Ten Ren Tea of Seattle

My dad's a tea connosieur that has inadvertantly rubbed off on me. This is across the street from the old Uwajimaya in the ID. Their loose green teas kick a**. One of their green teas, pouchong is divine. more

I come to this tea shop in the International District pretty often for certain kinds of tea. I like the tea they have, but sometimes when I come here the person working there isn't familiar with all the kinds of tea they sell so I have a hard time getting the type I'm looking for. I really like the smoky pine-flavored tea especially! more

Ten Ren is a wonderful place to find certain types of Chinese teas. Most of their types of tea, such as the oolong, is available in different grades - price depending upon how high of a grade you want. I usually buy the cheapest grade of golden black tea (just $1 for a small package) and even it is great. (If you haven't tried golden black tea, usually from Yunnan, try it, by the way - it's worlds apart from the Lipton-type stuff). My other favorite here is Lapsang Souchong, an excellent tea that tastes strongly of pine smoke, as I've heard it's made by actually burning pine boughs under the tea leaves as they're drying! You can get it in bulk here, as much or as little as you'd like, and they will seal it in its own plastic bag for you to keep it fresh. more