Your favorite tea shops?

[Peaches to Poutine]

I've decided that hot tea is the way to go for the coming cold months and am looking for the most interesting and diverse places in Montreal that sell loose-leaf tea. I've already been to My Cup of Tea in Chinatown (lovely selection, extremely nice owners), Camellia Sinensis (very nice white tea from there), Kusmi, and a location of David's Teas. I am aware of the massive selection at Les Douceurs du Marche, and I haven't yet been to Amours des Thes.

But where is your favorite? And what is your favorite teas from the places you love?

[hala]

I am a fan of Salon du Thé. It is an oasis in the old port area.

[hala]

Thanks to Unlaced, I now know that this store is Ming Tao Xuan (451 St Sulpice).

[unlaced]

Have you been to Ming Tao Xuan, near Notre Dame in Old Montreal?
(451 St Sulpice)

I went there for the first time over the weekend and it was such a relaxing, calming experience. The gentleman who served our teas, and took us through the ritual was fantastic.

www.mingtaoxuan.com

[Peaches to Poutine]

I'm looking at their website now and drooling.

Seriously, you guys have gone above and beyond the call of duty in this thread! You all are awesome!

[hala]

This is embarassing. This is the shop I have been referring to as Salon de The for years. It is a lovely store. Wonderful tea, a bit pricy, but they make such a production of serving it that they make you feel you're having a sacred experience. The snacks they serve are also excellent and the teapots for sale are to drool over.

[Pixie Muse]

La Bottine aux Herbes on St. Denis...

[nazaruk]

Which one of these tea places offers the best quality-value experience?

[Peaches to Poutine]

I checked out their website and I was underwhelmed, sadly. Is it a better thing to actually go in person?

[SourberryLily]

I think i've been there. They have a lot of herbal tea and seemed to be very oriented towards natural medicine and such. I do not remember what their tea selection is like unfortunatly.

[oana]

There is a new place that opened up in Mile End. It's called Spice Station. They are out of California and seem to be a massive hit there. I went in just to take a look but was in a rush and did not buy anything. They have an extensive selection of loose tea. They claim over 100. Here is their website: http://spicestationsilverlake.com/

[Peaches to Poutine]

:)

Can I blame you guys when my husband asks why we have a bajillion tins of tea in our pantry?

:scribbles down new place on ever-growing list:

[hala]

We should just get together and buy each other tons of tea as gifts. That way every time the guys ask why we have too much tea, we can say that it's gifts from our friends.

[TheSnowpea]

Hey Ms Peaches,

My vote goes to Amour des thés, even though their NDG store closed a while back.

I was a loyalist so I've yet to visit CHA GUAN La maison du thé, which is also on Monkland in the NDG neighborhood. http://www.chaguan.ca/

Snowpea

[Peaches to Poutine]

Oh, I am totally going to go Amour des Thés; I complied a list of all potential tea shops and added Cha Guan to it! This is so exciting! (It's sad that I get excited about this, isn't it?)

[SourberryLily]

Hey... i get excited over a cookie. No judging from my end!

[hala]

I am as excited as you are. Tea is to be excited about.

[hala]

Cha Noir in Verdun is also really fun.

[SourberryLily]

I heard good things about that place. Is it mostly sale of teas or do they have seating?

[unlaced]

They have seating, though the place is very small - a couple of tables for two and some for four I think. They have free wifi, and I often pass by to see some people working at the tables

[hala]

They serve tea, chocolate (seasonal), and a couple of things to snack on. It's pretty small, but their teas are good.

[SourberryLily]

I've purchased a amazing white jasmin tea from Amours du thé.

You should also try Aziatica downtown. Chinese mostly, some beautiful blooming teas. http://www.asiatica.ca/

If you're a big tea drinker then indeed try Akhavan for middle eastern teas or Marche Hawai for chinese teas. The later has a staggering collection of loose or package at very low prices. This is a good place to get the expensive gunpowder or dragon pearls tea (10$ a jar versus 15-20 anywhere else).

EDIT: I also want to add that i love STASH aromatic tea, found in most groceries. It's not loose leaf, it's not pure tea, but they make a great afternoon tea (or ice tea!). I love the anise or chai ones.

[deborahm]

Although not a sit-down place, La Bottine aux Herbes on Saint-Denis has great selection of loose leaf herbal teas (and many used frequently for medicinal purposes). I think that they are affiliated with the Herbalist academy and the staff are very knowledgeable, if you're looking for this sort of thing as well.

[kpzoo]

Akhavan has a nice selection of loose, packaged black teas - Iranian, Turkish, Indian, and more. I particularly like the Jahan blends of Earl Grey, cardamom, and just plain old "tea."

[Maximilien]

I think you just listed the major ones in the city, .

I usually go to Camelia for more exotic teas (like Pu-erh teas) and to Kusmi for my day to day earl-grey (and other similar teas)

Now, I navigate between a Pu-erg (the most "ordinary" one), a Darjeeling (1st flush) and Fuding Mao Jian (green tea) all from Camillia Sinensis.

You could see what is available at Myamoto (victoria st. in Westmount) for some japanese teas; but from what I've seen they have mostly "packaged" teas..

M.