The Best Tea in Toronto
Tea people are just nice people. They're as knowledgeable and passionate about their product as coffee people, only slightly less keyed up and twitchy.
And, let's just get it out of the way, when we're talking about tea, we're talking places that specialize in looseleaf tea (one exception to be spotted below). Most prepacked bagged tea is made with the bits and pieces left over after sorting out the tea leaves. They take the sweepings, the tea "dust", the remnants of real tea, then they bag them, and we drink it. You deserve better than bagged floor scrapings.
Looseleaf tea requires a bit of equipment and know-how. But you can become a tea person just by stopping whatever you're doing at 3:30pm and taking a tea break. Ease your way in with an orange pekoe and a cookie. And work your way up to the hard stuff. The lapsang souchongs and the yerba mates. Soon you'll be one of us nutters with our timers and our thermometers, and you'll be loving it.
Tea shops pictured above (from left to right): Pippins, Tealish, & House of Tea. Photograph of Pippins courtesy of Patrick Smith.
House of Tea
In business for 11 years, going on 12, and House of Tea is still simply the best looseleaf tea shop in Toronto. Co-owner and "Tea Consultant" Marisha Golla knows tea. And she'll get to know you. What you like now, and what you might like later. She does, after all, have 280 kinds of tea from around the world in her store. You're bound to like something. All teas are proudly free of anything artificial. More...
Tealish
Tealish gets a lot of points for style. They have a modern tea boutique decor, but they also go the furthest in tea-as-narrative. The teas have lusciously evocative names (Apple Orchard, Deep Green Embrace, Russian Caravan) and each label is printed with both brewing instructions and colour-text. Take 'Patisserie' -- "A sinfully aromatic blend which captivates the senses... Like walking in to a bakery in Paris". Pina Colada herbal tea pictured above. More...
Say Tea
Entering its 28th year in business, Say Tea straddles the west end and midtown -- with a location near Bloor & Jane, and one just north of Young & Eligible. They have a cozy selection of tea paraphernalia, and traditional nibbles to go with your brew. A bit like going to someone's Nanna's house. More...
TenRen's Tea
TenRen's Tea has a location in Chinatown, one store in the world's largest Asian tea company. Based in Taiwan, their specialty Taiwanese teas are particularly recommended. They're also my one concession to bagged tea. TenRen's Plum tea (pictured above), made from dried plums, black tea, peppermint, and other natural herbs is one of the most intense fruit teas I've ever tried. More...
The Red Tea Box
Featuring "premium single-estate biodynamic teas from around the world", The Red Tea Box's current tea feature is a Twin Dragon Oolong -- "an artisan oolang from Mr. Wu's farm in Nanton county". In addition to selling and serving looseleaf teas, they're famous for their elaborate, vivid, diorama-esque desserts (see 'bird in a cage' above) and also have one of the most serene secret courtyards of downtown Toronto. More...
Moonbean Cafe
Kensington's Moonbean is known for their coffee, but it's also one-stop shopping if you enjoy (gasp) both coffee and tea. A good place to pick up your green tea staples like Sencha and Genmaicha (popcorn tea), they have more than 30 looseleaf teas to choose from, either to buy for your home stash, or to have prepared into a cuppa for you onsite. More...
Niche Coffee & Tea Company
Niche had to win over a lot of broken hearts when they took over from the Vienna Home Bakery. But bit by bit they're doing it. Partly with their very presentable selection of "wild-grown" teas. Available for sniff sampling by the cash, they're labeled with "what you'll taste" notes. Like the Niche Green tea, which promises green tea, coconut, pineapple, cornflower, and rose blossoms. More...
Golden Mint Coffee & Tea Co.
On an enthusiastic recommendation by Danielle, I overlooked Golden Mint's lack of interest in "promotion" and tried their Mint Chocolate Rooibos (organic and pictured above). Add a bit of (condensed) milk, and it's crisp and creamy. Like a liquid After Eight. Sublime. I guess we'll have to forgive them their camera-phobia. Just this once. More...
The Tea Emporium
The Tea Emporium distinguishes themselves by having a "School of Tea". Sign up for a seminar on the "Delicate Flavours of Green and White Tea". Feeling seasonal, I picked up their Spring Blend ("layered with fragrant strawberries, lemon and berries", pictured above) and as a complete impulse buy, a sugary powder-mix for Green Tea Passionfruit Latte. We don't all have to be purists all the time... More...
Pippins Tea Company
Pippins has over 130 teas (counting both looseleaf and packaged in that total). They also have a huge selection of tea cups, pots, cozies and lots of tchotchkes. On the atmosphere scale, they tend towards the fussy British end (more floral print mugs, less zen sleekness). If you haven't been able to find a teapot-shaped nightlight, you haven't looked here yet. More...
Comments (24)
Interesting that House of Tea is listed as number one. I had gone to the store after much anticipation and found come of the leafs to be much too dried and lacking their flavour. My purchase was no longer used. I basically gave up and continued importing some of my tea from San Francisco or Tealish.
If you're looking for a great loose-leaf tea in a bag (or in this case as sachet), try Two Leaves & A Bud. They're originally from Colorado, but the use single region tea. I serve it in my cafe and my customers love it.
I'm shocked the Tea Leaf isn't on here. They used to be in the Beaches but are now in the Bayview Village Shopping Centre. Excellent tea - and the owner Catherine is extremely knowlegable.
I'm a huge fan of Tealish, but for those of you looking to buy tea online, I'd highly recommend Mighty Leaf Tea.
I've been a big tea drinker for years and I've bought from most of the spots mentioned. But many of the best teas I've tried I buy online at Language of the Leaf (http://www.LanguageOfTheLeaf.com). Their teas are incredibly fresh and full of flavour. Nice informative site as well.
I'm so happy someone mentioned Language of the Leaf - their teas are wonderfully named e.g. Bali Breeze, Queen of Siam, but more important they taste lovely. Highly recommended!
Won't it be a wonderful day when there are just too many places to list? Tea is finally getting out of the cupboard!
Nice to have a listing but I'm not too worried about "best" - we've lived with tepid Orange Pekoe all these years....just seeing loose leaf in so many shops is a step in the right direction for all...
Dear Tea magazine
My name is Guadalupe and i will be staying in London for six months from August till December. I was wondering if I could find some tea course or any place where to study all about tea and blending in London. I would appreciate if you could help me with some information.
Yours sincerely
Guadalupe
Is the T Spot still such a Toronto secret? While the website mysteriously claims it's new (it's not - I've been going there for years), it is a bit of a hidden gem.
http://www.greatcooks.ca/our_t_spot.html
Located in the basement (lower level) of the Bay at Queen and Yonge, behind some kitchen appliances, this T Spot (not affiliated with the Bay) is worth the trek. They also have a cafe, within the same Bay store, on the 8th floor. Tea drinkers will not be disapointed with all the wonderous loose leaf offerings. My pick: Tibetan Tiger.
For all of you that are a little more adventurous than just walking to the neighbourhood tea shop, I highly recommend buying looseleaf teas from www.andeestea.com - I bought their tea at the duty free store in Goa - and was pleasantly surprised to learn they ship to Canada (and internationally). Their Darjeelings are wonderful, as are some of their Assams. Beautiful, re-usable handcrafted packaging is a bonus.
A new tea shop opened on Queen West a few months ago (after the publication of this list) and has quickly jumped to the top of my tea shop list in Toronto: DavidsTea. Amazing tea, amazing service, amazing atmosphere.
i also agree that david's tea is great! i got the sweet velvet morning or whatever it's called... it's an herbal tea, supposed to be for liver detox. i got it cuz it smells divine! tastes amazing too, i didn't even have to sweeten it at all (even though i use really expensive top quality honey you can't get in stores, i still love it without it). i haven't really tried too many other places but will be considering a few of these options along with your comments.
Raymond Wong & Tea is also amazing!
Great selection of authentic Chinese teas, tea pots and tea cups.
Owners will also let you sample the tea before buying.
Highly recommended!
Two locations:
Raymond Wong & Tea
416-335-0741
850 Tapscott Road (north of Finch)
Scarborough, ON
Raymond Wong & Tea First Markham Place
905-305-6878
3255 Hwy 7 (near Woodbine),
Markham, ON
If anyone is looking for a place online to order great tasting teas from then I am going to be a little biased here and recommend our tea shop at www.herbalinfusions.ca Although we don't have a traditional 'brick & mortar' store we do carry some excellent blends and operate from our place in Toronto.
Cheers!
Dan
David's tea is great! I love the macaroons and the tea samples are a nice touch too :)
Anyone know where I can get tea lattes?
The Tea Market at 2 Bloor under the CIBC building has some very rare oolongs at the back of the store in a glass cabinet, the high mountain oolong is amazing.
I almost visited every single tea store on this list. I posted my review here http://www.rockingtherepublic.com/daytrip-the-best-tea-in-toronto/ Enjoy!
David's tea is hands down the best tea in the city! I live outside downtown (the 'shwa) so I order a lot off davidstea.com , but every time I'm in the city I treat myself to a tea to go and one of their AMAZING cup cakes. Seriously they have like 2 inches of frosting, I pig out hardcore :))
There's the "Tea, Tea, & More Tea" meetup.com group in Toronto. Not a tea club per se, just relaxed gatherings of tea lovers trying to enjoy cups of tea and have interesting conversations & maybe explore the city a bit. I'm a co-organizer of the group - our mission is mostly just to relax & enjoy tea.
The best quality whole leaf tea I have found in Toronto, is a new tea company called Prestige Teas. Beautiful handpicked, handmade tea, 100% nature, no added ingredients.
The unique thing about this company is the owner goes to their Chinese suppliers in person, and checks the tea gardens and tea factories and makes sure the quality of the tea.
Secondly, they sell in wholesale prices to customers. So we can enjoy the true premium tea with very modest cost.
You can check it out at www.prestigeteas.com.
There is a new tea shop in Maple, near Wonderland. It has wide selections of loose leaf tea and teapot. The lady there is very friendly and knows a lot about tea. Price is better than other places that I had shopped. I am glad I found it. Save me a trip downtown. Their website is www.teaandtreats.com
I found an online teashop called greenteashop.ca, I tried Peony Tea Ball. It is really good. I am drinking it everyday at work. Highly recommended.
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