Siam (Сиам).

Siam calls itself a boutique of elite Chinese tea and has its shop at Kary Niyazov Street 61, inside the Golden House Novomoskovskaya residential complex in Tashkent, with an online shop that delivers across the city, free from 500,000 sum. The catalogue runs to about ninety teas and most of them come in 50 g packs: light oolongs such as Tieguanyin and Alishan, dark ones such as Da Hong Pao and Fenghuang dancong, Chinese green and red teas, white and yellow teas, and pu-erh.

What sets the shop apart is how much each page tells you. The Biluochun comes from the Dongting hills in Jiangsu, at 200 to 300 metres, from bushes planted among fruit trees; the Dianhong is spring buds from Fengqing county in Yunnan, at 1,800 metres; the Tieguanyin is a spring harvest from Anxi at 500 to 800 metres. Every tea carries a Western recipe and a Chinese one, usually 5 g to 150 ml for up to five infusions, and the greens and light oolongs come with advice to keep them sealed in the freezer.

Beyond the classics the shelves hold pu-erh from Yunnan, such as a 2007 palace-grade shu sold loose and a thin 2015 cake of 100 g pressed to the size of a standard 357 g one, together with tied flower teas, flavoured black and green blends, a plain rooibos, a mate and an Assam for everyday brewing. Gift sets and corporate gifts take up a section of their own, and the shop also sells teaware, which makes it an easy stop for a present.