Tea Ceremony Beijing/Shanghai
 

Tea Ceremony Beijing/Shanghai
Please could someone recommend some good places to experience a tea ceremony in Beijing and Shanghai.

Nice atmosphere, reasonably priced

Thanks so much

In Shanghai we always take people to the Mid-Lake Pavilion Teahouse (Huxinting) in YuYuan. It's the big one by the entrance to YuYuan Garden. You cross the zig zag bridge to get there. We stay on the main floor and go to the right all the way to the back. Ask how much it is before you start. We've always paid like 40 or 50 rmb per person and maybe extra if we want a flower or something added. Great location and a nice place to stop for a rest. We're not tea connoisseurs so the 40/50rmb tea tastes fine to us. Also consider going to the nearby Nanxiang Steamed Bun Restaurant for some dumplings (xiaolongbao). Yummy! Look for the long line or get address from a guidebook.

The Yuyuan Bazaar is a place that one can spend hours shopping. Yes, there are some fake vendors on the streets asking if you want to see their "warehouse", but there are also lots of variety of things to buy, there's the famous Garden and also the Town God. It's also where we sometimes get jewelry made. I tend to go to Lina's Shop, No.3046 3/F at 288 FuYou Lu cuz she can always make what I want.

If a "nice" person offers to help you go to a tea or coffee house, ignore them cuz it's a scam. It happens in Shanghai but I hear it's bigger in Beijing.

Do read about the tea ceremony scams - someone posted on this board that they were scammed for US$1000. So know the pitfalls before you go. (Do a search here)

Ha ha. I wanted to reply: "Just stand in the middle of Tiananmen Square, looking like a tourist". But I know that wasn't what the OP was asking. :)

I don't know... say the words "tea ceremony" and my alarm bells go off. Especially because a recent guest of ours got ripped off by the Tian'anmen tea scam for over $500! And, to my knowledge, tea ceremonies are not part of the Chinese tradition.

That being said, if you want to BUY tea and LEARN about Chinese tea, I would head to tea street Maliandao in Beijing. This is an enormous market that sells all manner of teas - oolong, green tea, jasmine, pu'er, etc. etc. etc. Vendors speak little English, but are happy to let you taste. Alternatively, the city is dotted with Ten Fu tea stores. I shop here a lot for gifts. They're a little overpriced, and they definitely try to up-sell you, but the quality is good.

Also, I should add if you want to visit a Chinese tea house, to sip tea and rest (there is no "ceremony," though), you could check out Family Fu's teahouse, a classic teahouse in Houhai. Or the Laoshe Teahouse offers a kitschy vaudeville show while you sip tea.

For me, the loveliest teahouse I ever visited was in Chengdu at the Qing Yang Gong temple, a true bustling, neighborhood teahouse.