Tea Shop - Trailhead Tea

I've mentioned before that the tea scene in the greater Phoenix area is a little bit scarce.  As such, when an opportunity presents itself to get out of the city I immediately hunt down any tea shops in the area.

Sedona, Arizona is located about 2 hours north and slightly east of Phoenix.  It's a thriving tourist town that draws hiking and new age enthusiasts alike.  It's home to some famous red sandstone formations like: Slide Rock, Chapel of the Holy Cross, and Cathedral Rock.  It's also renowned for it's mysterious energy votices, that can be found in various places around the town like behind the airport (sound like Welcome to Nightvale to anyone else?).

Chapel of the Holy Cross

Source: Wikipedia

Cathedral Rock

Source: Wikipedia

I was lured up there to visit the tea shop attend a very dear friend's wedding.  The wedding started at 9:26am and since it's a 2 hour drive I chose the safe route and stayed up there Friday night.  My first stop when I arrived was Trailhead Tea.

Located right off the SR179, Trailhead Tea is situated in a big, multilevel shopping plaza.  Parking was a slight hassle but well worth it in the end.  When you walk in you're greeted with a wall of tea in front of you, lots of teaware to the right, and a long inviting bar to the left.  The teaware drew me first, it's hard to find non-Teavana teaware in Phoenix.  They had SO much cool stuff.  I think I squealed when I saw Yixing pots and gongfu sets of various sizes.

When I finally ambled over to the bar I saw that they do tastings!  3 cups of tea; premiums teas $15, and reagular teas $10.  YAY!  After much deliberation I went with a Huo Shan yellow bud, black dragon pearls, and a 2012 DaDuGang Sheng Pu'er.

By this point I'd discovered that the two people in the shop were in fact the owners, Eileen and Dan.  They were amazingly friendly and very knowledgable, especially about where their specific teas come from.  They steeped my teas twice each (THANKS!) and helped me out when I struggled with my tasting words.

I think I was in their store for at least 2 hours and they didn't bat an eye or get impatient once.  It was an absolutely amazing experience.

As for my tea flight: I ened up buying the Huo Shan because it was an interesting mix of white and green qualities.  The black dragon pearls were very strong and bold and would probably convince my coffee-drinking mom to switch to tea.  The DaDuGang was smooth and had the perfect amount of earthy.  I ended up going home with some of that also, along with....*drumroll* my very first Yixing pot!!!!  (Sterilizing, seasoning, and brewing posts to follow).

I stopped in the next day, to get a quick iced tea for the road, decided on white grape, and it too was awesome.  Light and fruity and perfect for a trek in the desert.  If you're a traveler in the area, or a Phoenix local willing to make a (beautiful) drive, Trailhead Tea is definitely worth a visit!