Teaism - A set of Tea Houses in Washington, DC
Hi Tea Friends!
I hope you’re enjoying these posts about different businesses! I’ve been writing these posts in hopes of helping spread the word about their shops. Before all the social distancing mandates, I wanted to head back to Teaism and do a full post with photos but since I can’t, I placed an order and now I will share.
I first discovered Teaism by chance. It was early in my tea journey and I was taking myself on a little DC adventure. I like to go to explore new places on my own every so often. I saw a place called Teaism and I was SO excited, I hadn’t really found any tea places in DC. I was so excited because I could go into their shop and get pu’er AND a delicious meal! There is also a gift shop with all sorts of goodies from teaware to treats to my pins! Teaism is one of the first places that placed a wholesale order for my pins and I am forever grateful for their support.
When I chose what to get, I decided to get the essentials for quarantine. They had this granola which was perfect because we are thinking of creative breakfasts that we don’t normally eat.
I then saw that they had both bai mudan and bai hao and had to get those as well! As you can see below, their teas are beautiful! On the right is the bai hao and on the right is the bai mudan! I tried both and they were very fresh and flavorful!
One thing that I really liked about their packaging is that there is a clasp that comes with the tea bags so you can easily close it and keep it clsoed.
This is a shop that is a staple in DC and closing down their locations was a difficult decision I’m sure. If you’re not in the area, you can’t try their delicious food for pick up but take a look at their teas and other offerings.
https://www.teaism.com/
I wanted to share a little more about their story so here is information from their About Us page:
We founded Teaism in 1996 with the goal of making exquisite loose leaf tea accessible to all. In a time and place where tea was conceived as either a dark powder in a bag with a string – to be sweetened heavily and discarded – or a stuffy afternoon affair with china and linens, we wanted to highlight the beautiful diversity of the camellia sinensis plant itself. We wanted our guests to be enrolled in their choice to drink tea and have a relationship to the leaf.
To accompany the teas, and to highlight the cuisines of countries where teas are grown, we served curries, bento boxes, and other healthy Asian-inspired meals. Teaism’s offerings were prepared in a rustic, fast-casual setting, many years before “fast casual” became a dining term.
Our first location opened in Dupont Circle and is still there today. Teaism now has three unique restaurant-teahouse locations throughout Washington, D.C., as well as a small retail shop and a space in Union Market.
Twenty-plus years later, we’re still active in Teaism’s daily operations. We have evolved and learned so much, while also working to stay true to our values of serving tea and food with integrity. We have an amazing team, and we feel so lucky to be able to interact with our incredibly kind and thoughtful customers every day. Stop by and say hi!
– Linda Neumann and Michelle Brown
