I’ve been to quite a few Chinatowns across the country, but my favorite definitely has to be the one in San Francisco. I love its vibrant shops that sell so many wonderful types of food, clothing and handiwork.  To me, the crafts there are of better quality than the ones I’ve even seen in Hong Kong.

This time, Robert and I had the chance to go to a tea tasting.  Our host sat us down at a long wooden counter and first taught us the proper way of preparing the tea. He told us to first quickly rinse the tea leaves with hot water and then steep them for only 10 to 20 seconds. He felt that, in our country, we normally steep the leaves far too long, diminishing the benefits of the tea.

We were then treated to a small tasting of at least 11 varieties of teas and infusions. For each tasting, we learned about the origin, taste and potential medicinal benefits of the drink. The teas included pruerh, an aged black tea that’s supposed to be good for the digestive system, and an oolong that had a milky taste to it.

Drinks that consist of such ingredients as roses and baby chrysamthemuns are not teas, but are, instead, infusions. I drank a rose infusion that tasted wonderful.

That same night, we walked into a fortune cookie factory that was in the process of closing for the day. It was explained that the batter is put in the disc shaped recesses located on the machine. Once it was cooked enough, the disc shaped wafer was removed and formed around a pipe to make the traditional fortune cookie.