The Teacup
(16 reviews)*online only* Seattle, Washington 98109-2313, United States 206-283-5931 Website Suggest Changes
Teacup has transitioned to an online only business. Please check out the website for the same great teas!
Recent reviews
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IZ
This place rocks. The tea is excellent but the real strength is the staff coupled with a great tasting policy. I always go when I know it will be quiet so that I can taste a bunch of new teas - and the staff are great guides. Tell them what your current favorites are and they will select several that they think you may also like - and tell you exactly why. I have bought tea in many shops - and occasionally find a one somewhere else and have to buy it but I always come back to the teacup.
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Mikke
This cozy neighborhood joint isn't about tea as spectacle. It's Ground Zero for Pugetopolis tea geeks. I don't go there for 'food' or 'artistry,' just for great big pots of hundreds of outstanding teas, at very reasonable prices, perfectly and simply prepared. Think of it as a sort of...American Zen. See the tea. Be the tea. It is small, sometimes noisy and bustling, sometimes quite placid, but always a 'hoody atmosphere, even though the 'hood is the Queen Anne district. Most business is in-and-out bulk tea buying. The menu assumes you know about tea...and if you don't, not only the staff but patrons as well will be happy to coach you through your questions and explorations. Fear not!, for I've never been to a tearoom with a more liberal and friendly tasting policy. Or a greater love of the leaf. Or greater sheer enjoyment of tea. Not tea as discourse, words, explanations. Tea as something for YOU to drink, savor, enjoy, explore, and embody, in line with your tastes, preferences, and experiences.
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Bruce
I like this shop for it's variety of tea and usually find some interesting teas here when I come for a visit to Seattle. The servers know their tea and offer advise on selection and finding similar teas to what you like from other locales and regions. Their prices are good and they offer a reasonable selection of teaware. The tea drinking space is limited but they offer wi-fi and is a cute place to come and spend a morning reading and sipping through a pot of tea. I recommend you visit this shop when in Seattle Queen Anne hilltop region.
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Jamie
I would take the bus from Capitol Hill in Seattle to this tea shop in Queen Ann every weekend when I was an undergrad to study at this tea shop. It is small and cozy with a friendly and attentive staff. Every person I meet who worked there was knowledgeable about the teas they offered and their preparation. I wouldn't have made it through undergrad without this shop.
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Elaine
I go to the TeaCup often and believe they are unsurpassed in variety, quality, and knowledgability of their teas. However, seating is uncomfortable, the merchendise looks like clutter, & there is no atmosphere. Conversation is impossible. It's a place to stop in, choose, buy and leave; not sit and drink. Good scones! Too bad I wasn't comfortable enough to enjoy them entirely. And, oh, those little jam packets are awful!
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Jameson Bratcher
This is the best tea shop I have ever been to. The most helpful and knowledgeable people I have found at any business anywhere. They have always answered my question fully and go to great lengths to make sure that I choose a tea that I enjoy. The quality of the tea has not been paralleled by anyone else's I have tried. My favorite part is how at just the mention of a tea they already have it in front of you to smell. They are quick to give samples as well. I love this shop and all the tea and tea products I have purchased.
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Tim
The Teacup has become one of my favorite places in Seattle in the past year to just sit and do nothing except enjoy a pot of tea and watch the world go by. It is a wonderfully welcome unpretentious hole in the wall atop yuppified Queen Anne. The interior is small, cozy, humble and very peaceful with a few wood tables, a few shelves of tea pots, china and tea accessories and books about tea. I like to sit outside on the sidewalk at one of two outdoor tables they provide when I have my pot of tea and watch the shoppers, couples and families go by. The variety of tea is staggering, and as mentioned in a previous review, Brett does a tea taste every Saturday at 1pm, which is where I learned about a nice oolong tea and about the importance of temperature and steep time. He and all the staff are cordial and welcoming. My favorite teas that they distribute are the Dammann Frères Teas imported from France. My favorite is Silk Road, but I also like Opera, Poet's Tea, Paris Romance, La Belle Helene, and Jardin Bleu. When they serve a pot of tea, they give you a fine china tea cup & saucer, a whole pot, a little dish to put the leaf basket in, a timer, and even a really cool tea cozy for the pot, and you can have them refill the pot with hot water too. It's a great place to take an hour out of your day to enjoy the present.
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iz
This place rocks. I have been going here for years now. I usually head in on a Saturday morning with a list of what I am out of and an idea of what new direction I would like to go. The folks behind the counter are a bounty of information and before you know it you are tasting a bunch of new teas and deciding which you’d like to take for the longer test drive. Honestly, the first time I went into this place I’d had a horrible customer service week. Seemed that everywhere I went I was faced with people who knew almost nothing about what they were doing and took even less pride in how they did it. Come Saturday morning I wandered in to the Tea Cup and had such a great experience that I am a loyal customer now for close to 4 years. They have a good selection of tea – there are a few places in the region that stock more – but you can’t beat the knowledge or the service……
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Charles Landis
I've been ordering their teas on-line for several years. Recently I visited the establishment in person for the first time. Very nice people who love tea as much as their clientele. But it's the teas themselves: the organic Earl Gray is to die for, as is the Madagascar Vanilla. Lovingly cared for. First class!
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Lewis
I've been to 4 teahouses in Seattle area. This one is my favorite in terms of the tea quality (second best for interior design, which is not important for me). The store manager Brett is very knowledgeable, and for the love of tea, he even took time learning Mandarin, making trips to Taiwan to learn tea making with tea masters. Their Taiwanese tea collection has very high quality. Don't forget to try their wenshan baozhong (pouchong) tea for sure.
Oh, almost every saturday afternoon at 1pm Brett will perform tea ceremony for tea lovers for free. He and other employees love teas and are passionate about it. You won't be disappointed.
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B. Holm
My wife and I stopped in this teahouse/shop while passing through Seattle recently. I found it on this web site. We wanted to see if they had any interesting loose teas available that I haven't tried before. I am an avid tea drinker, owning many teas myself and am always looking for new and unusual teas to add to my collection.
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We didn't have time to sit down and order tea this trip so I can't comment on how well they serve their teas to sit-down customers. We just wanted to purchase some loose tea to take with us.
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We were immediately greeted by a gentleman behind the counter who offered to help us. His knowledge of their teas was excellent and appeared to frequent and enjoy many of the teas himself. He presented the tins for inspection and sniffing and offered advice on each. He prepared and offered to let us sample several teas, as well as gave us free tea samples to take along with the teas we purchased. He was truely interested in helping us find what we were interested in, was obviously passionate about his product, and did a great job helping us find what we came for.
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I would highly recommend this place for purchase of loose tea. They have probably close to 90 loose tea varieties in their store and over 130 on their web site... ranging the full gamut of teas (white, green, oolong, black, rooibos, herbal, tissane, etc.) I look forward to my next visit here when we come to Seattle again.