Where To Buy Tea

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Where To Buy Tea

Teabox (West Bengal)

This seller ships a huge variety of tea directly from India to your home. The tea arrives so fast, you will have your first flush in your cup (literally weeks) before your local tea shop has it on the shelf!

Obubu Tea Plantation (Kyoto)

This is your direct link to a small tea farmer in Wazuka, Kyoto. Not only the shop, but also the tea plantation is well worth a visit. In addition to this, Obubu offer guided tours through their plantation as well as tea picking days, 2-week Japanese Tea Master courses, and 3-month internships.

Koto Tea (Kyoto)

If you like stylish Japanese tea crockery, then Koto Tea is the shop to browse. If you can peel your eyes off their mesmerizing collection of chasen (click here), a look at their teas is well worth it too as all their matchas and other Japanese teas are JAS/USA certified organic.

Yoshi en (Berlin)  

The management here consists of experts in alternative medicine, botanical medicine as well as dieticians and therapeutics on the lookout for natural ingredients. Their choice of organic and pesticide-free teas very much reflects this. Their range of Japanese teas is eye-watering and all teas are tested in their laboratories in Germany. Yoshi-en (yoshien.com) was developed out of Sunday Natural Berlin (Sunday.de) and has now become its own brand. 

What-cha (London)

Alistair keeps a wonderful selection of sensational teas. Here, you will find teas of outstanding quality and fascinating shapes from all over the world. It is a great pleasure to see he manages to source such teas.

Tee Gschwendner (Hamburg)

In 1978, Albert and Gwendalina Gschwendner laid the foundations for what was to become a highly successful franchise chain. Their home is Germany, but they have retail places as far as Chicago. Sadly, the Swiss shop no longer exists.

TWG (London/Singapore)

TWG are of Singaporean origin. The acronym originally stood for The Wellness Group, which was later changed to The Wellbeing Group. Depending on the outcome of a law-suit in Hong Kong, you may one day see it rebranded as TW without the G. Founded in 2008 (1837 is a reference to the Singapore Chamber of Commerce), it looks remarkably like Mariage Frères and was equally remarkably quick to establish itself as a luxury tea brand.

Teehaus Winterthur

At this most elegantly lit and beautifully located shop in Winterthur, tea is well taken care of. Many teas are sold sealed for freshness. What separates this merchant from the others is the fact that the matches are even kept in a separate fridge. This is extremely good practice but rarely seen elsewhere.

Hibiki-an (Kyoto)

If you know what makes a Gyokuro different from a Sencha, you will be more than pleased with the offerings here. If you know what role Uji plays in Japan’s tea history, you will be excited to hear that all tea sold here ships directly from its heart of Japanese tea. Free shipping on orders in excess of approximately CHF50, and if you don’t reach this threshold, have a look at their outstanding snacks (Especially matcha senbei and genmai senbei. They’re both even more highly commendable if you have ever tasted the two respective teas, matcha and genmaicha).

La Cucina Tee & Gewürze (Zürich)

Young in comparison with the many well-established places mentioned here (The store located at Europaallee popped up about 2016; Schwarzenbach has been around since 1864), La Cucina offers a surprisingly good choice of select teas. They also sell spices, among which a commendable ‘long pepper’ can be found.

Darjeeling Tea Boutique (Darjeeling)

Mainly Darjeeling Teas (First Flush, Second Flush, Autumn Flush) plus a few others. Free shipping included (i.e. the price already reflects shipping costs).

Teekontor Hamburg (Wasserschloss)

Hamburg is steeped in history related to the trading of tea and spices, and the Teekontor (located at the Wasserschloss) does this more than justice. Not only is the Teekontor with its high vaulted ceiling stacked to the top with beautiful teas and mouth-watering delicacies, but it also comes with a restaurant where there is more to be discovered.

Mariage Frères (Paris)

This picture does not do justice to the baffling moment when you stand in front of a Mariage Frères tea wall (for example in Paris or in their newly opened shop near London’s Covent Garden) and you find yourself spoilt for choice. Luckily, they also have a website with more than flowery descriptions of their classy teas. MF is of French origin, and so you will here often find teas scented in a French style.

My Cup of Tea (London)

The hustle and bustle of London is not everyone’s cup of tea. This shop is an exception, a real oasis in London with its small but refined selection of teas and its knowledgeable staff. Located just off Piccadilly Circus, it is a little difficult to spot and so you often find yourself alone or with just two other customers. This can give rise to interesting discussions with all present involved, which makes for an entirely different shopping experience. (Hint: Ask to see some of the tea Ausra keeps in the big tins behind the counter). Here, you can also enjoy a freshly made cup of tea in tranquil surroundings before hitting the noisy streets of London again.

Länggass Tee (Bern)

Länggass Tee (opened in 1983) is a wonderful place where everything takes place calmly and in a relaxed Bernese atmosphere – at least this is what it feels like for people from outside Berne. The shop is well worth a visit, but the real secret reveals itself when you climb up the spiral staircase. There is a cozy restaurant upstairs where all teas are served in their respective crockery.

H. Schwarzenbach (Zürich)

This shop is a truly wondrous place. They have a website, but it would be a pity not to visit in person. The world of spices, dried fruit, chocolates, peppers and so on is indescribable. Run in the 5th generation (All male heirs are called Heinrich, hence their logo), the shop has a select choice of teas from around the world. Spice merchants have always had an excellent nose in tea and this place is very much a point in case.

The Queen Camellia (Luzern)

The full name is The Queen Camellia Tea House & Tea Room, and you will find both in Lucerne’s old town just around the corner from each other. Needless to say that it can be quite handy to have a tea shop next door when you leave the tea room. What makes the latter particularly attractive are their tasting sets that allow you to sip more than one tea and compare the drinks simultaneously.

Yulu Uster (ZH)

This teahouse has only just opened and is already making a good impression. Where else would you find a place where you can taste three different kinds of Long Jing teas all from the innermost circle of China’s West Lake area ? Where else would you find a tea menu that offers two varieties of Dong Ding oolong that have both won contests in Taiwan ? Wei Feng is a very knowledgeable owner and certainly knows how to source good tea. Secret hint: Ask for Duck Shit tea – and trust me. You won’t receive a clip behind the ear but a warm smile instead.

Sazen Tea (Kyoto)

Sazen Tea is a Kyoto-based, family-owned company with a clean, well-structured website that Westerners find easy to navigate. The couple who run this business (Wife Hungarian, husband Japanese) are deeply devoted to providing a high-level tea experience to patrons worldwide. They stock both wonderful Chinese and Taiwanese teas, and meticulously document them with detailed descriptions as well as pictures in addition to clear brewing instructions. They hold a fine selection of teaware and tea accessories. This nothwithstanding, it only takes one look at their range of matchas (There were in excess of 100 different types of ceremonial matchas last time I checked; culinary matchas, i.e. matcha for cooking, not counted) to realise this is matcha paradise. Matcha super paradise.

Sono Organic (Imbari, Japan)

With only 4% of all tea produced in Japan being organic, this link here is like a secret path to Tomoe Watanabe-san. She is a certified Japanese tea instructor who sources exclusively from organic producers in order to make this kind of tea available to the world outside Japan. Her shop, Sono Organic, is still in its infancy, but it is clear from the way Watanabe-san has built her website that she understands that foreigners have special needs when it comes to brewing Japanese teas. Thus, all her teas come with instructions both in grams and ounces, both in Fahrenheit and Centigrades, both in fluid ounces and millilitres. To round it off, she gives perfect brewing times. The regular drinker will quickly notice that good Japanese teas often need lower temperatures and shorter brewing times than expected, and these parameters can vary greatly especially for the second brew.

Furukawa Seicha (Uji, Kyoto, Japan)

Furukawa Seicha is a tiny place in Uji,  the heart of the Japanese tea farming in Kyoto, and it comes with several unique selling points: All their teas are hand-picked and they are picked in spring only. 

The online shop (with a special message for customers from abroad) has a small selection of single cultivar matchas (Asahi, Ujihikari [pictured above], Saemidori and Samidori) on offer together with 2 blended matchas and 2 non-matcha teas. This is a clear sign that Furukawa-san concentrates on what he does best, and this is probably what it takes to make an intense, tasty organic matcha that mesmerises with its lively bright-green colour. What’s more, the shipping to Europe is lightning fast.

d:matcha (Kyoto)

Also located in the tea town of Wazuka, Kyoto, Japan, d:matcha is another tea farm that manages to bridge the gap between fields in Japan and international customers. If にほんご が わかりません and if you are not familiar with the customs, ordering directly can be a little difficult. Not so here. Navigating and ordering through the website of this relatively young company is a breeze, and both a sencha as well as a matcha tea tasting can be booked in English, French, and of course Japanese. In addition to this, most teas are pesticide-free.

Mizuba (Portland, OR)

This is about you and me, and a cup of tea, Lauren notes on her website (It makes you wonder why the old English idiom uses a gatepost instead of a mug). What Lauren also does is to work closely together with Japanese tea farmers to create a series of matchas that she and her members like. Maybe the fact that Mizuba’s teas go across so many Westerner tongues before they go on sale in her shop is the secret to the fact that these matchas are ones that Western buyers readily relate to: Mizuba matchas are stone-milled, from Uji, they are easy to froth and have a creamy foam. (While a thick foam is not always one of the goals of matcha making, it is an aspect often appreciated outside Japan. A nice layer of foam is also what you strive for when you attend Urasenke, one of Japan’s largest tea schools).

Teehus Rapperswil (SG)

This teahouse is currently moving from Engelplatz 30 to Halsberg 8 in Rapperwil. The new location is much larger and promises 365 different kinds of teas, to which a tea lounge will be added soon (A variety of kettles, samovars and even kyusu are already waiting – and so are we ! ).

TOBI-EN (Uji, Japan)

Eisai, one of the leading monks in the introduction of tea to Japan, is thought to have presented Uji with tea seeds in 12th century, and thus Uji (Half an hour south of central Kyoto) has become the heart of tea in Japan. Uji Tea has a ring of history and quality about it like Swiss Cheese or Swiss Chocolate, and at the centre of Uji can be found ……  Swiss-jin Tobias. Also known as Tobi, he enjoyed some green tea in Japan in 2005 and realised that what comes out of Uji but rarely reaches Switzerland is like tea from another world. Together with a small team he now runs とび園 (Tobi’s tea garden) and has family ties to Mitsuboshien Kanbayashisannyu Honten, which is one of Uji’s oldest tea stores and only a one-minute walk away from Byodoin.