Ching Ching Teahouse

So today I paid a visit to a local teashop in the DC area, located a little off of Wisconsin and M, called Ching Ching Teahouse. They're apparently been in business for over 10 years when I talked to the man anger, and they come from Hong Kong.

The store from the outside

In addition to being a teahouse they are also a teastore, carrying an impressive array of goods. They carried yixing teapots, testubin, tokoname, gaiwan, teacups, porcelain teapots, and tea tins. Oh yes, and there was tea. It was a modest selections of various green, oolong, black, tisanes, and flavored teas. It's not as impressive as teashops I've seen in Taiwan, but it beats the supermarket shelf of bagged lipton. I ended up buying a few tea bins, a gaiwan, and a yixing teapot.
The staff seemed pretty knowledgeable about their wares, and since they've been around for a while I expected them to. I was most pleased, however, by the actual teahouse. Instead of serving the tea for you, they provide you with a teapot with the leaves inside, and you do the work yourself! They use a gaiwan for their green teas, and yixing teapots for their oolong and pu'ers. I'm not sure what they use for the rest, because I couldn't see.

Gentleman in the background was drinking a pu'er. Even though we didn't talk I felt a silent camaraderie with him as a fellow tea drinker. Well, the kettle was interesting, because it was a black clay kettle that was kept at a constant boil with a little fire going on inside. Even though this keeps the water piping hot, I'm a little worried by how this might affect the actual brewing process for green teas, which might be bitter after such high temperatures. Nevertheless, I was proud to say "yes" when the waitress asked if I knew how to brew tea this way.

I had a Oriental Beauty, and I was too busy looking around this place and having some mooncake to write tasting notes for it. I was very surprised by the tea's "sweet aroma." I will have to buy some Oriental Beauty later.

The mooncake was delicious, albeit small and expensive (five dollars!)

This is a photo of the teawares they have to offer. The prices seemed to range from relatively cheap to pretty expensive. The cheapest thing I saw was a $20 yixing teapot, and the most expensive was a $200 yixing teapot. I was fascinated by their dazzling array of matcha bowls, which almost inspired me to take up drinking matcha. I will do so, but at a later time when I have the space to collect teaware. They also had a nice selection of various English textbooks on tea, and an odd collection of cute chopsticks for some reason. I was in love with this shop, but one thing did make me cringe though, which as the presence of a mesh tea ball for brewing. Gag me with a spoon!

My new friend

So here is the damage done to my wallet. Included is my fixed yixing teapot on the very left, which I repaired using epoxy from Home Depot. I haven't used it yet but it's holding up well. I bought the other teapot on a whim, so I don't know what I'm going to use it with yet (suggestions people!). But nevertheless, I can't use it because I don't have the equipment to season it properly. So for now it's a ornamental piece.