Whole Foods Market

Every tea connoisseur is also a gourmet. One cannot appreciate tea without an appreciation of taste. In that vein, I am partially going to digress today to talk about a most marvelous place that provides many things other than tea.

Whole Foods.

Coming up, I actually have some recipes for cooking with tea that came from the Whole Foods Podcast, but today I am going to talk about the store itself, specifically the new store that just opened in Fairfax, Virginia, in the Fair Lakes Area.

Last night I visited for the first time, and on a Friday night, the "joint was hoppin'" A grocery store? Oh yes, but it's so much more. Any conceivable ingredient can be found for one thing, including ostrich and emu eggs, at $20 an egg, to goji berries in several forms. I have to admit, I had never even heard of goji berries until last night. But gourmet food items aren't the only thing that makes it special: there are five sit-down eateries, each with a different theme: seafood, barbeque, cheese, japanese, and a wine-tasting room with eighty wines on tap. We chose to do progressive meal, starting with fresh Chincoteague oysters at the seafood bar, served with the usual cocktail sauce but also with a red onion-vinegar that was divine. The wine recommended for oysters (yes wine in a grocery store) was a muscadet that was very light, and very nice with the oysters. The next step was the cheese bar, where we shared a bowl of tomato bisque and a baked gouda sandwich. The tomato bisque was unusual and delectable in its sweetness, but the sandwich was divine. In addition to the gouda, there were slices of apple and gruyere cheese. It was served on sourdough bread, grilled and melted to perfection. There are several cheese plates available that are also served for wine tastings in the upstairs wine room, and we chose the French Flight, which featured a double cream brie (our favorite), a goat's milk cheese (chevre), and a delightful dab of jam, along with walnut pecan raisin bread. Delicious!

Distracted as we were by the actual wares of the grocery store, we were there for two and a half hours before we realized it, and our progressive dinner was halted by the cessation of service at 8:30 (the store closes at nine). We did not leave right away however, as there was a tea aisle to be explored.

They had more tea than I had ever seen in a grocery store: a whole section of Republic of Tea, with just about every bagged tea that they feature in their catalog; Adagio; Rishi; Numi, and many others that I have not yet tasted or even heard of. They even had a wide selection of bottled teas, some sweetened, some not. I brought home a bottle of Honest Tea, an unsweetened Assam, to try. I also took a 4oz jar of Adagio's Darjeeling.

But wait, there's more! At the food bars, there is a great comaraderie between fellow diners, and we fell into talking with several, one of whom pointed out the coffee bar, where they will grind the beans to make your coffee on the spot. We headed over, and not only did they have coffee, but a wide array of Rishi loose leaf teas, with little saucers of leaves on display for looking and sniffing. The tea is sold by the ounce, and is extremely reasonably priced. I left with 2 oz of Ginger Pu-Erh for about $2. We also accepted cups of tea (16 ounces for about $2.00), which were prepared in Adagio's "Ingenuitea." Unfortunately, the recommended steeping time of four minutes proved to be a bit long, and it was too bitter.

Finally, for those who like to combine catechin categories, there is a chocolate section which includes a trifle called "Queenie" which is a chocolate with green tea and Earl Grey mousse in the center. Unfortunately (or fortunately depending on your point of view), the dark chocolate is so strong that the tea flavor is completely overpowered, so it just tastes like chocolate. The chocolate was of fine quality however. A second chocolate that was much more impressive was a bit of chocolate topped with rock salt. The perfect combination of salt and sweet, and a unique presentation.

Whereas in the average grocery store, customers are greatly discouraged from sampling the produce or products, several times we were encouraged to try tastes of things. In produce it was cherries and miniature apples, and at the chocolate counter, we were handed samples of items that we were discussing.

It was a truly incredible experience!

Comments

[David Wolfe]

It was a night to remember.

Can't wait to do the progrssive dinner again, but stop at all five eating bars this time.

Love,

The second favorite man in your life.

[Mary R]

Dang! That sounds amazing! I certainly hope they open up a Whole Foods on Indy's North Side soon...it sounds just too good to be true.

[Sophyne]

I am from Taiwan, and would like to sell super quality tea to USA, but I found out the tea price in USA are the lowest. I am wonder to how the market of tea there ? Is it ok to talk with you and share some tea info.

Sincerely,