New Century Tea Gallery in Seattle: More Than Just a Chinese Tea Shop

In the International District in Seattle, the New Century Tea Gallery is the epitome of an exquisite hole-in-the-wall tea shop. I was in Chinatown with my friends and one of them had to use the restroom. As we wander into the New Century Tea Gallery, we are instantly impressed by the quality of the decorations, furniture, supplies, and the varieties of tea. Grace Li allowed my friend to use the restroom, which was very kind.

While we waited for our friend, we browsed the selection in the shop. Chinese tea and art pieces lined the walls of the gallery. The tea sets were beautiful and ranged from simple to intricate. Some of the art should be in an art or historical gallery. The tea came in loose, caked, and wrapped in cloth. There was white, green, oolong, Pu Er, jasmine, flower, herbal, and black tea. As we wandered to the back of the gallery, we noticed four sitting areas with low tables, and stumps for chairs, all beautifully finished.

Meet Grace Li

Grace Li, originally from China, is the owner and operator of the New Century Tea Gallery; works 7 days a week, from 10:30-6:30. She speaks English and Cantonese and enjoys living and working in Seattle. She does miss her family who are still living in China. Grace Li showed us the best hospitality I've seen in a long while. She allowed the use of her private restroom, and made us feel welcome at New Century Tea. My friend asked if she served tea at the gallery. She affirmed this and had us sit down at one of the tables. She was instantly ready to share her tea and culture with us.

Authentic Tea Experience

When we sat down, Grace Li began by asking what type of tea we liked. One friend said white tea. The tea gallery had two types of white tea and we settled on the silver needle. Grace Li took the tea and went to the table we were seated at. She began by going through the ritual of re-cleaning all the cups and putting out beautiful wood trays for our small cups to be placed on. She then put the tea in the small bowl and added the boiling water. The first of it was poured on the Happy Buddha. She then put more boiling water in the bowl and then filled each of our cups with the white tea. When we had finished our cups she refilled them. We had four cups of white tea before she asked the next person at the table what her favorite type of tea was.

The whole process continued for each of us. We tried black Pu Er that had been aged eight years and tried green Pu Er that had aged twelve years. We learned how to make tea in a traditional way, how to break tea off of a cake, and that Pu Er tea is so strong that it can be re-used.

As the authentic tea experience came to a close, we asked how much we owed her for the experience. She replied that it was free and we were shocked. We had commandeered at least twenty minutes of her time and enough tea to fill our bellies but we were not being charged a penny for it. It was simply a free tasting so that customers could know what they liked and experience a small piece of China in the process.

Chinese Tea and Other Products

Tea can be purchased from the New Century Tea Gallery Web site. You can order samples or in quarter pound increments. Forty of the store's tea varieties including white, green, oolong, Pu Er, jasmine, flower, herbal, and black tea are available online. If you don't know much about Chinese tea, I would recommend going in to talk about teas with Grace Li. In addition to the free tasting, you will also be able to talk about what you like in tea and get some recommendations. All other products described here can be purchased at the store. Even the table settings are also for sale.