teance in berkeley - fantastic,or what?

[drobbia]

Open for 2 months,the tea,service and ambiance makes one wonder--is tea the next coffee? Any chowhound been there?

[singleguychef]

I've seen it and walked in. I haven't tried the tea yet but intend to. I like the layout of the place and it's very zen like. But I have to say, I felt intimidated a bit by the staff. They seemed to be circling me as I browsed at the tea.

From what I could tell, the tea is predominantly Chinese tea. They're pushing the quality, but can't see how it might be any more different than Imperial Tea Court, etc. They don't have as many hand-mixed tea as other specialty tea shops like Mariage Freres, but packaging is very nice.

They also have a small upstairs tea area to sit down and zip tea. Not crowded yet because I think they're small and people haven't discovered it yet, but you can bet I'll be there soon to try it out!

(BTW, tea was declared the next coffee about two years ago and now I think chocolate drinks is the new coffee. Ha!)

[Morton the Mousse]

Definitely fantastic. The Tea is better quality, and the service more precise, than at Imperial. The real draw is the tea bar, where you can try tastes of a variety of teas for a nominal cost, perfect for helping you decide what to buy and take home. The staff is very enthusiastic about tea, and happy to educate novices. Teance is easily the best tea house in the East Bay, if not the entire Bay Area. If you love tea, or if you are interested in learning more about it, you must visit Teance.

[Chuckles the Clone]

In fact, they've been open for longer than that. While the 4th St. place has been there
for a couple of months, they had a shop on Gilman between 8th and 9th for quite
some time; year or more. Hidden in the Fra'Mani building. I think that closed with the
opening of the new place.

I keep forgetting they're there until I've bought some coffee at Pete's and then
it's too late to try the tea bar. Their leaves tend to be from the very high end and
priced accordingly. I'm slowly sipping my way through a couple of precious ounces
of one of their nice white teas.

I don't think tea is the next coffee for a lot of reasons, one clearly embodied in that
"zen like" layout of Teance: coffee is a stimulant, where tea is calming.

Nice place, nice people, great addition to the 4th st. yuppieforaging circuit.

[Waterboy]

....tea is calming.
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Unless: http://www.newscientist.com/article/d...