If you want an unusual gift for friends or families, the following stores may satisfy your demands. 

Maliandao Tea Street

Nearby the south of Beijing West Railway Station, Maliandao Tea Street entitled as “Beijing No. 1 Tea Street”, stands there. With a total length of 1,500 meters, Maliandao Tea Street is the concentration of over 100 tea shops and 5 tea cities, where famous and superior tea products from main tea regions including Zhejiang, Fujian, Anhui, Yunnan and Guizhou are sold. On this street, 2.5 billion yuan annual turnover has been realized, accounting for one-tenth of the national gross sales of tea. Now, Maliandao Tea Street has developed into the largest tea market of Northern China as well as the biggest distribution center of tea of Northern China.

You will always be greeted with warm smile of shop owners in tea stores. If you can’t decide what to buy, the owner will treat you with a cup of Chinese tea at the tea pitcher, and share with you the knowledge of tea as if you were chatting with a friend. In addition to various tea cities and frontage stores, such commercial entities as B&Q and Carrefour are settled down.

Address: Maliandao, Fengtai District,Beijing City 北京市丰台区马连道

Wu Yu Tai

If you prefer tea leaves as gifts to friends on the Lantern Festival, Wu Yu Tai may be an ideal option.

Wu Yu Tai (吴裕泰 in Chinese) is a time-honored brand in Beijing founded in 1887 with many branches. Although it is an old shop it enjoys high popularity among young people for its ice cream and other tea drinks.

The tea leaves are sold in two ways, in bulk or packaged. Usually, the tea in bulk is more expensive than the packaged. And among the tea in bulk, excellent tea leaves are sold by the liang (unit of weight in China, it equals to 50 g) while ordinary tea leaves sell by the catty (unit of weight in China, it equals to 500g). If you do not have enough time or know little about tea, the packaged tea is the better choice.

Green tea and flower tea are most popular tea of Wu Yu Tai. Bi Luo Chun (碧螺春 in Chinese) is the signature green tea while Jasmine tea (茉莉花茶 in Chinese) has highest sales volume due to its fragrant smell among flower teas. Bi Luo Chun usually costs 60 RMB every 50g (about 9 dollars) and Jasmine tea costs 30 RMB – 100 RMB every 50g for different types (about 4.5 dollars – 15 dollars).

Address: #42 Qianmen Avenue Xicheng District, Beijing 北京市西城区前门大街42号吴裕泰茶庄

Concertino

This is a true variety shop whose goods range from posters of films to table wares. Full of all kinds of fantastic articles, it must be liked by most boys and cool girls. The host of the shop collected all of these knickknacks that are waiting for customers to discover.

The handmade notebooks are the treasure of Concertino because the design and production are all the brainchild of the host. Featuring high-quality papers, the notebooks are simple and textured.

Tobacco which are made in China is also worthy to try. In addition to cigarettes in boxes, pipe tobacco is available as well. Rolling a cigarette is a good choice to experience Chinese taste. (Notice: juveniles are not allowed to try)

Tips:

Address: #4-30 Jiaodaokou East Street, Dongcheng District, Beijing 北京市东城区交道口大姐4-30

Open Hours: 10:00 - 21:00 daily

Cooper & Looper

The host of the store is a Chinese young man who used to studied in Japan for eight years. Attracted by flea markets in Japan, he opened this Japanese-style store in Beijing's hutong. The store in industrial style decoration sells various home furnishing and leather products. The small space is not stiff although the decoration is industrial style for the host have placed numerous green plants.

Many customers commended that the store looked like a small library rather than a store.

Tips:

Address: #25 Fangjia Hutong, Andingmen Inner Street, Dongcheng District, Beijing 北京市东城区安定门内大街方家胡同25号

Tel: +86 10 5728 0032

Open Hours: 11:00 am - 20:00 pm daily (close on Monday)

Other info.: Free wire-less internet is available.

Big Pink

The store is an online "celebrity" for its unique style. With a shinning pink board, the store features pink walls, pinks lights and pink toys, which is as pink as the names says. The two-story building mainly serves prize claw. It is an ideal option for young couples to date. Girls can take beautiful selfies and boys can strut his stuff. The toys of the store are uploaded usually. Customers can access the most popular toys here. It can satisfy girls ' imagination of pink world.

Tips:

Address: #245 Gulou East Street, 鼓楼东大街245号

Open Hours: 13:00 - 23:00