Tea Places: Harney and Sons SoHo

This past weekend I had the pleasure of attending a screening of The Meaning of Tea (a documentary I somehow neglected to review) at Harney and Sons’s tasting room in SoHo. I had been meaning to check it out and this event was a perfect excuse. I had a blast and got to meet several new and old tea friends including James Norwood Pratt, Michael Harney, Jason of Walker Tea Review, Alexis of Teaspoons & Petals and Caleb Brown of Calebrown.com.

The first thing that I noticed was how large the space is. I love a tea shop that isn’t crowded and cluttered. The second was the massive wall of tea tins. It’s so large that the staff need a tall rolling ladder just to reach them all! They had a small selection of teaware, including an adorable lizard topped yixing that took all of my willpower not to buy. I also loved that the staff was not pushy at all. I am a chronic circler and browser and they gave me all the space and time that I needed. After working up an appetite I took a seat at the bar in their tea lounge. Separated from the rest of the shop by bookcases it is a wonderful place to take a load off. I had a cup of sencha (which was delicious) and some pumpkin bread that was out of this world. If you ever in SoHo this place is definitely a must visit for any tea lover.