A Better Kind of Brew

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If you're partial to a drop of tea but fed up with the raucous atmosphere and chain-smoking laobaixing (the colloquial Chinese expression for the man in the street) that cram Shanghai's regular cafés, then check out the sedate and sequestered atmosphere of the Guyuan Antique Teahouse, tel: (86-21) 6445 4625. Inspired by Ming-dynasty architecture, the city's finest tea parlor is a classy joint where executives come to impress clients and contacts with China's most exclusive brews. Its imposing wooden gateway (200 years old and transported to Shanghai from culturally rich Shanxi province) is the prelude to an interior of stone reliefs and bare brickwork infused with plenty of upscale nostalgia.

Teas range from $7 to a breathtaking $70 per person, accompanied by snacks of seeds, figs and nuts. There's also a tea ceremony and tasting session on Tuesday afternoons for $24 a head. And if you're looking to win over your bosses and business associates, presentation boxes of pu er tea-leaf molds from Yunnan province make decidedly tasteful gifts, priced from $14 to $57.