Cha Cha Tea

Cha Cha Tea is the shop of Kaoru, who is originally from Osaka and opened it in Kingston in 2006; she is a certified tea sommelier, and the shop marked its twentieth year in 2026. It sits at 506 Days Road, in the west end of the city, and is open Tuesday to Saturday from 9:30 to 5. Shipping is free within Canada on orders over 80 CA$, but the point of the place is the counter.

The Japanese shelf is the reason to come: Sencha, Genmaicha, Houjicha sold in 80 g bags, a Gyokuro Superior and a Matcha Superior in a 40 g foil bag, alongside a farmers' shincha when the season allows. Around it are estate teas rather than blends: a TGFOP Darjeeling from Margaret's Hope, an organic Assam, a Ceylon orange pekoe from Lovers Leap in Nuwara Eliya, Iron Goddess of Mercy and Milk Oolong, and Silver Needle and Pai Mu Tan sold by the 25 g. Nearly every tea has a 10 g sample tier, then 50 g and 100 g, and some come in 500 g bulk packs.

Once a month the shop turns into a classroom and a reading room at once: a tea-tasting workshop paired with a mystery book club, on the fourth Sunday from 1:30 to 3:00 for 30 CA$, with a short video chat about the book the same evening. For a first visit, buy the 10 g samples of the Sencha and the Gyokuro Superior, brew them side by side at home at a lower temperature than you think, and come back for the 50 g of whichever one you finished first.