If you like Chinese tea, you won’t regret paying a visit to Tea Researcher near a lot of Beijing hotels. The shop offers many types of tea, from various tea planting regions in Asia, and also from Europe and Africa.

Until then this tea shop has opened less than a dozen branches in Beijing.

I was at first attracted by a tea gift box composed of two packages of Dahongpao (大红袍).

Dahongpao is one of the rare and excellent Wulong teas (often spelled Oolong) and its price is pretty expensive.

According to the tea shop assistant (who could speak a little English), the variety of Dahongpao carried by the shop is of a high quality. Its prices range from RMB 65 per 15g to RMB 238 per 60g.

Tea Researcher packages their teas in different hues: the green tag denotes Chinese tea, the purple one is reserved for Japanese and Korean teas.

European and African teas are packaged in blue and brown boxes respectively.

The shop assistant recommended both Dahongpao and Dongding Wulong, a tea harvested and fermented in Taiwan.

The taste of Wulong tea is even more magnificent when you infuse it in a Zisha teapot (Zisha a special mineral deposit which is ground to make a paste with which skilled craftsmen make very exclusive teapots).

She also told me Mocha (抹茶) imported from Japan would benefit a girl’s skin. Sencha (煎茶), another popular tea from Japan, has a little sweet and freshly green taste.

Prices range from RMB 50 per 15g up to RMB 300 per 60g. More expensive gift boxes were priced at over RMB 500. No bargaining.