Gong Fu Tea

In search of the perfect Christmas gift for my two girlfriends Sherry and Emi of Knittripps I finally made my way to the East Village. For those who have not heard of the East Village it is an area of downtown Des Moines that has been renovated. Instead of dingy old abandoned buildings there are wonderful eclectic little boutiques and shops. As much as I would have loved to have wandered all over this new neighborhood I had a specific shop in mind for this trip. For my two tea-loving friends I decided to check out the selection at Gong Fu Tea. I'm awestruck by what I found.



Upon walking into the store I immediately knew this was going to a store I would be frequenting often. I was charmed at seeing all the shelves of teapots lining one of wall of the shop, their collections of teapots are designs from around the world that range from normal to whimsical. I probably could have spent hours looking at these pots. As the gentlemen behind the counter were busy with other customers I meandered into the rear of the store and found some delightful candles, soaps, cups, and tea-related gadgets.



After snagging two candles for some other people on my list, I made my way up to the counter and just stood in awe of the selection available. Canister upon canister lined ths shelves behind the counter filled with loose leaf tea from around the world. Did you know there is a tea from Africa? I didn’t. While I don’t claim to be a tea connoisseur I have grown up drinking teas and have been exposed to many different Chinese and Japanese teas, just don’t ask me to name them. So with the help of the ever so charming and knowledgeable gentleman behind the counter I was able to pick out somes teas as gifts and for myself. As a slight test and a bit of curiosity I quizzed the gentleman, who I believe is part owner of the store, as to the various teas he carried. Here are some of the teas I found out they carry:

Earl Grey
English Breakfast
Chamomile
High quality jasmine
Oolong
Green teas
Black teas
Chrysanthemum teas - these are cool they come in tight bud that will blossom in your tea cup.
White tea- tea that has not be oxidized at all.
Dragon pearl tea - if I remember right this type of tea is very high grade serve to royalty type teas

I asked about the last three types of tea just to see if he knew about them. These last three are high quality teas that I’m told you have to go to tea stores in Los Angeles, New York, or San Francisco for. I would never have thought I’d find them in a locally owned little tea store in Des Moines, Ia. [Insert picture of me dancing with glee here.]

Luckily, for my girlfriends’ or for me I’m not sure yet, I was on a mission to purchase gifts. So I managed to curb my desire of buying every tea in the store and only walked out with three teas for myself and two gift containers of four different teas and tea brewing pots for my girlfriends. If you, my wonderful readers, are lucky I might be able to talk Emi into taking a picture of her gift for you all.

Sorry for the length of this post, but I just had to tell you about the Gong Fu Tea store. I’m in love with this store and will probably wax poetically about it for ages. If you’re in Des Moines and like tea you MUST!!! go there. Even if you don’t like tea GO THERE! If you do, you may just find me ensconced in the corner with a good book or some knitting as I plan to be there quite often. If you really can't make it (and there better be a good reason as to why) to the Gong Fu Tea store click on the name above and it will take you to their website.

Enjoy!