Tea shops · Albuquerque, United States
Tea shops · Albuquerque, United StatesThe St. James Tearoom
An English-style tearoom on Osuna Road, open since 1999, whose Market gift shop and online store sell its loose leaf in 2 oz and 4 oz bags.
The afternoon tea needs a reservation; the bag of Keemun you take home from the Market does not.
The St. James Tearoom opened in December 1999 as a 27-seat tea service just north of Old Town, started by Mary Alice Higbie, who had practised the British tradition of tea all her life, with her son Daniel. Three expansions later it occupies a building at 320 Osuna Rd NE designed, in the house's words, to make guests feel transported to a different time and place. Afternoon tea is served by reservation at fixed seating times from Tuesday to Sunday, with carry-out at set pickup times.
The Market is the tearoom's gift shop, with its loose-leaf teas, fine china and gifts, and the same teas are sold online. Most come in 2 oz and 4 oz bags: an Indian Assam from the Burmese border that the house calls dark, weighty and malty; a China Keemun with a toasty finish that it describes as the breakfast tea of China and a favourite of the owner; an English Breakfast blend; a rolled Gunpowder green; and Island Garden Pouchong, an organic Taiwanese-style pouchong scented with coconut. A Teas of Japan range adds a deep-steamed Shizuoka sencha by the ounce.
The Market keeps its own hours: Tuesday from 10:45am to 6pm, Wednesday to Saturday from 10:45am to 8pm and Sunday from 10:45am to 6pm, closed on Mondays, so it is possible to shop without booking a table. Each product page gives the house's own steeping advice, down to the seconds for the Japanese teas, and the site keeps a general guide on how to steep tea. Prices here are per bag rather than per ounce, so it is the place for one good bag of a classic rather than a tasting flight.
- prices
- 6
- tea types
- 3
- from
- US$ 7.95
- shops
- 1
Where it is
Osuna Road
320 Osuna Rd NE, Suite D, Albuquerque, NM 87107
Hours: Market: Tue 10:45–18:00 · Wed–Sat 10:45–20:00 · Sun 10:45–18:00 · Mon closed
What to buy here
Keemun
China Keemun Black Tea
from US$ 10.95 · 2 oz
A rich, toasty Keemun that the house calls the breakfast tea of China and a favourite of its owner, meant to be taken with brown sugar and a little milk.
See our page on this tea →Assam
Indian Assam
from US$ 9.95 · 2 oz
A dark, weighty Assam grown near the Indian-Burmese border, the leaf the Irish put in their blends, with malty notes that brown sugar brings out.
See our page on this tea →Sencha
Teas of Japan: Sencha
US$ 7.95 · 1 oz
A deep-steamed sencha from Shizuoka sold by the single ounce, with the house's exact advice: 2 minutes 15 seconds at a low simmer, no sugar, no milk.
See our page on this tea →
The one worth the trip
Island Garden Pouchong (coconut)
from US$ 12.95 · 2 oz
Island Garden Pouchong is the tearoom's own take on baozhong, the lightly oxidised Taiwanese oolong: grand pouchong leaves scented with real coconut extract, certified organic, which the house describes as very light and yet very flavourful, to be taken with a touch of sugar. It is the tea here that you will not find on the other Albuquerque lists, and the one that most tastes like the tearoom itself when brewed at home.
See our page on this tea →All prices
Open a tea to see who else sells it.
| Tea | Type | Price | Size |
|---|---|---|---|
| Teas of Japan: Sencha | Green tea | US$ 7.95 | 1 oz |
| Indian Assam | Black tea | from US$ 9.95 | 2 oz |
| Gunpowder Green Tea | Green tea | from US$ 9.95 | 2 oz |
| English Breakfast Black Tea | Black tea | from US$ 10.95 | 2 oz |
| China Keemun Black Tea | Black tea | from US$ 10.95 | 2 oz |
| Island Garden Pouchong (coconut) | Oolong tea | from US$ 12.95 | 2 oz |
Teas you can find here
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