In terms of pure aesthetics, there is probably no tea house in
Singapore that can surpass Tea Chapter (茶淵). The tea house is
beautifully laid out over three floors and you fall in love at first glance.
The pricing is unusual. They charge you "rent" depending on where yousit. In the "Korean" style area, the charge is $5 per hour. The
so-called "Japanese" style seats are free of charge. You can sit at
the same table at which Queen Elizabeth II sat when she visited
Singapore and that will cost you SGD10 per hour (used to be SGD50).
The cost per post of tea is on the high side (SGD10 to 20). We tried
a cuigu youlan ç¿ è°·å¹½å…° (a rather poetic name that means "Hidden
orchid in a jade valley") which had a distinct orchid fragrance, but
an insurmountable bitterness that lingered in the mouth. They serve a
delightful snack, 神é¾�戲ç� , which are glutinous rice balls covered with
peanuts and green tea powder.
Although the standard of the decor and of the porcelain is very high,
I have always been disappointed with the quality of the tea sold by
Chayuan. I have not tried anything at Chayuan that I would rank above
mediocre. For the price that you pay for tea leaves (upwards of SGD40
per 100g), the teas on offer are startlingly bad. The majority seem
to have been kept well past their sell-by date and some are completely
flavour-free. The only teas worth buying here are precisely those
teas that benefit from being left around (Wuyi teas for example).
There is a cute little conceit that is worth mentioning: the ladies toilet is called �雨軒 ("Listening to the sound of falling rain"), while the men's toilets are called 觀瀑室 ("Viewing the waterfall"). The signs are not translated into English, so you have to read the Chinese to get the joke. Sadly, the sign for the men's toilets have been taken down since. It is still worth a laugh.Tea Chapter seem to have got everything right except the single most
important thing: the tea. it is difficult to understand how people
who apparently are quite knowledgeable about tea (they say all the
right things and give the right answers) can get it so wrong.
Tea Chapter 茶淵
9 & 11 Neil Road
Singapore 088808
Open 11 to 11 everyday
Tel: +65 6226 1175
e-mail: [email protected]
website: www.tea-chapter.com.sg (not as frequently updated as it should be)