

Hangzhou long jing is still my fav although it seems impossible to get any in CM which is why i bring them into CM whenever I visit

Oolong has great medical values in drinking them and is another great option

Thank you for the comment,

And can you say which tea would you buy in Chiang Mai if you had to drink it on a daily basis.

I do not mean forced to drink it.

But if you were only able to buy tea available in CM,

Then what would you buy?

Say one choice which is medium priced,

Then another choice which is not sky high, but upper medium price.

Thank you.

[hellodolly]

I am a tea drinker and very selective, there are only two brands I drink.

The hi-so tea you speak of doesn't do anything for me, if I want peppermint or cinnamon flavour l'll buy a stick of gum. I've tried many and still prefer my cuppa with milk, don't worry I won't try to convert you.

I was trying to stay out of this but now that you mention it I do lover licorice tea.

Havent seen it here in Thailand. It is not a good thing for your blood pressure.

[OldChinaHam]

I am a tea drinker and very selective, there are only two brands I drink.

The hi-so tea you speak of doesn't do anything for me, if I want peppermint or cinnamon flavour l'll buy a stick of gum. I've tried many and still prefer my cuppa with milk, don't worry I won't try to convert you.

I was trying to stay out of this but now that you mention it I do lover licorice tea.

Havent seen it here in Thailand. It is not a good thing for your blood pressure.

Ah, yes.

My blood pressure.

[siamod]

I didn´t find a proper tea shop in CM yet. Seems to be more coffeedrinker over here.

Anyway, I like to drink good green tea and pu-erh tea. First one my friends from Guangzhou send to me if in need.

The pu-erh tea I find at the Warorot market, 100 gramm for 500 baht, similar quality and price than the one I bought before in a nice tea shop in Penang/Malaysia. As i remember, the owner of that shop told me, she have only a very few customer from Bangkok who spend some money on tea. So possibly the market for tea connaisseurs in Thailand is not that big? I dunno...

[wigantojapan]

its very simple if you want to find out and taste quality thai tea there are plenty options on ones visa run to mae sai

From the mae sai suppliers you can fid out where they are farmed and go visit

end of story

quality tea is never in a tea bag also end of story

i thought i was going to get some informative knowledge from fellow tea lovers but unfortunately this is tv so the usual non information.

[wigantojapan]

Hangzhou long jing is still my fav although it seems impossible to get any in CM which is why i bring them into CM whenever I visit

Oolong has great medical values in drinking them and is another great option

i have picked the tea leaves from the farms outside of hangzhou on several occasions

also a huge favourite of mine and i did find some in cm but the quality was 3rd grade with 1st grade prices

i find the oolong produced in North Thailand and sold in the markets of Mae sai are of a high quality

you just need to taste for yourself which is easily done in mae sai and find the particular farm which is to your taste

The tea shops in general do not know how to prepare tea but there are some who do ,so by shoping around you can find them.

the prices in Cm are about the same price but there is a wider variety in mae sai

[OldChinaHam]

Hangzhou long jing is still my fav although it seems impossible to get any in CM which is why i bring them into CM whenever I visit

Oolong has great medical values in drinking them and is another great option

i have picked the tea leaves from the farms outside of hangzhou on several occasions

also a huge favourite of mine and i did find some in cm but the quality was 3rd grade with 1st grade prices

i find the oolong produced in North Thailand and sold in the markets of Mae sai are of a high quality

you just need to taste for yourself which is easily done in mae sai and find the particular farm which is to your taste

The tea shops in general do not know how to prepare tea but there are some who do ,so by shoping around you can find them.

the prices in Cm are about the same price but there is a wider variety in mae sai

"the prices in Cm are about the same price but there is a wider variety in mae sai"

Would you please clarify this about what you find concerning pricing in CM

and mae sai? And about quality? availability?

Thanks.

[ARISTIDE]

Monsoon tea shop in JJ has some Pi Lou Shun (green tea second to only Long Jing). Get them while the shop last!

[hellodolly]

At the airport, there is a store that sells some great teas from Doi Mae Salong. They are eager to let you taste their wares. This store is actually an outlet for one of the biggest tea growers in Mae Salong. They also own Mae Salong Villa which is a hotel.

At the airport or the airport Mall?

Sorry I see you answered the question in a later post.

Edited July 29, 2013 by hellodolly

[OldChinaHam]

Monsoon tea shop in JJ has some Pi Lou Shun (green tea second to only Long Jing). Get them while the shop last!

Thank you.

Do you think they will be closing?

Do you really think their pricing is reasonable for the quality????

If the shop does not last, and we hope it does last, will anyone here get advance warning and maybe be able to buy lots of tea in the nick of time??

[hellodolly]

Surprised no one mentioned Ramone Tea house on Thai Pa road.

Not sure of the name or the quality of their tea as I am one of those who drinks it because I like it not because it is high quality. I take high quality to mean expensive.

The tea shop can be reached on Thai Pa road by starting on the North side of the street across from AIS and walking East towards the river. You will cross a little bridge crossing the canal, Look sharp you might miss it. Total of about 150 feet. It is right on the canal. In the front they sell various kinds of china. Walk through there and you will see they have a restaurant with garden seating where I and the wife enjoy the ambiance. The food is so so but I like the tea they have several different kinds. I don't have a clue as to if they would come close to what you want but you might find it there and I am sure you would enjoy the garden ambiance.

The building is actually about a 100 year old I believe British home. I could be wrong on that and the name but my instructions are easy to follow and accurate.

Edited July 29, 2013 by hellodolly

[chiangmaiexpat]

I am a tea drinker. My favourite local tea is Mien Lee tea. It has quite an unusual flowery aroma and it is grown in Thailand. There is very little information about this tea on the Internet, but it is available everywhere in the Chiang Mai province. The tea culture in Thailand is Chinese, so what you get here are Chinese teas, especially Oolongs and green teas. I am not very much into Oolong, and the regular green teas from Mae Salong and other tea growing areas are of mixed quality. There are pretty good ones and also pretty awful ones. It's essential to try before you buy. As for fermented/black teas, I haven't seen any decent one yet that could be used for anything else than tea/milk shakes. Personally, I like Jasmine tea and the white teas offered by some local companies. Unfortunately, the white ones cost about three times as much as the greens. The Raming company, probably the oldest and biggest tea company in Chiang Mai, produces some quite decent green teas, in addition a lot of commercial mid range teas. They have a tea house in the city and an outlet on Rd. 107 where one can taste and buy their teas. Then there is the pink gourmet tea shop on Charoen Rajida Rd. next to the river (18.791537, 99.002742). I am surprised that nobody mentioned it yet. They have a great choice of imported teas, scented and unscented, and they market their own blends, some of which are pretty awesome. I was positively surprised by their green Earl Grey (bergamot scented) tea, for example.

Cheers, CM-Expat

Edited July 29, 2013 by chiangmaiexpat

[FolkGuitar]

......... Then there is the pink gourmet tea shop on Charoen Rajida Rd. next to the river (18.791537, 99.002742). I am surprised that nobody mentioned it yet. They have a great choice of imported teas, scented and unscented,

Do they carry black teas from British, Indian, or Chinese tea purveyors?

[ARISTIDE]

Monsoon tea shop in JJ has some Pi Lou Shun (green tea second to only Long Jing). Get them while the shop last!

Thank you.

Do you think they will be closing?

Do you really think their pricing is reasonable for the quality????

If the shop does not last, and we hope it does last, will anyone here get advance warning and maybe be able to buy lots of tea in the nick of time??

Personally yes as I don't think real Chinese green tea is not appreciate in Thailand and "Pi Lou Chun" is too good here. Price is too expensive possibly 950 bath 100g or something and no indication when the tea was picked as green tea will lose its quality quickly in months. This place is probably the best tea shop in Chiang Mai but they mostly carry Pu er and some Chiang Rai Oolong which is nothing compare to the Chinese one. Chinese oolong taste better might be because the tea tree is very very old.

You can buy good quality green tea from China including Long Ching from teaspring at a better price. They are good people and deliver the good stuff. Or a good tea shop by Thai standard is Jia Tong Heng main branch.

However, I must say Monsoon has very good cast iron tea pots!

[ARISTIDE]

You are probably talking about "Ma lee" tea or Jasmine tea in English.? World famous made in Fujian China only. Thai tea is western style tea including the Raming company. They make tea western style.

I am a tea drinker. My favourite local tea is Mien Lee tea. It has quite an unusual flowery aroma and it is grown in Thailand. There is very little information about this tea on the Internet, but it is available everywhere in the Chiang Mai province. The tea culture in Thailand is Chinese, so what you get here are Chinese teas, especially Oolongs and green teas. I am not very much into Oolong, and the regular green teas from Mae Salong and other tea growing areas are of mixed quality. There are pretty good ones and also pretty awful ones. It's essential to try before you buy. As for fermented/black teas, I haven't seen any decent one yet that could be used for anything else than tea/milk shakes. Personally, I like Jasmine tea and the white teas offered by some local companies. Unfortunately, the white ones cost about three times as much as the greens. The Raming company, probably the oldest and biggest tea company in Chiang Mai, produces some quite decent green teas, in addition a lot of commercial mid range teas. They have a tea house in the city and an outlet on Rd. 107 where one can taste and buy their teas. Then there is the pink gourmet tea shop on Charoen Rajida Rd. next to the river (18.791537, 99.002742). I am surprised that nobody mentioned it yet. They have a great choice of imported teas, scented and unscented, and they market their own blends, some of which are pretty awesome. I was positively surprised by their green Earl Grey (bergamot scented) tea, for example.

Cheers, CM-Expat

[ARISTIDE]

Sometime they have good stuff but but the place cater only girls and gay guys for high tea sandwich stuff (hense the shop pick colour)

......... Then there is the pink gourmet tea shop on Charoen Rajida Rd. next to the river (18.791537, 99.002742). I am surprised that nobody mentioned it yet. They have a great choice of imported teas, scented and unscented,

Do they carry black teas from British, Indian, or Chinese tea purveyors?

[FolkGuitar]

Sometime they have good stuff but but the place cater only girls and gay guys for high tea sandwich stuff (hense the shop pick colour)

Hmmmm..... I wonder if they will accept my money if I'm not gay?

Thanks for the tip. I don't think the pink color will discourage me from shopping there if they have the products I like.

[chiangmaiexpat]

You are probably talking about "Ma lee" tea or Jasmine tea in English.? World famous made in Fujian China only. Thai tea is western style tea including the Raming company. They make tea western style.

Not Malee, but Mien Lee, which is also spelled Muen Lee, or Muen Li or something similar. It's also a scented tea, but not Jasmine. Whether tea in Thailand is "Western style" I find doubtful, considering that it's mostly ethnic Chinese families growing tea in the highlands here. Have you ever been in one of these villages? They still speak Chinese there.

BTW, all the Pu Erh tea I was ever able to drink/buy in Thailand looked, smelled and tasted like dried horse dung. I really don't know what people like about it. Perhaps someone can point to a quality Pu Erh.

@FolkGuitar: Yes, they did carry British/Indian teas. The Darjeeling didn't convince me, but I remember they had a good Assam with a nice malty flavour. Great with pastries.

Cheers, CM-Expat

[ARISTIDE]

Sorry my bad. It's actually "Hom Muen Lee" or "10,000 Li fragrant" (chinese distance measurement) is the name of the flower it self. And they are Chinese style not western like you said.

You are probably talking about "Ma lee" tea or Jasmine tea in English.? World famous made in Fujian China only. Thai tea is western style tea including the Raming company. They make tea western style.

Not Malee, but Mien Lee, which is also spelled Muen Lee, or Muen Li or something similar. It's also a scented tea, but not Jasmine. Whether tea in Thailand is "Western style" I find doubtful, considering that it's mostly ethnic Chinese families growing tea in the highlands here. Have you ever been in one of these villages? They still speak Chinese there.

BTW, all the Pu Erh tea I was ever able to drink/buy in Thailand looked, smelled and tasted like dried horse dung. I really don't know what people like about it. Perhaps someone can point to a quality Pu Erh.

@FolkGuitar: Yes, they did carry British/Indian teas. The Darjeeling didn't convince me, but I remember they had a good Assam with a nice malty flavour. Great with pastries.

Cheers, CM-Expat

[AngelsLariat]

Sometime they have good stuff but but the place cater only girls and gay guys for high tea sandwich stuff (hense the shop pick colour)

Hmmmm..... I wonder if they will accept my money if I'm not gay?

Thanks for the tip. I don't think the pink color will discourage me from shopping there if they have the products I like.

My wife and I go there sometimes but I didn't know that it was a gay hangout. I did notice guys there extending their pinkies in the air while drinking their cup but I assumed that was just something that high class tea drinkers do.

[hellodolly]

I really don't have a clue to all these different tea's

But

I was in Tops at the airport looking for licorice tea and I noticed some tea on the bottom shelf with a bunch of Chinese writing on it. The only English on it was "double black tea" it was cheap only 65 baht a box but it felt like there was not much in it.

They had several other teas with the same brand from china or some place that uses Chinese writing.

Keep your eye out for licorice tea it might not be hotty totty tea but I like it. Back home There was a company named Sash that had it. Also a few smaller companies.

[FolkGuitar]

BTW, all the Pu Erh tea I was ever able to drink/buy in Thailand looked, smelled and tasted like dried horse dung. I really don't know what people like about it. Perhaps someone can point to a quality Pu Erh.

@FolkGuitar: Yes, they did carry British/Indian teas. The Darjeeling didn't convince me, but I remember they had a good Assam with a nice malty flavour. Great with pastries.

Almost all Pu-Erhs smell like that. To make it, the tea is buried and aged for a period of time. Most Pu-Erh fanciers will 'wash' the tea in warm water before steeping it in 85° water to drink. There are only a few Pu-Erhs that I've ever really liked, and even they smelled like mud! Fortunately, they didn't taste like mud...

I am always up for a good Assam! But it has to be a really, really good one. The mediocre Assams remind me too much of Liptons.

I've never been a fan of Darjeelings, despite having access to 8-10 different estates for their First Flush. I guess the taste is too delicate for my plebeian palate, Give me a good Keemun or a high-grown Ceylon Uva any day! I don't even care for the low-growing Ceylon Dimbula. Not powerful enough for me. China Black rules!

HelloDolly said:

I was in Tops at the airport looking for licorice tea and I noticed some tea on the bottom shelf with a bunch of Chinese writing on it. The only English on it was "double black tea" it was cheap only 65 baht a box but it felt like there was not much in it.

Thanks, Dolly. That very well may be hidden gold. My all-time favorite tea is an unbranded Keemun that I found in the Chinatown district in Kobe, Japan, selling for about $5 for 200gm. Peanuts when talking about really top quality teas. A tea shop next to that market was selling a famous Keemun for $35 for 100gm. Tasting both, the cheaper one had a far cleaner tastes, better nose, and a gentle after-taste. I bought two kilo of the unbranded Keemun on the spot. It had been repackaged by the shop into individual 200gm vacuum sealed bags with an O2 remover, so it will last quite a while, especially if kept in the dark. I'll go to Tops tomorrow and try a package of your Chinese tea.

[hougourou]

You are probably talking about "Ma lee" tea or Jasmine tea in English.? World famous made in Fujian China only. Thai tea is western style tea including the Raming company. They make tea western style.

I am a tea drinker. My favourite local tea is Mien Lee tea. It has quite an unusual flowery aroma and it is grown in Thailand. There is very little information about this tea on the Internet, but it is available everywhere in the Chiang Mai province. The tea culture in Thailand is Chinese, so what you get here are Chinese teas, especially Oolongs and green teas. I am not very much into Oolong, and the regular green teas from Mae Salong and other tea growing areas are of mixed quality. There are pretty good ones and also pretty awful ones. It's essential to try before you buy. As for fermented/black teas, I haven't seen any decent one yet that could be used for anything else than tea/milk shakes. Personally, I like Jasmine tea and the white teas offered by some local companies. Unfortunately, the white ones cost about three times as much as the greens. The Raming company, probably the oldest and biggest tea company in Chiang Mai, produces some quite decent green teas, in addition a lot of commercial mid range teas. They have a tea house in the city and an outlet on Rd. 107 where one can taste and buy their teas. Then there is the pink gourmet tea shop on Charoen Rajida Rd. next to the river (18.791537, 99.002742). I am surprised that nobody mentioned it yet. They have a great choice of imported teas, scented and unscented, and they market their own blends, some of which are pretty awesome. I was positively surprised by their green Earl Grey (bergamot scented) tea, for example.

Cheers, CM-Expat

No, he is referring to hom muen li, meaning fragrant for 10,000 li (a Chinese unit of distance, less than a kilometer), which like jasmine (mali in Thai) is a flower added to the tea to give it a fragrance beyond that of the tea itself. Very nice, but isn't adding another fragrance, like jasmine or bergamot, a bit of admisssion that the tea is not really the best qulaity leaf? The best oolongs have floral fragrance that comes from the tea leaf itself.

Still, what you like is what is good!

[OldChinaHam]

While we are on the subject of Jasmine, for the tea drinkers here, they probably already know that in China, Jasmine tea was forbidden to be spoken of on the internet blog sites during the revolts in the middle east. The Chinese gov was very wary at that time.

Now though, not to worry, you can talk about Jasmine tea and drink it with the flower blossoms floating in your cup.

I do not like it because I prefer tea only.

The flavor is not bad, but tea only is better for me.

[hougourou]

You are probably talking about "Ma lee" tea or Jasmine tea in English.? World famous made in Fujian China only. Thai tea is western style tea including the Raming company. They make tea western style.

I am a tea drinker. My favourite local tea is Mien Lee tea. It has quite an unusual flowery aroma and it is grown in Thailand. There is very little information about this tea on the Internet, but it is available everywhere in the Chiang Mai province. The tea culture in Thailand is Chinese, so what you get here are Chinese teas, especially Oolongs and green teas. I am not very much into Oolong, and the regular green teas from Mae Salong and other tea growing areas are of mixed quality. There are pretty good ones and also pretty awful ones. It's essential to try before you buy. As for fermented/black teas, I haven't seen any decent one yet that could be used for anything else than tea/milk shakes. Personally, I like Jasmine tea and the white teas offered by some local companies. Unfortunately, the white ones cost about three times as much as the greens. The Raming company, probably the oldest and biggest tea company in Chiang Mai, produces some quite decent green teas, in addition a lot of commercial mid range teas. They have a tea house in the city and an outlet on Rd. 107 where one can taste and buy their teas. Then there is the pink gourmet tea shop on Charoen Rajida Rd. next to the river (18.791537, 99.002742). I am surprised that nobody mentioned it yet. They have a great choice of imported teas, scented and unscented, and they market their own blends, some of which are pretty awesome. I was positively surprised by their green Earl Grey (bergamot scented) tea, for example.

Cheers, CM-Expat

No, he is referring to hom muen li, meaning fragrant for 10,000 li (a Chinese unit of distance, less than a kilometer), which like jasmine (mali in Thai) is a flower added to the tea to give it a fragrance beyond that of the tea itself. Very nice, but isn't adding another fragrance, like jasmine or bergamot, a bit of admisssion that the tea is not really the best qulaity leaf? The best oolongs have floral fragrance that comes from the tea leaf itself.

Still, what you like is what is good!

Scrolling back, I see other anwered before I did on the hom muen li. Oh, the humiliation. Lot's of good ideas here, I've been buying Mae Saong Oolongs for 15 years--quality varies and high price is no guarantee of success. I now get the Doi Number 17, also known as gan on, or soft stem for 130 Baht per 100 gram vacuum sealed bag. Main shop located on the southeast corner of CMU.