Thés Guru

Thés Guru has been in business since 2003 and keeps its flagship at 1289 rue Beaubien Est, in Rosemont–La Petite-Patrie, where a tea salon, the Oishi matcha bar and a discovery counter share one room. A second address, Charyū par Thés Guru at 6872 rue Saint-Hubert, is a tea bar with a tatami room and its own menu, and the shop says each of the two carries a different range. The collection runs past 600 teas and tisanes, sold loose and also wholesale for resale, and opening hours are not printed on the site, so a phone call before a first visit is worth it.

Japan is the centre of gravity: shincha, gyokuro, kabusecha, a Sencha de Yame at CA$ 9.50 the 50 g, Genmaicha de Yame at CA$ 12.50, a Hojicha Bōcha, and ceremonial matchas listed by cultivar. Around it sit Taiwanese and Chinese wulongs such as the Nai Xiang milk oolong at CA$ 13.50 and a Rou Gui from the Wuyi cliffs, a Long Jing from Qiantang, a Huang Shan Mao Feng, aged pu-erh cakes and leaf including a 2007 Xishuangbanna sheng, a Fu Zhuan hei cha, Vietnamese teas from Lam Dong and Ha Giang, and herbs such as chrysanthemum buds. Most teas come in 10, 25, 50, 100 and 250 g, and the 10 g size, CA$ 5.50 for the Zheng Shan Xiao Zhong or CA$ 25 for a competition-grade Dong Fang Mei Ren, is the way in.

The shop runs in-person workshops on the gaiwan, the gyokuro ceremony, a matcha masterclass and wagashi, and professional tea-training programmes, and sells a deep range of Japanese and Chinese teaware: kyusu, chawan, gaiwan and Yixing pots. Orders over CA$ 70 ship free to most regions of Canada. The combination of a teaching room, a matcha bar and a catalogue this wide under one roof is what sets it apart in the city.