Tea shops · Washington, DC, United States
Tea shops · Washington, DC, United StatesTeaism
The tea company that has been pouring loose leaf in Washington since 1996, with a retail shop two doors from its Penn Quarter teahouse.
Three teahouses and one shop. The teahouses are where the city drinks tea; the shop at 400 8th Street is where it takes tea home.
Teaism was founded in 1996 by Linda Neumann and Michelle Brown, with the stated aim of making loose leaf tea accessible to everyone. The first room was at Dupont Circle, 2009 R Street NW, and it is still there. Two more followed, at Lafayette Park on Connecticut Avenue and at Penn Quarter on 8th Street. Service is fast-casual and no reservations are taken, which is unusual for a tea business of this age and part of why it became the default answer to where to drink tea in this city.
The retail Tea Shop sits two doors from the Penn Quarter room and is the part worth planning a visit around. Loose leaf is sold in six sizes, from two ounces to two pounds, so the same tea can be a trial or a year's supply. The list is organised the old way, by type: blacks and chai, greens, oolongs, whites and tisanes, with gifts, samplers, teaware and brewing equipment alongside. Handmade ceramics and art share the shelves with the tins.
Two details are worth knowing before ordering. The ceremonial matcha is a fixed 40 gram tin and the page names its producer, Marukyu Koyamaen of Uji in Kyoto, which very few American shops bother to do. And the rewards programme only counts purchases made in person: the shop says plainly that mail orders earn no points. If you live in the city, that is an argument for walking to 8th Street rather than clicking.
- verified prices
- 6
- tea types
- 6
- from
- US$ 9.50
- shops
- 3
Where it is
Tea Shop at Penn Quarter
400 8th Street NW, Washington, DC 20004
Hours: 11:00–18:00, seven days a week
Dupont Circle teahouse
2009 R Street NW, Washington, DC 20009
Hours: 11:00–20:00, seven days a week
Lafayette Park teahouse
800 Connecticut Avenue NW, Washington, DC 20006
Hours: 11:00–20:00, seven days a week
What to buy here
Tieguanyin
Anxi
from US$ 9.50 · 2 oz
The cheapest two ounces on the shelf and a rolled oolong from the county that invented the style, which makes it the easiest first oolong in the city.
See our page on this tea →Sencha
Sencha
from US$ 17.50 · 2 oz
A Japanese green in a shop that also sells the kyusu to brew it in, and the one tea here that most rewards buying the small size and drinking it fast.
See our page on this tea →Pai Mu Tan
Bai Mu Dan - organic
US$ 10.50 · 2 oz
An organic white sold as one fixed two-ounce pack rather than by chosen weight, which keeps it fresher than the bulk bins other shops use.
See our page on this tea →
The one worth the trip
Matcha Ceremonial Grade
US$ 38 · 40 g
The tin names Marukyu Koyamaen of Uji as the maker, and that single line is the reason to buy matcha here rather than anywhere else in the city. Most shops sell matcha with no producer at all, which leaves you guessing about the harvest and the grind. Forty grams is also about as much as one person should own at a time.
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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Anxi | Oolong tea | from US$ 9.50 | 2 oz |
| Earl Grey - organic | Black tea | from US$ 10.50 | 2 oz |
| Bai Mu Dan - organic | White tea | US$ 10.50 | 2 oz |
| Sencha | Green tea | from US$ 17.50 | 2 oz |
| Chai - organic | Chai | from US$ 17.50 | 4 oz |
| Matcha Ceremonial Grade | Matcha | US$ 38 | 40 g |
Teas you can find here
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Prices checked by us on Sep 15, 2026; they may change. No shop pays to appear here.