my son, his fiancee, and myself were looking forward to visiting the
tea gallery on allen street today-

our experience was less than satisfactory- i had heard so many good
things about this teashop-but we were very disapponted-

instead of being graciously invited into the tea shop we were treated
rather rudely-we wanted to have a cup of tea-this was not offered to
us-we
were asked f we wanted tea tastng at $24 --we did not want anything
for free
this was not what we were expectng-Michael Plant and friends always
have good things to say about the the tea gallery-

we left and wlll not return-

joanne r. aka jpr54_

Joanne,
Hup ho, I see my name!
Sorry to hear about your unpleasant experience. You know, The Tea Gallery is a tea and teaware shop, not a sit-down-and-drink-tea shop for the most part. Did you make it clear to the person you spoke with that you wanted to come in and drink tea because you had heard about the shop? Perhaps that would have been more productive. Can you be more specific about the rudeness you mention? The situation you describe doesn't sound rude on the face of it. Again, sorry you walked away unhappy. I should add that I have no financial interest in the shop, I'm a custumer. (Joanne's post can be read elsewhere.)
Michael

That's interesting. Their website does say it's best to call ahead
though:
http://www.theteagallery.com/Articles.asp?ID=131
Never been to the Tea Gallery or NYC - because, ummm, I'm in Fuzhou.

Let me tell you how it is here. Today I happend to pass by Ten Fu Tea,
so I went in to take a look. The sales assistants were very courteous.
One came up to me right away, and offered me a small paper...

I think regulars are treated differently than customers. I see some
of that at my local tea shoppe. My biggest disappointment based on
recommendations in this group Imperial Tea Court Ferry Building San
Francisco. Burn me once shame on you, burn me twice shame on me.

Jim

PS What makes a tea shoppe sucessful are other factors than making
everyone feel special. Hell ITC was incapable of selling tea.

Space Cowboy ix.netcom.com> writes:

I think you have a point there (though of course regulars *are*
customers.) I didn't respond to the original post because I'm a
regular at the Tea Gallery. I could say that my first experience
there, when they didn't know me from Adam, was totally delightful, but
that was years ago.

/Lew

On Jul 20, 5:28 pm, Michael Plant pipeline.com> wrote:

You should have an enjoyable, pleasant experience, after all, you're
the customer, right?
In China, lots of stores sell tea only. Some sell only tieguanyin.
Some sell only puer. Some sell tea and tea ware. Some stores sell tea
ware only. Some do wholesale and retail. Any of these stores will
invite you in to drink some tea - may not be good tea, but ok. And the
sales people just sit and chat and chat, all the while brewing tea.

I find it odd that in tea stores in Canada - they don't want to talk
to you. Their sales people! But they never talk. They just say: "This
tea is good. This tea is good."
If a store actually wants you to sample, (because each person's
preferences are different - and you have to cater to those), then
there should be no problem sampling this and that tea, and, during the
course of sampling, the sales staff should try to explain various
things, and sell you tea.

Once or twice a year I visit Seattle for several days, and when I do,
I make it a point to visit three tea vendors: Seattle Best, Typhoon
Thai Restaurant, and The Floating Leaf. They have remarkably
different approaches.

At Seattle Best, if I sit down to drink tea, I will listen to a
powerful and protracted sales presentation, the goal of which is to
have me pay a premium price for Taiwanese high mountain oolong.
Usually...

On Jul 20, 8:54 am, joann...@gmail.com wrote:

I have been to several tea venues in New York, and they are all less
than satisfactory~
Franchia was a total letdown, I went there 3 times and they couldn't
brew a green tea right; T Salon & T Emporium...