Mad Hat Tea Company.

Mad Hat Tea Company calls itself an urban tea house in the heart of Tacoma, and the address is as central as it gets: 924 Broadway, in the downtown Theater District, a few doors from the theatres and the Link line. The site's own description says the shop started fourteen years ago to focus on the highest quality teas and herbs; it does not give a year, so neither do we. What it does give is the count — over 300 teas and herbs — and the catalogue backs it up.

At the time of writing, the shop listed 58 plain black teas and 35 flavoured ones, 18 greens, 10 oolongs, 15 pu-erhs, 6 whites, 18 yerba mates, 31 rooibos, 7 honeybush and 46 botanicals, plus a wholesale page for cafes. The Chinese blacks are the strength: a Yunnan Hong Cha, a Keemun Hao Ya A, a Golden Monkey and a Jin Jun Mei sit next to the breakfast blends, and the oolong shelf goes from a Wuyi Shui Xian to a Ti Kuan Yin and a Monkey Picked. The Ceylon, Assam and Darjeeling estate teas were sold out then.

Every loose tea is sold from 50 g upward in 50 g steps at the same rate per step, so a 250 g bag costs exactly five times the 50 g one. That flat rule, more than any single tea, is what makes the shop worth a detour: you can take home fifty grams each of a Keemun, a Golden Monkey and a Jin Jun Mei for the price of one large tin elsewhere and settle the question of Chinese black tea at your own kettle. The counter opens Tuesday to Sunday and closes Mondays.