I try to avoid writing about American Tea Room too much, even though it is quite possibly my favorite tea shop ever. The reason I try to avoid writing about it is because I almost feel like a teenager with a crush on ATR – I can’t even deal with how much I like it, and I get all goofy and giddy at the mere thought of their teas. You can imagine how out of my mind I have been for the the past couple of weeks, then, between the HUGE sale at the Beverly Hills store prior to the closing of that location for remodeling, and the grand opening of their new Downtown location. I got a TON of amazing teas, sampled some fantastic new ones, and have been feeling totally high on life ever since. There is so much that I want to say with regards to American Tea Room that I have decided it is best to do a series of posts.
Part 1: The Giant Haul
Talk about feeling like I have died and gone to heaven (or at least Darjeeling)! At our final visit to the Beverly Hills location pre-remodeling, we mentioned my goal of eventually trying teas from each of the 87 Darjeeling Tea Estates to our extremely knowledgeable sales clerk. He not only discussed the various estate teas that ATR carries, he educated us about the varieties of teas from each estate. (He also advised which were best served with milk, and seemed a little concerned when I said that I pretty much always drink my tea straight up, with no milk, sugar, honey, or anything, but hey, to each his own.)
I ended up going home with these Darjeelings:
- Arya Diamond SFTGFOP1 (first flush)
- Arya Royal Moonbeam FTGFOP1 (second flush)
- Arya Pearl SFTGFOP1 (2014 first flush)
- Arya Pearl SFTGFOP1 (2015 first flush)
- Avongrove Euphoria FTGFOP1 (2nd flush)
In addition to all those Darjeelings, I also got:
- Big Red Robe Oolong
- Oh Canada
- Sultan’s Delight (which I can no longer find on their website and that has me really bummed out!)
- Yunnan Chitsu Pingcha (aka, a giant wheel of Pu’erh which I also have not seen listed on their website)
With such a huge sale, it was definately tricky to navigate and not spend a fortune. There were just so many options to choose from! We ended up buying way more than anticipated, but you can’t complain when you get twice the amount of tea for the price.
If you are wondering why I got so many teas from the Arya Estate, it is because it provides a great opportunity to experience just how much impact the different flushes and elevations have on the taste and body of the teas. Plus, Arya Estate recognizes the value and skills of their workers and provides them with benefits such as paid sick leave, annual bonuses and retirement funds, which are great reasons to support their business.
So, stay tuned for posts on the teas listed above, plus our visit to the new American Tea Room location in Downtown LA!
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