El Naranjo is a chain of health-food shops rather than a tea house, and for a tea drinker in Montevideo that makes it the most useful pantry in the city. Its site lists nine addresses in Montevideo — Ciudad Vieja, Centro, Unión, Malvín, Pocitos, Punta Carretas, Carrasco, the Mercado Agrícola and a central pick-up point — plus one in Punta del Este. Stock is shown branch by branch online, so a jar of loose herbs can be located before crossing town for it.
The tea end of the shop has three layers. Loose herbs are weighed out in 25 g: chamomile flowers, boldo, cedrón, dandelion and passionflower, with linden in 15 g. Hibiscus flowers and rose petals come fractioned in 100 g. Then come the bagged brands — Twinings English Breakfast, Earl Grey and Lady Grey, Ahmad Ceylon, Hornimans red tea, Cabral rooibos and ginger with lemon, Supremo sencha, mint and white tea — and organic Campo Claro yerba sold by the kilo.
Two things go beyond the everyday. Twinings English Breakfast is also stocked loose, in 100 g, and there is a Milk Oolong Sinfonía in 80 g of whole leaf. Around them the shop is a grocery: nuts, seeds, honey, spices, oils, flours, preserves and fresh produce. Hours are long — the Mercado Agrícola branch runs until ten at night — and several branches open on Sundays, so the everyday cup can be restocked on a weekend.
Tea shops · Montevideo, Uruguay