Favorite tea shops in New York City?

February 14, 2016 10:42 AM

I'd like to find a good tea shop, or coffee shop that makes good tea, to do some reading and light laptop work (just writing some emails, not "working remotely" or anything like that). I'm specifically looking for cafes, not (exclusively) retail stores, and also not looking for the "afternoon tea"/"high tea" experience.

Basically there are like one million coffee shops in New York City, but a lot, if not most, of them are terrible at making tea; if I wanted lukewarm water and a teabag I'd just buy teabags at Key Foods.

So I'm looking for a place that has good tea, preferably loose-leaf brewed and steeped properly, where I can plop down and read for a bit. Basically I'm looking for the "good tea" version of the ubiquitous cozy neighborhood coffee shop in NYC. Wifi preferred, outlets not necessary, good lighting a must! Anywhere subway-accessible within NYC is fair game.

posted by andrewesque to Travel & Transportation around New York, NY (11 answers total)

The café at the back of the Harney & Sons shop on Broome in SoHo is wonderful. There are no outlets, but they definitely have wifi and the tea prep is done to perfection (as you'd expect from Harney!).
posted by cvp at 10:43 AM on February 14, 2016 [1 favorite]

I like Tea and Sympathy on Greenwich.
posted by ananci at 10:46 AM on February 14, 2016

I like Cha-An very much.
posted by slkinsey at 11:15 AM on February 14, 2016 [1 favorite]

Argo Tea has a few locations in Manhattan.
posted by lovelygirl at 11:32 AM on February 14, 2016 [1 favorite]

David's Tea has 2 locations in nyc.
posted by brujita at 12:05 PM on February 14, 2016

Seconding Argo Tea. When I lived in Manhattan I would work sometimes from the 7th Ave and 26th St one. For a franchise, it has a shocking amount of different kinds of tea available, and they were pretty good. But I recommend it since you're looking for a place to do laptop work. I don't know about other locations, but that one had a pretty spacious area with tables to work from, which is unusual in NYC. It's also "corporate" enough that I didn't feel bad sitting there working for a while. Tea & Sympathy is by all measures better tea and atmosphere, but I would feel uncomfortable opening a laptop and working from there for longer than 20-30 minutes.
posted by losvedir at 12:12 PM on February 14, 2016

In Harlem (Frederick Douglass & 123rd) Serengeti Teas and Spice
posted by Consult The Oracle at 12:19 PM on February 14, 2016

I love Tea Drunk for excellent Chinese teas in the East Village.
posted by asphericalcow at 3:03 PM on February 14, 2016

Teany on the LES has closed.

DavidsTea on Bleecker St has limited seating, so it may be better to do another location.
posted by kathryn at 5:27 PM on February 14, 2016

Harney and Sons has great tea but it's not so good to hang out -- you can drink a cup or two but it's very precious and doesn't really have a coffee-shop vibe. Also, call me a snob but I don't think Argo Tea's tea is that good at all, and they have like one kind of actually-black tea and one kind of actually-green tea, and the rest is flavored. And it's all low-grade of course.

Ceci-cela on Spring Street has Harney tea bags and great croissants (some of the best in town!) and it has some great tables in the back where nobody will bother you. If you just want some English Breakfast, it's fine. If you're looking for, like, sencha or something, look elsewhere.

Olive Tree Cafe, above the Comedy Cellar on Macdougal, serves tea in pots and has free wifi and is lots of fun in general, but the tea in the pots is still bagged IIRC.

I guess what I'm trying to say is, if you find the place you're looking for, can you let me know?
posted by goingonit at 5:59 PM on February 14, 2016

Gorilla coffee does a nice job with their looseleaf teas and their shops are nice places to sit in.
posted by Narrative Priorities at 7:14 PM on February 14, 2016