Teaopia

The Chai Lattes are very yummy here. Today’s chai was no exception. I did find it very frustrating, though, that the staff barely acknowledged any customers. They were yelling at each other loudly about personal matters the entire time I was in the store. While I am fine with people working talking to each other, it should not preclude them from talking to customers and it should not be at a volume or in such a way to make the customer feel they were intruding. That is how today felt.
Had the line had 12 fewer people in it at Starbucks, I would have gone there.

I purchased a 50g sampler of their Dragonwell. It works out to $ 136.20 per pound. To be totally blunt, this tea simply isn’t worth it. For $ 60.00 per pound you can get far superior Dragonwell at Ten Rens at Pacific Place and for $ 75.00 per pound at the Tea Trader in Inglewood. To give the readers a comparison, the finest quality Dragonwell available in Canada (1^st Flush 2010 Spring Harvest) sells at Ten Rens for $ 150.00 per pound and it literally blows this fair to average grade Teaopia tea right out the water (no puns intended). It will knock your socks off. Spend the extra $ 15.00; you will not regret it.
Teaopia’s quality is worth no more than $ 30.00 to $ 40.00 per pound. It is full of broken leaf (absolutely forbidden in top Chinese run teashops for that high of price) and its taste is rustic at best and slightly bitter. Good Dragonwell should be smooth, sweet and have a hint of aspargus and chesnut in the flavour profie. Their tea has none of this. The Oolong (Ti Guan Yin) they sell for about $ 140.00 per pound is also overpriced. One can buy, at Ten Rens, tea of equivalent quality for about $ 60.00 or less per pound. For about $ 140.00 per pound, Ten Rens will sell you among the finest Oolong available anywhere, far superior to the Teaopia product.
Follow the brewing instructions that Teopia has on their website and you will drink a thin lacklustre tea. They recommend 1 teaspoon of oolong or Dragon Well for 8 oz of water brewed for 3 to 5 minutes. The Chinese experts recommend 2 teaspoons of Oolong for each 150 ml at 95 degrees for 2 minutes. That is 320 percent more tea that Teopia. If you really want to enjoy using traditional Chinese method (gongfu), a 240 ml (8oz) teapot should contain 80 ml of tea leaf, about 6 tablespoons, and be brewed for roughly 10 seconds at a time. You will get 10 infusions, as long as the oolong is top quality, and the essence of what the tea is all about will shine through. One teaspoon for an 8 oz vessel, not if you actually want to enjoy your tea.
If you want truly top quality tea you will not find it here. However, it still better than anything you will buy at the supermarket by a long shot.

I’ve come here on two separate occasions and both times I’ve walked out without being able to make a purchase. The first time it was taking the single staff member so long to help the customers ahead of me that I just couldn’t stand waiting any longer, I went down the mall and got a tea from Starbucks. The second time was a similar state. The staff just can’t seem to keep up.
I’m not sure if the problem is that they are located in Chinook which is a crazy mall to begin with or if it that the staff is incompetent. I’ve been to a handful of other Teaopia locations ad always had a great experience.