Ho Chi Minh - Di Phat Teashop

 I am in Ho Chi Minh, Vietnam this week.  I looked up the internet hoping to find a Chinese tea shop. My search yielded this shop, Di Phat teashop.  The images suggested that this tea shop looked very old and I decide to make my way to the tea shop. 

The shop is located at 122, Phu Tho, Phuong 1. Quan 11 HO Chi Minh.  This shop has been in business for almost 70 years. The shop had that old antique shop feel, like it was frozen in time.  I really enjoyed my visit there. I actually visited this shop twice while I was in Vietnam. 

The proprietor, Mr Kuek came from Chaozhou China. His family produced dan chong tea under the Wu Tong brand.  Mr Kuek was patient and allowed me to sample his tea. 

I found Wu Dong tea to be good. Their higher grade tea which were named 8 fairies and narcissus was good. There was no bitterness and the tea had a long aromatic mouthfeel.  I will write more on the tea in my later post.

I would strongly recommend a visit to this very old tea shop and sample their tea.  A must visit for a Chinese tea drinker. 

Pek Sin Choon Theet Lo Han

 

It's already 2026 and I got myself a tin of Theet Lo Han.  The tin has 50 hand wrapped paper packets of tea.   Theet Lo Han is how you pronounced this tea in Fujian dialect while Tie Lo Han is the mandarin pronunciation.  Kenny the CEO of Pek Sin Choon was at the shop and he treated me to a hot bowl of Chinese dessert as well as a session of tea. 

I happened to have a few packets of Theet Lo Han that I had kept for more than 10 years and proceeded to have a tea session at home. 

This is not a top shelf tea. I considered that this tea would be a mid range grade. In Singapore this tea is normally drank in restaurants or shops that serve pork ribs tea (a popular Chinese meal eaten with a bowl of rice). 

The older packet which I brewed has some aged taste. Overall this is an inexpensive tea and I would recommend this tea for its traditional packing...... and it's a tea from a Singapore teashop as well. 

2007 Xiaguan Jinsi Tuo Gold Ribbon

Readers would know that I am a big fan of Xiaguan pu erh tea.  My collection of Xiaguan tea are mainly from the years 2003-2009.  It is a fairly large collection of Xiaguan as I tend to buy them in bulk more than 12 years ago. 

Xiaguan pu erh tea is not expensive. With time in storage, the tea produced an aroma and taste that I considered high quality compared to other pu erh brands of the same age.  I particularly enjoy the smoky offerings by Xiaguan.  Some of these tea age to a camphor like aroma finish which I enjoyed tremendously. 

I am also intrigued by the various traditional compressed pu erh tea shapes from Xiaguan; from the iron cakes, nest tuos, melon and mushroom shaped tea. 

I just opened a 2007 gold ribbon tuo. This tea is not smoky but it has nice honey and floral notes in the tea. A sweet aftertaste. The 19 year old tea now brews to a dark amber colour.  I call this tea the 'honey tuo'.  I recommend.