Elias Ross
User's reviews
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Queen Mary Tea Room and Restaurant
The tea is served in large glass 'coffee press' style containers, so you have a good quanitity to drink. I think the best way to go, however, is to decant the leaves after steeping. The dregs, although mostly isolated with the press, tend to still generate a lot of bitter taste as the pot sits. It is a fun place to go on a date (a little too feminine for my taste) and you get excellent food and service. If it's crowded, it may be a little noisy if a lot of females congregating. Next time I'll try the afternoon tea service and post a new review.
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Seattle's Best Tea
It's more of a tea shop than a 'sit comtemplatively and sip tea' tea house. I wouldn't recommend taking a date - especially one who isn't into tea - or expecting to be served food. But, you can get an excellent pot of tea made the proper way and enjoy it and talk with other tea-minded people. (It would help if you can speak Mandarin.) Admittedly, I'm a bit biased, since I've been buying teas there for many years and the shopkeeper dotes on me, but if you want exotic Chinese and Taiwan teas (the upper end being about $200 dollars per pound) this is the place. The loose leaf selection is mostly of Chinese and Taiwanese style teas. There's a few Japanese- and British-style teas as well, including some excellent green tea. They have some flavored teas and a kind of medicial tea called King's Tea which is mix of oolong and ginseng. Occasionally, they offer special high grades of tea you just can't buy in the U.S., because the store has a direct relationship with Tawian suppliers. The tea is graded and you can buy three grades of the same 'Oolong' for example. They do honestly smell and taste distinct, but I wouldn't say the more expensive tastes proportionally better than the cheaper. Ask for a sample before buying a large amount. There's also some tea making supplies, kettles, pots, tea bags, gift sets, etc. I like the clear glass pots and the tea tasting trays they use.