Please enjoy a few articles about Imperial Tea Court and founders, Roy and Grace Fong
Roy Fong and the quest for a California tea farm
By Carolyn JungDecember 8, 2016 Updated: December 8, 2016 12:00pm
Embarcadero, Financial District
The founder of Imperial Tea Court, the venerated Chinese teahouse in San Francisco's Ferry Building and Berkeley's Gourmet Ghetto, Fong is on a remarkable journey to create what he hopes will one day be the highest-production tea farm in the United States.
4th Annual SF International Tea Festival Coming Sunday
8:25am
Embarcadero, Financial District
Try hundreds of teas and learn directly from producers at the festival, which runs 10am–5pm Sunday at the Ferry Building.
Read the full story…
"Great Teas Of China" by Roy Fong at the S.F. Commonwealth Club
March 11, 2013
View page and listen to the entire one-hour recording
http://www.commonwealthclub.org/node/65282
Excerpt from South China Morning Post
Written by Wanda Hennig
Published: SATURDAY, APRIL 21, 2007
For the past 13 years, Hong Kong born Roy Fong has been brewing up a quiet storm – literally in a teacup. Driven by a thirst to share China’s premium teas and the culture and traditions they represent with people in his adoptive country, Mr. Fong got on a wave that has grown into what one might call a US tea-drinking tsunami. Ten years ago there were 200 tea shops across the US. Mr Fong’s Imperial Tea Court in San Francisco’s Chinatown, then three years old, was one of them. Now, according to the Tea Association of the United States, there are 2,200 speciality tea rooms and retail shops in big cities and small towns across America.
Excerpt from Sunset Magazine
Imperial Tea Court
San Francisco Bay Area
The
first traditional Chinese teahouse in the United States, this San
Francisco classic was founded by Roy Fong, a Taoist
priest and Hong Kong native who
sources only the best Chinese teas. Although the original Chinatown
location closed, the popularity
of the current locations signals
that teas have reached connoisseurs outside of the Asian community. $$;
imperialtea.com, 415/544-9830 (San Francisco) or 510/540-8888 (Berkeley).
Excerpt from Fresh Cup Magazine - April 2008
San Francisco: Gateway to Tea
Story and photography by Bruce Richardson
Pilgrim after pilgrim made their way down the steep slopes of Powell
Street to sit in an authentic red and black lacquered Chinese made tea
house and drink tea with Roy while being serenaded by finches perched in
a half dozen cages hanging from the ceiling. The marble floor, wooden
walls, paneled ceiling, handmade furnishings, and the owner were all
imported from China
.
Excerpt from Tea Trends, Online Tea Industry Website
September 2005
Roy Fong, Imperial Tea Court
Your first teahouse has recently celebrated its twelfth anniversary.
Has the popularity of tea in this country matched your original
expectation, or have there been surprised along the way?
The growth of tea and our business has certainly exceeded my expectation
since I didn't really know what to expect 12 years ago. It has been a
wonderful twelve years (actually thirteen since it took one year to open
the store).
You now have a second location in the Ferry Building. What changes in
format have you made based on your experience with the first?
We try to offer a pure tea experience in our original store and after 12
years, we are somewhat successful. The second location offers more
traditional food items to be served along with tea to ease the initial
"shock" for new comers to tea since food are easier to understand, and
to Chinese, food and tea are both art forms to be presented. We are in
the process of opening a third location in Berkeley, CA, which will
explore even further the idea of food and tea presentations.
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