Local Tea Guides
Tea rooms, tea houses and loose-leaf tea shops, city by city
Interactive data map
America's Tea Cities
30 cities scored — select a city to open its guide
- City guides
- 39
- Tea spots listed
- 246
- State & district guides
- 27
Most "best tea" lists are coffee shops that stock a few tea bags. These guides are not. They cover 39 cities across 26 states and the District of Columbia and list 246 places where tea is the reason to go: gongfu tea houses, Japanese tea rooms, afternoon-tea rooms, loose-leaf shops with a tasting bar, matcha bars and chai houses. Each one was checked against its own website for name, address and whether it is still open.
Each listing has an address and a map pin, what the place is known for, a price range, and a public rating only when we could verify its source. Shops that sell tea under their own label are grouped separately, so you know where you can buy the leaf you just drank. To compare cities, see the Tea City Rankings.
Largest City Guides
The guides with the most listings. A bigger guide means more tea rooms we could verify, not a better cup.
Know when a guide changes
Guides are re-verified over time, not scraped once. The email carries listing fixes, newly opened tea rooms and teas worth trying, and only goes out when there is news.
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Browse by State or District
Each state page lists every city we cover there, with its listing count.
Tea City Rankings
How US cities compare on sourced ratings, own-label tea brands, neighborhood spread and listing count.
View RankingsAll City Guides
New York Tea Guide
New York's serious tea is split by tradition. Chinese gongfu service runs by reservation at Floating Mountain on the Upper West Side and Jin Yun Fu...
Portland Tea Guide
Portland's tea scene runs on gongfu service, with at least four rooms that pour it: The Tao of Tea has poured gongfu service on SE Belmont since 19...
Las Vegas Tea Guide
Las Vegas tea splits into two camps. On the Strip, three resorts run weekend or near-daily afternoon tea: Peacock Alley on the 23rd floor of the Wa...
Seattle Tea Guide
Seattle's serious tea is concentrated in four blocks of the Chinatown-International District, where New Century Tea Gallery, Seattle Best Tea and V...
Boston Tea Guide
Boston's tea scene leans on afternoon tea. The Courtyard Tea Room inside the Boston Public Library serves a $72 prix fixe, Silver Dove on Tremont S...
Chicago Tea Guide
Chicago's tea scene splits into two camps. Downtown, three luxury hotels (The Drake, The Langham and The Peninsula) run tiered afternoon tea servic...
Dallas Tea Guide
Dallas tea is mostly afternoon tea: tiered service at The Adolphus, Rosewood Mansion on Turtle Creek and Leonie on the 20th floor of Hotel Swexan, ...
Honolulu Tea Guide
Honolulu runs on two tea traditions: oceanfront hotel afternoon tea and Japanese matcha. Three hotels serve tiered tea on verandas, Halekulani and ...
Los Angeles Tea Guide
Los Angeles tea splits into three camps. Chinese and Taiwanese leaf gets serious treatment at Steep in Chinatown and SILK & JADE in Eagle Rock, whi...
San Francisco Tea Guide
San Francisco's tea scene splits three ways. Chinese tea runs from free tastings at Vital Tea Leaf on Grant Avenue and Aroma Tea Shop in the Inner ...
Washington DC Tea Guide
Washington's serious leaf tea is concentrated in Dupont Circle: ching ching CHA moved there from Georgetown in 2023 after 25 years, and Valley Broo...
Atlanta Tea Guide
Atlanta's tea scene splits into three camps. Wai's Gong Fu Tea House on the Upper Westside runs hour-long Chinese gongfu sessions at carved jade an...
Austin Tea Guide
Austin's serious tea is on the east side. West China Tea on East 7th Street stocks more than 200 Chinese teas from over 40 suppliers and serves the...
Charlotte Tea Guide
Charlotte's tea scene is small and spread out, and most of it sits in converted houses and shared storefronts rather than big cafes. Rising Tea & A...
Houston Tea Guide
Houston's tea scene leans on English-style afternoon tea: The Lancaster downtown and the Grand Tea Lounge at Houston Grand Hotel - River Oaks run w...
Pittsburgh Tea Guide
Pittsburgh's tea scene runs along the East End. Squirrel Hill has Dobra Tea, a Czech-founded tea room serving loose leaf by the pot until late, and...
San Diego Tea Guide
San Diego tea runs mostly on British-style afternoon tea: The Britannia Tearooms in the Midway District pours from a list of more than 70 teas, Cor...
Berkeley Tea Guide
Berkeley's serious tea is concentrated on the west side of town. Far Leaves Tea has poured loose-leaf tea on San Pablo Avenue since 1998, Teance Fi...
Columbus Tea Guide
Columbus tea leans toward the set afternoon tea. Perfectly Posh in Franklinton runs a four-course English service at $89-$98, Cambridge Tea House s...
Denver Tea Guide
Denver is an afternoon tea town. The Brown Palace serves loose-leaf tea and scones with Devonshire cream in its atrium lobby, Capital Tea on South ...
Kansas City Tea Guide
Kansas City's tea scene is small and spread along the Main Street, Grand and Wornall corridors rather than clustered in one district. Shang Tea at ...
Philadelphia Tea Guide
Philadelphia's sit-down tea is mostly afternoon tea. The Mary Cassatt Tea Room at The Rittenhouse pours teas from In Pursuit of Tea and Palais des ...
Richmond Tea Guide
Richmond's tea scene runs on afternoon tea. The Jefferson Hotel serves a Southern tea on the mezzanine above its Rotunda, the Virginia Museum of Fi...
Asheville Tea Guide
Asheville has three branches of Dobra Tea, the bohemian tea room collective that started in Prague, so a sit-down pot of tea is never far away down...
Charleston Tea Guide
Charleston has a working tea plantation on its doorstep: the Bigelow-owned Charleston Tea Garden on Wadmalaw Island runs a free factory tour and tr...
Cincinnati Tea Guide
Cincinnati's tea scene is built around Churchill's Fine Teas, which sells more than 285 loose-leaf teas from two shops, one at Findlay Market and o...
Miami Tea Guide
Miami's tea scene is small and spread out, and most of it is afternoon tea. The Biltmore pours from more than 15 teas in its lobby with a harpist, ...
Nashville Tea Guide
Nashville drinks tea mostly as afternoon tea, and almost all of it is by reservation. The Hermitage Hotel serves Friday to Sunday at 2 pm in its Gr...
New Orleans Tea Guide
New Orleans is a coffee town, and its tea scene is small and specific: two hotel afternoon teas with live harp music, a French Quarter tea shop tha...
Providence Tea Guide
Providence's tea scene is anchored by Ceremony, a two-cafe tea company whose founder sources green, oolong and black teas from family farms in Chin...
Boulder Tea Guide
Boulder's tea scene is small but unusually deep for a city of its size. The Boulder Dushanbe Teahouse on 13th Street serves a $29 afternoon tea eve...
Cleveland Tea Guide
Cleveland has a small tea scene with four distinct styles. Algebra Tea House in Little Italy has poured 39 teas into its founder's handmade mugs si...
Detroit Tea Guide
Detroit's tea scene is small and split between formal service and new cafes. Lily's & Elise on Livernois serves French-style afternoon and high tea...
Milwaukee Tea Guide
Milwaukee's tea scene is small and split between two formal services and two everyday tea counters. The Pfister Hotel serves afternoon tea daily on...
Minneapolis Tea Guide
Minneapolis has a small tea scene with four distinct formats. Northeast Tea House across the river from downtown grinds its own matcha on a stone m...
Phoenix Tea Guide
Phoenix proper has a small tea scene, and most of it sits within a few blocks of downtown. The Japanese Friendship Garden runs reserved chanoyu in ...
Sacramento Tea Guide
Sacramento's tea scene is small and spread across the central grid. Tea Cozy has sold loose leaf since 1998 and now stocks more than 150 teas insid...
Salt Lake City Tea Guide
Salt Lake City's tea scene is four venues deep and spread across distinct formats. The Tea Grotto on 900 South has sold loose-leaf tea since 2004, ...
Tucson Tea Guide
Tucson's anchor is Seven Cups on Fort Lowell Road, a Chinese teahouse that brews more than 80 loose-leaf teas gongfu-style in yixing pots and gaiwa...
Frequently Asked Questions
How many city tea guides does My Tea Explorer have?
39 city guides covering 26 states and the District of Columbia, with 246 tea rooms, tea houses and tea shops between them. Each listing has an address, a map pin, and a public rating only when we could verify its source.
What gets a tea room or tea shop onto a guide?
A place qualifies when tea is the point of the visit: tea houses and tea rooms (afternoon tea included), Chinese, Japanese, Taiwanese and Korean tea houses, loose-leaf shops with a tasting bar or seating, tea-first matcha bars and chai houses. We confirm the name, street address and that it is still operating on the venue's own website before listing it. Coffee shops that merely sell tea and online-only vendors are left out; bubble tea has its own Boba & Iced Tea pages.
What is in each city tea guide?
The listings, grouped into own-label tea brands and other tea rooms; a map of every listing with coordinates; what each place is known for; sourced public ratings where we have them; price range; and local tips. Some cities also have a Boba & Iced Tea page for bubble-tea shops.
Which cities have the largest tea guides?
By number of listings: New York, NY; Portland, OR; Las Vegas, NV; Seattle, WA; Boston, MA. The Tea City Rankings page compares cities on more than listing count.
Missing a City or a Tea Room?
Tell us the city, or the tea room we left out, and we will check it. Send it here.