Purchasing Hu-Kwa tea?

[Double Gloucester]

I will be spending Friday in Boston and was wondering if there are any retail shops where I could find a black tea called Hu-Kwa. If location matters, I will mainly be around Fenway (visiting the MFA). The supplier is based in Concord, and I've thought about ordering from their website (http://www.marktwendell.com/Hukwa.htm). But I would love to know if there are stores anywhere in Boston that stock this tea. Thanks.

[BobB]

Formaggio Kitchen in Cambridge carries it. They're in Huron Village, not too far from Harvard Square. See http://www.formaggiokitchen.com/shop/...

[silver queen]

I don't know if they carry it, but Teavana in the Prudential Center shops is close to the MFA.

[teaperson]

Teavana only stocks their own tea. Cardullo's in Harvard Square also stocks it (and takes orders by phone, too), and a wide range of other Mark T. Wendell teas. I'm a big fan of their Kee-mun. I've looked at the Hu-Kwa - what does it taste like?

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Cardullo's Gourmet Shoppe
6 Brattle St, Cambridge, MA

[lipoff]

I agree, I really like Mark T. Wendell's "China Keemun." Hu-Kwa is their "brand-name" for a specific variety lapsang souchong, which is a very intense, smoky black tea. I find it a very difficult tea to describe, but easy to understand since it's taste is uncannily similar to its smell. Although I like pungent, strong flavors I find myself relatively rarely in the mood for lapsang souchong. However, when I do, the Hu-Kwa tea is one of my favourites. Oddly enough, Avila on Charles Street serves an excellent lapsang souchong as their iced tea.

[BostonZest]

Thank you for the information. Hu-Kwa is one of the teas they serve at the Boston Athenaeum teas and I love it. I knew it tasted like a good Lapsang souchong but didn't realize it was a brand. I'll have to get some next time I'm at Formaggio or Cardullo's.

[Double Gloucester]

Thanks, now I am eager to try the Kee-mun too. I've actually had Hu-Kwa only once, served to me by a friend several years ago, and I found the smokiness that lipoff describes very pleasing and not overwhelming. It was my first time tasting a lapsang souchong, and soon after I tried the only other variety I could find at the time (Twinings, probably). It felt like having a mouthful of ashes. I'm guessing that lapsang souchong may not be, well, my you-know-what, but I think Hu-Kwa is really lovely.

Looking at the Mark T. Wendell website, I see that they also have a China Lapsang Souchong, described as having a "smokier taste and aroma" than Hu-Kwa.