Le Palais des Thes, Beverly Hills

I'm having some computer-camera problems, but I thought my trip to The Tea Palace was worth a post even without photos.

I never noticed this shop until a few weeks ago, and I've been hankering to get inside ever since. It's a lovely store, with hundreds of teas available. The best part about the store is that you can open whatever canister you want to smell it, and they always have two teas brewed for free tasting. The saleswoman I talked to was very helpful, patient, and even said she had a lot of fun answering all my questions and walking me through a dozen or more teas. I ended up with the The du Hamman, which is a green tea blended with fruits and flowers. It smells incredible, and she said it's one of their consistent top two sellers. I also picked up a mint rooibos, which is caffeine free and soothing for after dinner. She also gave me a sample bag of the The de Moinse, another top seller that is her personal favorite and more of a straight up tea lovers' tea.

A few other interesting teas I smelled included the blueberry and tropical fruit. So far I like everything I bought, but still hold Taiwanese high mountain oolong up as the gold standard of teas.