Song Tea & Ceramics

by

Editorial Policy

Published on

Last updated on

[P]eter Luong is not interested in what he calls “safe” tea. On his trips twice a year to China and Taiwan, he doesn’t look for teas that will appeal to more people, or even teas that are consistent from year to year. He looks for quality—his company, Song Tea & Ceramics, is known for very high quality tea. But he also looks for the unusual, teas that present a challenge to the customers that find their way to his calm, quiet storefront in San Francisco. If you manage to find yourself in Song’s tea studio via word-of-mouth, or after discovering the teas in one of the many West Coast cafés that brew them, the flavors you’ll find are guaranteed to take your perceptions of tea and upend them. Yet, elegantly so.

Peter Luong, owner of Song Tea & Ceramics. (Photos: Jessica Copi.)
Peter Luong, owner of Song Tea & Ceramics. (Photos: Jessica Copi.)

In the Pacific Heights shop, where Peter and a small staff host curious customers for ceremonial steepings and package all of the company’s wholesale teas, it’s easy to get blissfully lost in what feels like a gallery of carefully curated treasures from a world away. Wood-fired ceramics, hand-thrown stoneware, and warm-toned clay pots from artists in China, Taiwan, and the US look like museum pieces, though they are crafted to be quite the opposite. Heavy ceramic canisters of tea with pastel labels line a shelf along one wall. A sturdy blond table seats a modest number of guests. Large sidewalk windows invite fog-filtered light to reflect off the shop’s clean, white walls.

SeatingArea

Yixings

Cansiters

“It’s all about the tea,” says Peter, whose initiatory tea experiences date back to his parents’ tea company in the city’s historic Chinatown. Song’s neutral décor is as intentional as Peter’s careful sourcing. The shop is a blank canvas, free of distractions, in which sensory exploration can transpire. In one sense, the gentle music playing and the attention to calming details matches the mood of tea, because it soothes. But minimalist packaging and furniture are also meant to easily fade into the background, forgotten once water hits leaves.

Song carries about twenty-five teas at a time, and about thirty-percent of those are swapped each year. Exquisite oolongs carry flavor notes like aloeswood and maple candy, peach and wildflower honey, and actually stand up to those distinctions. Each tea has a unique story (detailed on Song’s website), like this year’s Dragonwell, made from a rare and experimental cultivar; sixty handpicked leaves make up a gram of the finished tea, which brews with notes of “watercress and toasted sunflower seed.” It seeks to reset expectations of what a Dragonwell, familiar to many, can be.

“Once I got into tea the more I enjoyed good quality tea,” says Peter, “and hoped other people would as well, at that level.”

For the price of a movie ticket, drinkers can visit Song, and that level—if only for the duration of a serene steeping.

Share This Article

Regan Crisp

Join 7,000+ coffee pros and get top stories, deals, and other industry goodies in your inbox each week.

This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged.


Other Articles You May Like

Should You Add a Food Program to Your Cafe?

Looking to add a food program to your cafe? Unfortunately, it’s not as easy as just choosing to stock everything bagels and butter croissants.
by Ashe Samuels | September 25, 2024

How Innovative Brands Are Making Allergy-Inclusive Coffee Menus Possible

As cafes cater to customers seeking sustainable products and creative drinks, how can they also bring coffee lovers with allergies into the loop?
by Chloé Skye Weiser | September 6, 2024

The Difference Between a Buzzing Cafe and a Noisy One Is Smaller Than You Think

A new study shows the razor-thin margins between decibel readings can impact how noisy a cafe feels—and how customers and workers are impacted by noise.
by Ashley Rodriguez | June 5, 2024

Five Places, Five Operating Hours

Are you an all-day cafe, or do you close shop right after the morning rush? Learn how coffee shops choose their ideal operating hours for profitability, safety, and customer experience.
by Haley Greene | December 20, 2023