tea bone zen mind

it is incredibly difficult to find a place with enough panache for a spot of afternoon tea in singapore, and not having to break an arm or leg to afford it. there are of course the chinese tea-houses that dot chinatown, and the restaurants in various hotels that offer high-teas (which incidentally should be correctly termed low-teas; high-teas were historically for the working, and not the aristocratic class), though i always find them somewhat lacking in personality. and let's not even stop at the starbucks-coffeebean chains okay?

thus, thank goodness for umami's posts on tea bone zen mind, which led the-one-formerly-known-as-j and i to explore this little gem of a place along seah street; we surely would not have given the place a second thought, if only based on the (ahem) rather interesting name =p. together with d, who arrived after the both of us, we had tea before meeting another two of our friends for dinner that night.

the dining space of tea bone zen mind was at once sophisticated and whimsical; located on the second level of a typical singapore shophouse, it was naturally imbued with a sense of nostalgia, effectively juxtaposed by the moddish furniture which provided splashes of reds, creams and browns. lace curtains covered the french windows, which allowed muted streams of light into the room, warming the stained wood floorboards; on them floated leaves, delicately dropped from a tree, which stood serenely in a large cement pot in the middle of the entire space.

the lady owner and her helper were extremely friendly; profusely apologising for the state of "mess" the place was in (apparently they just hosted a japanese tai-tai tea session), and generally making sure that we were comfortably seated. while looking at the menu, small cups of water, with the barest hint of lemon, were served up in most exquisite blue crystal glasses - things were definitely looking up. i finally decided on the matcha, which came with seasonal japanese sweets. in fact, all the teas came with some sort of sweet or snack to complement them.



the sweets that came were a green-bean daifuku from minamoto-kitchoan, and crystal "jellies" from shira-ya. the latter were brought back all the way from kyoto, from the owner's last visit there. the daifuku was not too bad; the crystal jellies excellent - shaped and sized like sugar cubes, they had smooth, matt and hard surfaces, and gelatinous insides (in the crunchy agar-agar way, not the soft turtle-jelly way). the owner was consciencious in mentioning that one should eat the sweets before drinking the matcha, all the time not sounding condescending. extra points!

the matcha was lovely indeed; the whipped frothiness providing "texture" to the tea, and the bitterness of the matcha was slightly alleviated by the sweets eaten earlier. definitely no less than the teas served during traditional tea ceremonies, plus i don't have to contort my legs into a most unbearable position.

unlike myself, both the-one-formerly-known-as-j and d chose to drink different teas - 八宝茶 and bancha respectively; and herein lay a problem: their teas allowed for lingering sips, whereas the matcha practically demanded for a quick finish - which might have resulted in me having to wait without a drink while the two of them slowly drank their teas. however, this was not the case, for the ever-thoughtful owner provided an after-tea drink - salted water with sakura petals (and perhaps a hint of plum - i'm rather hazy on this point) to tide over the wait. best of all, the water complemented the tea very well, the slight saltiness and flowery fragrance an effective counterpoint to the bitter tea. definitely better than if normal water was served, for the sharp taste of tap, or even mineral water would have smothered the lingering sensations of the matcha.

total happiness in a quiant package - now how many places in singapore can boast of this? tea bone zen mind's a definite keeper.