Last night at dinner, I was at a loss to order tea so I opted for a thyme tisane. You can see it's just a few sprigs of thyme in hot water and it tastes exactly as expected- herby. It could have done with a spoonful of linden or orange blossom honey.
Restaurant tea is bit of a gamble. When you are a serious tea drinker, it always seems wrong to order tea at restaurants that don't specialize in tea. I really wish that similar to the standard practice of "corkage", restaurants would charge a "brewage" fee and let patrons bring their own tea.
Restaurant tea is bit of a gamble. When you are a serious tea drinker, it always seems wrong to order tea at restaurants that don't specialize in tea. I really wish that similar to the standard practice of "corkage", restaurants would charge a "brewage" fee and let patrons bring their own tea.
Have often thought the same thing. Though this is standard practice in Chinese and Taiwanese tea-houses--pay a water fee. A tea seller in Taipei I once met was adamant about this: "Sure, drink at a teahouse--but always bring your own tea," he told me.
ReplyDeleteWhile being gouged for buying tea at the airport, I complained bitterly to my husband that in China- you can get hot water free at all sorts of public places. To which he wryly replied- "In the United States, you can get safe drinking water in all sorts of public places".
ReplyDeleteProbably the "brewage" fee at a restaurant will be more expensive or same as the actual price of the tea they sell.
Sometimes I bring my own tea to dim sum restaurants and asked them to just give us a pot of hot water... We expect to pay the water fee but it is definitely more enjoyable.
ReplyDeleteOh Ira! I didn't know that was allowed. Is this something dimsum restarants commonly allow in the Bay area? Ahem and how much is this water fee?
DeleteI honestly never pay attention to how much they charge but it is a set fee (all dim sum restaurants do) they add on to the bill, maybe like $1 per person times the total number of guests. You probably never paid attention as it is not much (unless you have a large table with twelve people, for example. ) I actually would ask for two pots of hot water so I can add water to the pot with tea whenever I need to. Plus, it avoids the unfortunate situation of the teapots getting mixed up on its way back to your table ( they sometimes forget which table). I just ask them to fill the pot with no tea leaf. At a non-dim sum place, they do not charge water fee, and you can bring your own tea and just ask for a pot of hot water also. I don't do this all the time but sometimes I just feel like it . :)
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