When in Hong Kong this month, I enjoyed all kinds of amazing food and drink: street food, boat food, rooftop cocktails, underground speakeasies, luxury five-star feats… And one of the greatest highlights of all was discovering MingCha tea boutique in Quarry Bay. The shop is tucked away on the 12th floor of an industrial factory building—so I have to admit, I was skeptical at first as we entered through the high-rise’s loading dock. But, wow, what an amazing hidden gem.

Proprietor Vivian Mak specializes in handcrafted teas from artisanal producers who grow and harvest tea in the ancient tradition, not in modern cultivated plantations but on wild mountainsides where the tea grows more naturally and everything is painstakingly pruned by hand. Her teas are expensive but exquisite. Once you’ve experienced MingCha, it’ll be hard to go back to what you were drinking before.