I took the Tea Tasting Workshop at MingCha in mid-May (2016) and had a superb experience. I signed…read moreup for the workshop prior to going to HK, but found out later that another expensive and already-paid-for day-long tour to mainland China I'd signed up for had rescheduled the tour to the same day as the tea workshop. I emailed Tomoko to see if I could move to a different tea workshop, and she was very kind and accommodating. In fact, she did a workshop for me and another couple at a time that she usually doesn't do workshops, which I was grateful for. I'd read about the workshop and the rave reviews did not let me down. Tomoko is very, very knowledgeable and enthusiastic about tea, and I learned a lot. We got to try 5 different types of tea, and each tea had three steepings, for a total of 15 tastings. She used several different types of tea sets (pots and cups), which was really neat. She taught us the rituals of making and serving tea, way beyond the boil-water-and-add-tea method. The teas were wonderful, and I learned soooo much about how tea leaves are processed in different ways for the different teas. Now, know that the shop is hard to find, but if you exit the MTR at the right exit (Taikoo station, exit A1), it is literally right across the street, in between a Mercedes Benz shop and a furniture store. When you exit from A1, cross the street. It's hard to see the sign for the Wah Ha Factory Building from that vantage point, but trust me, it is there between those two businesses. Others have provided pictures, which helped me, because the shop is located in an improbable location, and you may be concerned that you've gone to the wrong place. When you exit the elevator on the 12th floor in the factory, the shop is the door on the right. If you're thinking about doing this workshop, go for it! It is really a neat experience.
