Cultivate Tea

Cultivate Tea opened in 2014 in a 400-square-foot shop on South Main Street, five years after its founders walked into a small tea room in a Beijing alley and never forgot the quiet, methodical way tea was served there. Today the retail and tasting room is at 2280 Main Street, in Mount Pleasant, with a custom-built tea bar where the team runs guided comparative tastings. They host one group at a time, in three formats: matcha, seasonal, and one named after the house.

The Japanese shelf is anchored in Oku-Yame, the foggy upper part of the Yame region, where the Kakuda Seicha family farms in Kamyo-cho: Shinsui, a hand-picked sencha from the first picking of the season, and a kabusecha shaded under nets for about a week before harvest, both sold in 100 g. From Taiwan comes Red Jade, the cross of Burmese Assam and Taiwanese oolong, made by Li Qifeng in Nantou. Matcha Hikari is from Nishio, in 50 g bags or a tin, with larger bags up to 200 g.

China brings the oldest leaves on the list. Flower Fairy is a Shuixian from Bishi, the Jade Stone Cliff inside the Wuyi Mountain reserve, given only two rounds of charcoal roasting and then aged for a year. Arbor White 2018 comes pressed into mini cakes from Mangnuo village in Lincang, where Lahu settlers planted tea trees during the Ming Dynasty. The rarer leaves start at 25 g, a size that lets you try them without committing to a large bag. The shop also sells wholesale.