FLOATING MOUNTAIN Tea House |2nd FLOOR| — Restaurant in New York

UPDATE 1/6/2025: Still amazing! I saved this teahouse as my last stop in my tea tour of NYC, closing the loop as it was my first traditional gongfu teahouse and really catapulted me into new heights of my tea journey. Tbh I was nervous that the magic would be gone, but FMTH still has it! After discussion with Vivan, who was manning the store, we both decided to sip a Qi Lan Wuyi oolong. I enjoyed the dynamic weave of apple, raisins, honey, and floral notes over 10 steeps and the pine feeling it left in my mouth. While I sipped the first few brews over some of the tea books available for perusal in the shop, I began to chat with Vivian about different teas and tea places. She told me about a specially crafted tea that combined all 5 types of tea and discussed the impact of water quality on tea. I especially enjoyed an anecdote about water in Zurich. I left with lots of loose leaf tea to bring home (luckily there was a nice discount), and I hope I can visit again soon!

UPDATE 11/25/2022: I took my parents here, and my mom went in saying she would only drink a few sips of tea, stay maximum an hour, and then walk around waiting for me to finish up. To my utter delight and vindication, we stayed for more than an hour and a half, she drank ~7-8 infusions of Da Wu Ye Dan Cong oolong tea, and she absolutely understands my obsession and wants to buy a gaiwan and a smaller clay pot for gong fu style brewing.

Tasting notes: beautiful floral bouquet upon second infusion, an additional refreshing almost pine-like late mouthfeel around the fourth or fifth infusion, and a warmer nutty or toasty head around the 7th infusion.

3/16/2022: When you say "this is my last cup"... three cups ago.

Enjoyed a gorgeous Xiao Chi Gan tea, prepared gongfu style. I lost count after the tenth brew, but each brew just developed the flavor on my tongue more and more to the point where I found it hard to leave. Spent 2 hours here- way longer than I meant to. I'm by no means an expert, and I can only afford this as a luxurious treat once in a while, but I thoroughly loved my experience.

Plus I got a complimentary cup of puerh which was such a great complement to my red tea. The juxtaposition was amazing, the notes hitting my mouth in different places. It continually blows my mind that all these teas come from the same Camellia...

TLDR: AVOID. I wanted to love this beautiful looking space but unfortunately it was tainted by the rudeness of Elina, the woman leading our tea ceremony. DONT waste your time at the tea ceremony.

An honest review of our tea ceremony - my two friends and I were excited for our first exposure to a tea ceremony at this cute space. We had no pre -knowledge of what this would be but were up for the adventure. As we sat down, our group eagerly awaited an explanation. She whisper a couple rules about the ceremony. At which point, a friend of mine stated she couldnt hear Elina's soft voice with the music, due to hearing loss. Elina told her to "chill out and relax" and that she couldn't speak louder and it didn't matter if she could hear. YIKES. She gave zero explanation about the ceremony and just told us to be silent. Afterwards, we asked for some explanation. She then asked, "Do we study tea? Have we done a tea ceremony before?", we responded "No, we hadn't." Her response - "I can tell."

Incredibly condescending tone. She then proceeded to tell us she can't teach us and we have choatic energy. I really wanted to love this place (it's very cute!) but I've really never had someone treat customers like this. Two stars for the pretty looking space that could benefit from a kind teacher that treats...

The shop was quiet and serene when we came in. Within 15 minutes, though, three other groups arrived and began talking LOUDLY. There was no attempt made to restore the atmosphere, and we had to just sit and endure the cacophony (about tech jobs, college classes, gossip – the usual nyc fare among our zillennial age group) for the rest of our time there. The tea shop is not designed for loud conversations, so the sound reverberated and became even louder. The two of us paid $50+ for the tea (good tea, but still just tea), and the atmosphere of any basic Manhattan coffee shop. We had been looking forward to the relaxed vibes FMTH used to have (I came once before pre-COVID, and it was lovely and quiet), but it seems to have been ruined by its clientele. At these prices you’re paying for the experience, and we unfortunately left feeling like we had not gotten what we paid for.

Edit to respond to the shop’s response: We went on a weekday early afternoon, which is supposedly a quiet time. If our experience was “quiet”, I’m horrified to think of what a busy day...