ITINERARY
Friday
3.30pm: Visit historic shops
Travel back in time in Sheung Wan, a charming neighbourhood where traditional stores sell tea and spices, just as they did more than a century ago, when the city was a colonial trading outpost.
One shop, Cheung Hing Tea Hong, sells a variety of Chinese, European and Ceylon black teas, as well as coffee beans. Its tea master, who has worked there for more than six decades, nimbly folds and tucks the shop’s signature tea variety, tieguanyin (about 160 Hong Kong dollars, or US$20, for 150 grams), into an artful, palm-size paper package, using no tape or string.
Midway down a wide outdoor stairway, Yuan Heng Spice Co offers all manner of spices, including Sichuan peppercorns, cinnamon bark and aged citrus peels. The shop’s majestic cats are neighbourhood fixtures. (Check out @hongkonghistoricalshops on Instagram for more gems.)