This great little tea shop is tucked away in an unassuming office building, making it very easy to miss. While the outside might not look too spectacular, the inside is a nicely decorated retail room filled with the smells of delicious tea. The place is VERY small, but the teas looked very nice, and it’s obvious that the place is a labor of love.
Tea Gallerie carries only loose-leaf, and everything is in their own packaging. You can buy tea in nice 2 oz tins or bagged 2 oz and 4 oz. They seemed to carry blends for the most part, though they did have a decent selection of straight greens, oolongs, and pu-erhs. The only non-flavored black tea I saw was an Assam. They carried a special Darjeeling green that I’d never heard of before and would love to go back and try.
The woman I talked to was very nice and knowledgeable about all their teas. When I mentioned what I was looking for she directed me to a bunch of different teas, and even went into “the back” to see what they had that wasn’t on display.
Apparently they have a strong presence at local farmer’s markets and are making an effort to reach out into the community.
Overall, this is a nice little place that seems as if it’s just getting started. San Diego continually disappoints me with the lack of quality tea retailers, so I genuinely hope the Tea Gallerie finds success and continues to grow.
I was very skeptical of this place at first because of the location. An actual quality loose-leaf place in the middle of a Littleton shopping center? Could it be?
It could. They have a respectable collection of tea-ware. Their menu is filled with flavors and blends that I have no interest in, but between those they actually have some very nice loose-leaf selections. Their lapsang souchong was very good. If you order a cup to go, they actually time the steeping for you, instead of just handing you a cup of hot water with a tea-bag in it and leaving it up to you to make sure it doesn’t over-brew.
They only sell bulk in set amounts, which is a little annoying if I know I need a certain amount and I can only get either too much or too little, but that’s not enough to take off a star.
So far I’ve only bought their Jade Cloud green tea and Kukicha in bulk. I’ve yet to try the Kukicha, but the Jade Cloud was very nice. I have no idea where they source their tea, so it might be the same as another store.
I haven’t had much interaction with the staff since I generally know exactly what I’m looking for, but they’ve been very friendly the few times I’ve been.
Over all, a very nice place. I wish it was a little closer to Denver proper, now that Seven Cups is closed.
Rating this place just in time to see it close, which is very sad as they’re the only tea place relatively close to where I live.
My first time in the store was for the Friday tea-tastings. The staff member explained some history for each of the three teas presented and demonstrated some traditional brewing techniques. Her information seemed a little rehearsed, but I was willing to let that slide. Though it was a little annoying that she didn’t seem to have any thing to say when I asked about the other teas for sale.
The atmosphere was pleasant and comfortable. I decided to order a pot of white tea and stay for a while. As is my continual disappointment with most tea shops, the water they used didn’t seem to be filtered very well, and so the tea’s flavour was very muted. I also decided to order some food (I forget exactly what) and was again disappointed that it seemed to be from a frozen package and microwaved.
But aside from the that, they actual tea that they carried was of very high quality. I got a sampler bag of Oolongs that I’m still working through, and they’re all really fantastic.
Over all, while certainly not the most impressive of tea shops, this place will be sorely missed as a source of high-quality tea, and a wonderful place to simply relax and enjoy the atmosphere.
I walked into this place on impulse and was completely blown away. The food was FANTASTIC and the tea was amazing. I tried their special blend of Lapsang Souchong and Rooibos called Scarlet Sable. It was so good that I asked them if they could specially package some for me to buy (it isn’t something they normally sell in retail). They easily accommodated my request. The servers were all very knowledgeable and I easily fell into conversation with them. The atmosphere was great.
The only sad thing is that I don’t live in San Francisco and haven’t been able to go here since! I highly recommend this place to anyone who finds themselves in SF!
