Brooklyn Tea – Atlanta

Brooklyn Tea was born in Bed-Stuy, Brooklyn, where its first shop is at 411 Lewis Avenue, and it also pours at JFK Terminal 4. The Atlanta tearoom belongs to owner Kerri-Ann T. Thomas, born and raised in Brooklyn and a graduate of Spelman College, who says she knows her Castleberry Hill block by name and can be found greeting customers, packing teas or hanging a shelf. The room at 329 Nelson Street SW offers more than a dozen teas, coffee, small bites, indoor seating, modern décor and free Wi-Fi, and opens Tuesday to Saturday from ten to five.

The online list is unusually deep in straight teas for a neighborhood tearoom: Assam, Nilgiri, a Yunnan and a Mim estate Darjeeling among the blacks; sencha from Kagoshima, Dragonwell, gyokuro, genmaicha and hojicha among the greens; Iron Goddess of Mercy, Alishan, milk oolong and Da Hong Pao among the oolongs; Pai Mu Tan and silver needle among the whites; a young pu-erh; and a matcha. Most come in pouches of one, two or three ounces before the tins, so the Iron Goddess, the white peony and the pu-erh can each be tried for under nine dollars.

At the counter there are masala chai lattes, iced teas such as cucumber melon, a pot to stay or a pouch or tin to take home, and afternoon and high tea for two or for twenty. From April to October the shop hosts a block party every Saturday with food and a live DJ, which it calls Atlanta's favorite. Online orders currently take three to five days to fulfil and ship free over fifty dollars, and the same list is sold in Brooklyn and at the airport.