Tea shops · Philadelphia, United States
Tea shops · Philadelphia, United StatesOld City Coffee
A Philadelphia coffee roaster since 1985 whose short tea shelf covers the classics, sold in 4 and 5.25 oz bags.
Eleven teas, no oolong and no white: this is a coffee house that stocks tea properly, not a tea house that happens to sell coffee.
Old City Coffee was founded in 1985 by Ruth Isaac as a one-person operation at 221 Church Street, in the neighbourhood it is named after. By 1988 it had a second counter inside Reading Terminal Market, and today there is an annex there as well, at 1136 Arch Street. Coffee roasted in small batches is what most people walk in for; the tea shelf is a deliberately short list kept beside it, not an afterthought bought from a catalogue.
Eleven teas make up that list. The blacks come in 5.25 oz bags at US$ 12 — Earl Grey, a Keemun sold under the English Breakfast name, and an organic Nilgiri — with a decaf Ceylon at US$ 10. An organic Darjeeling and a Sencha Green come in smaller 4 oz bags at US$ 12 and US$ 11. The herbal end is hibiscus and a lemon ginger blend in 4 oz, spearmint in 2 oz, and the house herbal blend of spearmint, chamomile and hibiscus in 3 oz.
There is one green tea, no oolong and no white, and that is an honest picture of what a roaster sells: tea for the person who makes coffee at home and wants one or two teas in the cupboard too. The three counters are all in historic Philadelphia — Church Street in Old City, plus the main stand and the annex inside Reading Terminal Market — and the shop takes online orders for pickup as well as shipping.
- verified prices
- 11
- tea types
- 3
- from
- US$ 9.50
- shops
- 1
Where it is
Old City
221 Church St, Philadelphia, PA 19106
On Church Street in Old City, with two further counters inside Reading Terminal Market, at 51 N 12th St and at the 1136 Arch Street annex.
What to buy here
Keemun
Keemun (English Breakfast)
US$ 12 · 5.25 oz
The breakfast tea here is a single Keemun rather than a blend of several origins. The name on the bag tells you the style; the label tells you the leaf.
See our page on this tea →Darjeeling
Darjeeling, Organic
US$ 12 · 4 oz
The only Darjeeling on the shelf, certified organic and sold in the smaller 4 oz bag. Among the blacks it is the one bought for the leaf rather than for the pot.
See our page on this tea →Sencha
Sencha Green
US$ 11 · 4 oz
The only green tea on the list, which makes this one bag the entire Japanese side of the shelf.
See our page on this tea →
The one worth the trip
Nilgiri Organic
US$ 12 · 5.25 oz
Nilgiri stands beside Assam and Darjeeling as one of India's three big black-tea regions, and here it gets a bag of its own, organic. At 5.25 oz it holds more leaf than the Darjeeling for the same US$ 12, so it is the generous purchase on this shelf. On a coffee roaster's counter it is the one bag that shows somebody made a choice.
See our page on this tea →Every price we read, one by one
List prices read on the shop's own product pages. Open a tea to see who else sells it.
| Tea | Type | Price | Size |
|---|---|---|---|
| Spearmint | Herbal infusion | US$ 9.50 | 2 oz |
| Decaf Ceylon | Black tea | US$ 10 | 5.25 oz |
| Sencha Green | Green tea | US$ 11 | 4 oz |
| Hibiscus | Herbal infusion | US$ 11 | 4 oz |
| Lemon Ginger Herbal | Herbal infusion | US$ 11 | 4 oz |
| Blue Eyes Herbal Blend | Herbal infusion | US$ 11 | 4 oz |
| Herbal Blend | Herbal infusion | US$ 11 | 3 oz |
| Earl Grey | Black tea | US$ 12 | 5.25 oz |
| Keemun (English Breakfast) | Black tea | US$ 12 | 5.25 oz |
| Darjeeling, Organic | Black tea | US$ 12 | 4 oz |
| Nilgiri Organic | Black tea | US$ 12 | 5.25 oz |
Teas you can find here
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Prices checked by us on Sep 8, 2026; they may change. No shop pays to appear here.