tried contacting the people i know in the area directly, but got no responses...

there used to be an international foods market on the East side of Zelzah between Devonshire and San Fernando Mission Blvd. in Granada Hills (Granada Hills HS area).

we bought a particularly tasty flavor of Russian tea there, and our efforts at finding a local (or Internet) supplier have been less-than-successful because the package label is all in Cyrillic... and despite frugal rationing, we're just about out...

if there's someone in the North Hills / Granada Hills area who'd be willing to stop in and buy us a pound or so, and ship it, we can (reasonably) compensate you for your time.

somebody get back to me, and i'll post a scan of the label.

Post the scan. There are a few Russian readers on the board, and I'm not far from that area.

Zelzah between Devonshire and Chatsworth is pretty much all residential except for commercial at the corner of Chatsworth. That's where I get my hair cut. So if it's there, I never noticed but give out some more info and I'll look into it. From Chatsworth to San Fernando Mission is mostly residential also, so there's not too many places the store could be if it's on Zelzah.

i recall it being right about here...

There are some pretty impressive tea shops in NYC, and in the outer boroughs. Im sure it can e found here in NYC

sounds like your looking for something off the beaten path though, that may be only available at smaller ethnic specialty shops, that may not have a web presence

There is an area near Coney Island called "Little Odessa"

Isnt cyrillic writing used in Turkey also? could it be a type of Turkish Tea?

That's right where my barber is and I need to get a cut next week. Give me as much info on the tea and I'll stop by. Is it a market or restaurant? Either way I'll find it. Do they have waterpipes to toke on while you shop?

QUOTE (TimT @ Mar 4 2005, 09:33 PM)

Isnt cyrillic writing used in Turkey also? could it be a type of Turkish Tea?

looking at the label now (i thought we'd kept more of it, this may turn out to be less helpful than i'd hoped...) it could be Turkish, and i suppose it could even be Greek. i donno - there was something from the original packaging that gave me the lasting impression it was Russian - but i can't say now what that was...

we'll continue to check out the sources, and thanks for the pointer to the area search. if we're ever in NYC with a bunch of time, we'll check 'em out !

QUOTE (drew365 @ Mar 4 2005, 09:41 PM)

Give me as much info on the tea... Is it a market or restaurant?... Do they have waterpipes to toke on while you shop?

what (little) is left of the label is in the scanner - i'll fire it up in a few minutes and post the scan. it does have the importer's phone number, so we can try there too, of course. i'm sure that's why we kept this portion of the label ...

definitely a store. 'Azul' ? for some reason i'm remembering it's something like that. (it's at least 4 years since i was last there...) i'm remembering yellow lettering on the storefront signage. both of those are impressions and could be wrong, or the signage could be different now... it's at the left (north) end of the little strip mall. parking was a little weird. it did seem to be pretty continuously popular when i lived there. went to the Baker's Square from time to time, and banked at the Wells F&#@%ing Bank until they pissed me off and i took my business elsewhere.

Rich, if you want to view a very good health food store (online buying too) check out my friends at www.naturemart.com
You may want to email them on the tea, I've been in their store (we're neighbors) and there's a wide variety of teas avail. The russian one ...not sure. They also bring a lot of health items in from finland www.tundratrading.com
good luck

cr&p - ya can't edit-in an image...

so okay - here's what i've got of the label.

happy hunting! (and THANKS!)