Tao Tea Leaf.

Tao Tea Leaf was founded in 2009 by Tao Wu, and its main shop is at 934 Yonge Street, in the Yorkville area, near Rosedale station. It is a store and a tea salon at once: loose leaf is weighed at the counter while tea drinks are poured in the same room. Two more counters carry the name, one inside Union Station at 65 Front St W and one in Mississauga, but the Yonge Street shop is the one that sells the full range by weight.

The range is the point. Oolongs run from Tie Guan Yin and Phoenix Dan Cong to a dark-roasted Dong Ding and a premium Da Hong Pao, CA$ 13 to 17 for 25 g. There is a Jun Shan Yin Zhen yellow tea; a raw sheng tuo cha from the 2010 harvest and a shou from Jing Mai; three whites, Silver Needle, White Peony and Shou Mei; a classic Keemun; sencha and jasmine greens; a rosehip and a yerba mate; and a 113 g tin of organic ceremonial matcha at CA$ 39.99.

All of it is sold from 25 g, which is what makes a catalogue this wide usable: a first order can be six teas instead of one. The salon pours hot and cold tea drinks and lattes, the shop stocks teaware from cast-iron pots to Yixing clay, and it runs tea classes in small private groups. Online orders ship free above CA$ 99 and arrive with samples, and the Yonge Street counter holds pickups Monday to Saturday between noon and six.