Tea Cozy

Tea Cozy has been selling loose tea in Sacramento since 1998 and today sits at 1021 R Street, inside the ARTHOUSE building on the R Street corridor between Midtown and downtown. The shelves hold more than 150 varieties across white, green, oolong, black, pu-erh and herbal, plus teaware, gifts and a loyalty programme, and the whole list is also on its web shop. The counter opens Tuesday from 10am to 6pm, Wednesday to Saturday from 10am to 4pm and Sunday from 11am to 2pm, rests on Monday, and adds an evening opening from 5pm to 8pm on the second Saturday of each month.

Most teas come in 2, 4, 8 and 16 oz bags, with the 2 oz bag as the entry point: Assam Organic, Ceylon, Rooibos and Spearmint at US$ 7.50, Decaf Earl Grey at US$ 8.50, and a long shelf at US$ 9.20 that takes in Darjeeling Margaret's Hope, Dragon Well, Gen Mai Cha, Ti Kuan Yin, Tung Ting, the White Tip Oolong from Taiwan, Pai Mu Tan, a Golden Tip Puerh and the Pu-erh Mini Tuo Cha. Hojicha and Jasmine Black sit at US$ 10 and Milk Oolong Taiwan at US$ 13. The dearer leaves are sold by the ounce or half ounce: Gyokuro at US$ 8 the half ounce, Jasmine Dragon Phoenix Pearls at US$ 10 and Monkey Picked Ti Kuan Yin at US$ 14 the ounce, and the organic Yin Zhen at US$ 30.

What sets the shop apart in Sacramento is range at a low ticket: it is the only counter in the city with a Chinese white, a Taiwanese oolong, a Japanese gyokuro and two pu-erhs on the same wall, and the small bags mean a first visit can leave with four of them for the price of one tin. The herbal side runs to organic nettle, tulsi and a butterfly blue pea sold in bags from 0.3 oz. For a Sunday morning it is one of the few tea shops in the city that opens at all, if only until 2pm.