The Fragrant Leaf

The Fragrant Leaf is an importer and retailer of loose-leaf tea and teaware from Asia, with a boutique at 3207 Silver Ave SE in Nob Hill run by a small team. The house says it tastes hundreds of teas a year and keeps only those it judges best, many from small farms and artisan makers. Its own catalogue is organised by origin: Chinese, Japanese, Indian and Nepalese greens, Chinese and Taiwanese oolongs, blacks, whites, pu-erh and herbal, with a matcha sourced from Marukyu-Koyamaen in Uji.

Almost every tea is sold in 2 oz, 4 oz and 8 oz bags, with a small sample available for most, and the product pages read like a harvest log. The organic Dragon Well is the 2026 spring crop from the Li family near Hangzhou; the Monkey Picked Tie Guan Yin is a lightly oxidised, unroasted oolong from the Guo family in Anxi; the Silver Needle was picked by the Wu family in Fuding before Qing Ming 2026. The Assam Golden Tips comes from the Meleng estate and the shou pu-erh is a 2015 vintage from Xishuangbanna.

The boutique opens Wednesday to Saturday from noon to 5pm and Sunday from noon to 4pm. One Sunday a month it hosts a themed three-course afternoon tea, dine-in or carryout, paired with two of its teas; group tea classes on the main categories, on greens and whites, on oolongs and on matcha are offered by reservation, though at the time of writing they are paused. Online orders ship free within the United States over $60, and there are six- and twelve-month tea clubs.