Before the craziness of Coronavirus really started in the US I stumbled upon a new tea shop in DC called Valley Brook Tea. They recently opened in February in Dupont Circle. I was excited to see that they offered tea with gaiwan brewing!

This post is especially important now because they just opened last month and due to regulations have had to close, BUT you can purchase tea and teaware on their site!

Their ship is nestles into this really cute building. I really loved the way the shop was set up and decorated. It is a two level shop but I sat at the bottom. Look up and you get to see some gorgeous hanging decor. Look out and you see exactly where you are in DC. I love these windows.

You can opt to brew your tea yourself and I got this beautiful tray with gaiwan, pitcher and cup. The owner Yunhan is very knowledgeable and passionate about tea and you could learn a lot in just one visit!

I have been on a white tea kick so I tried a white tea and also one of their oolongs! Both were delicious, I especially loved the white tea.

Here are links to the teas I tried:

White Tea

Oolong

The shop has tea AND lots of teaware to choose from. I really love this because if you’re new to tea and say you try brewing with a gaiwan, you can purchase one to take home with you! Lots of cute tea pets too!

Of course I bought myself some tea cups, they were gorgeous. here is one!

Here is a photo of the owners! Yunhan (right) was kind enough to answer some questions for me. Check out his answers to learn more about Valley Brook Tea!

1) Why did you open Valley Brook Tea and how did you choose the location?

I love tea and tea business has always been a part of my family businesses. After living in the US for so many years, I feel that we have a lot great things to offer this fast-growing tea market. We like DC in general. For our tea store, we need a welcoming, international, well-educated and well-traveled community. Dupont Circle really offers everything we want.

2) Tell us a little about where your teas come from.

Our tea products are mainly made in Fujian, the birthplace of oolong tea, black tea, and white tea. Our oolong tea and black tea are made in Wuyishan (Wuyi Mountains). Our white tea products are made in Mount Taimu, Fuding.

3) How did you decide what teas to offer at Valley Brook?

When choosing our tea menu, we want to best present the history and background information of each tea category that we offer. When it comes to a specific tea product, our criteria are: how can this tea reflect the tea-making process? How famous is this tea? How different/similar is this tea to other tea products in the same category? How big and stable is the production of this tea? How familiar How well-know is this tea in the US, do we need to rename this tea in English?

4) What is your favorite tea that you offer?

My personal favorites are black tea Dragon Beard, oolong tea Rou Gui and Shui Xian, white tea Silver Needle.

5) What is your advice to new tea drinkers that come into Valley Brook?

Try the tea first, then decide if you want to add something.

6) Valley Brook just opened, what do you see in the future for your tea shop?

We’ll soon offer tea classes (the first one is on (March 19th). We hope we can become a true “tea place”, a place where people visit and enjoy when they think of “tea”.