Tea Habitat

Excellent shop. Three different tasting sets offered. Enter through the garage.

This review is a long time coming! I came here 3 times between Oct 2022 and April 2023, bringing friends (some new and some repeats) for tea tastings. You can try 5 teas per tasting with 5 steepings per tea (for time's sake and not because of flavor dissipation). There is such a wide and ever-changing selection of teas so there's always more to try than you could possibly ever drink! Tea habitat specializes in Chinese teas, but since that's already a lot of area to cover, you'll find something for everyone's tastes. The owner is hilarious, and we all enjoyed interacting not only with the tea and each other, but also with her. We definitely leave tea drunk :) I usually put some tasting notes for the teas in my reviews, but notes for 15 teas is a bit excessive so I'll just share a couple of my favorites. The 2022 Tai Ping Hou Kui Wild Grown 1st pick is almost matcha-like, velvety soft with a slight nuttiness. The flavor mellows over the steepings into a clean mouthfeel with subtle floral bouquet. The 2022 Xiao Ye Tu Cha Wild Native (white) Varietal Small Leaf was super interesting! It started with a sweet aroma and reminded me inexplicably of soy milk (a mix of slight creaminess and nuttiness, maybe), but with juicy mouth feel. The creamy berry sweetness really predominates in the second steeping, and there is a subtle almost umami tendency in the third steeping. I also bought a Chao Zhou red clay teapot to brew Phoenix Dan Cong teas at home! To buy to bring home, the prices of the tea leaves really range, with (of course) the really high quality teas being pricier (but oh are they good!). This is not my go-to place to stock up tea for every day drinking (can't quite afford that and some personal preferences), but it's a great treat for tea lovers to be able to access and experiment with a variety of Chinese teas. Definitely a fun experience, especially with friends!

Had a hard time finding the place. Wich #28 is it, A-H? I think its 28E. Please list on stated address. The door that was pictured wasn't open despite the hours of operation saying that it was open. Do I knock on what looks to be the residential door? Will change review if I can find enough information to go there.

Thank you Imen, my visit at Tea Habitat was wonderful and I am happy to return soon and try more tea again. Everyone should come here at least once to try her variety of amazing teas and look at the beautiful teaware she supplies. I promise you will want to come again, Imen is such a genuine person and you can’t help but fall in love with this place

Thank you for a truly memorable experience! I have had the fortune to do tea tastings in many countries across three continents and I can say that Imen offered the best experience by far. The breadth of the menu is matched by the breadth of Imen’s knowledge, and getting to sit with an expert as we drank multiple cups of fine Chinese tea was a priceless experience indeed. Not only would I highly recommend a tasting but, given my experience, I would not hesitate to order anything from her online store that caught my fancy.

We LOVED tasting with Imen a few months ago! She taught us so much about teas and how to drink them properly -- she also offered great conversation and a wonderful atmosphere. If you are at all interested in tea, its definitely worth making a trip out to Tea Habitat!

My experience at Tea Habitat was truly wonderful. Imen walked our group through all the incredible teas she has to offer and helped us pick a delightful mix to try at our tea tasting. I'm a life-long tea drinker, and I was astounded by what we had. I highly recommend spending an afternoon drinking tea at Tea Habitat; I hope to visit again in the future!

Best tea in L.A. Maybe even USA. If you are into authentic Chinese tea this is the place to go! You will not be disappointed.

5-stars, just for the fact that you'd be very hard-pressed to find an experience like Tea Habitat anywhere else in southern California. If you're into real tea, the kind backed by thousands upon thousands of years of tradition, and craft, this is it. This is the real. Varieties that Imen (the big boss at Tea Habitat) has personally procured directly, live, from the source throughout mainland China. She basically found the best stuff on her tasting ventures, making it a pretty exclusive menu of teas that you're highly unlikely going to find anywhere else in southern California, or perhaps all of California and the entire nation. You need this. You want this. You want to have it so bad, you want to relive the lingering euphoria of getting tea drunk - green tea, white tea, oolong... from royal grade to high mountain grade, harvested from centuries old trees. If some the tea names sound a bit nasty or unappetizing, it's to deter people from stealing it; hence, you may actually pleasantly surprised by its fragrance and quality. Super suggest setting an appointment for tasting, where the choice is pretty open from the list. The more expensive grade stuff though, will cost extra for a premium tasting set. And you'll be able to taste first hand, side-by-side, why certain dishware, especially the gold-lined cups, have an impact on how much flavor carries through. Quite profound. You can easily spend around 2 hours maximizing the steep of each set of tea leaves, while chatting it up with your bestest best mates. -Logistical notes: The location isn't that apparent, from the sidewalk, walk directly south towards the residential building, past the initial businesses on the side. The storefront is on the bottom floor, in one of the units.

The storefront isn't clearly labeled and it looks like an apartment but it's actually a tea shop. Google maps might lead you to enter on the side street near the parking structure but enter from the front of the sidewalk. I actually found this place through my favorite tea subreddit and it did not disappoint. The owner was very nice and we had a lovely time talking about all sorts of things as well as tea. She has an extensive collection of both tea and teaware. It's very cozy inside and she has a cool water refilling device for her kettle. We tried the regular tea tasting and it was super interesting. Very beginner friendly too. We were well hydrated afterwards. I definitely want to go back and try more teas as she has almost 4 pages of tea to go through of all varieties. Even purple tea! Make sure to reserve online first.

Summary: High quality tea tastings, by appointment only Details: My girlfriend and I have found tea tastings to be a nice way to try out a variety of teas we might not normally think to try, or easily have access to. The Bay Area is flush with tea shops that offer tastings, so we're always on the lookout for similar when traveling. SoCal, rather surprisingly, is lacking in this area, and Tea Habitat was one of these few places that popped up on our radar after a bit of research. $45pp gets you multiple steepings of five teas of choice over the course of a couple hours, from an extensive variety of Chinese teas, with some of the more premium options (largely puerh) running an additional per person cost. Depending on your timing and what you're drinking, you may get a lot more than the five steepings as well: we actually finished our tasting with one of the first pick puerhs that ran an extra $60pp, and probably got close to ten steepings, only stopping because we hit our caffeine and liquid intake limits and just simply could not continue. Because these are all by appointment only, your party and the owner, Imen, will be the only ones in the shop, which makes for a pretty chill tea tasting experience compared to the others we've been to in the Bay, which are usually held in loud, packed shops full of other customers. Fortunately, Imen is a great conversationalist, so you're not awkwardly sitting there for hours drinking tea in silence, though I'm sure she'd accommodate that too if you so wished. Getting to the shop can be a little difficult, being tucked away on the bottom floor of a mixed commercial/residential complex. Access is either through a gate that's usually open on S 5th St, or through a door in the back of the garage complex whose entrance is on the same street. If you get lost, just give the shop a ring. Accessibility: The shop is pretty small, but the tasting area, at the very least, is fairly accessible. I never checked out the restroom since we were headed back to the hotel immediately after, but since the shop is supposed to be coded for access, I would not be surprised if the restroom was accessible as well.

Please go here!! The owner is so sweet and helpful. I wasn't aware that I needed to have an appointment and so I called and she said that she will head back to the shop right now. It was so nice of her and she even walked me through her entire selection patiently and helped me find what I was looking for. I finished and paid for my selection and when I came back home to look at my haul, I saw that she added an oz of pu'er for me! It was such a nice gesture and I am really grateful to have visited this place. Please come here and support this business, I swear you won't regret it

Here for Phoenix Sh*t!! Don't worry that is just the name of the tea. It's a very good tasting tea at that! Tea Habitat prepare their tea tasting gong-fu style. Appointment only. For $45, we tried 5 teas with 4 steepings each. We tried White Peony White Tea, Fried Green, Orchid Aroma, Hundreds Flower Valley Ancient Tree, and Phoenix Sh*t. My favorite was the Phoenix tea. Tea Habitat is hidden inside an apartment complex, so it can be hard to find at first. Apparently, the complex was designed to be commercial and residential, but it was weirdly designed. There is a parking lot next to it and there is street parking (watch out for street sweeping). The owner had been doing this for many years. We had a good conversation with her. Although, I wished there are more tea education during the tasting. I'll recommend Tea habitat for tea connoisseurs as this is definitely a hidden gem. It's literally hidden and hard to find. There's no food or snacks here, just tea.

I've been to Tea Habitat a small handful of times at this point and I feel strongly that this is (by far) the best place to go tea tasting in all of Los Angeles. To be clear, I'm not talking about boba. Tea Habitat offers top-tier oolong tea, black tea, green tea, white tea, and more. If you are interested in sampling some of the best and rarest teas in the world, I highly recommend making a reservation here (the tasting room is usually open by appointment only). The selection is unrivaled. Although you may be intimidated by the level of quality and connoisseurship, I can assure you that the owner is extremely welcoming and friendly. Service is impeccable, and the experience is truly world-class. While we first discovered them after being featured in Los Angeles Times 101 Best Restaurants in Los Angeles (2019), this place has also been featured by LA Weekly, LA Magazine, and Eater. Their reputation is spotless for good reason. It's simply the best.

There's no food at this place! Just tea! There's only one person holding down the shop so the service is great! The ambiance is really quiet and I definitely recommend it for tea enthusiasts!

Imen is so knowledgeable in everything tea! My husband, kids and I came in today to pick up a gift for my dad. We weren't able to stay for a tasting today, but we will definitely be back for one. Very interesting what you'd never think of about tea...and Imen is just the person to teach you if you're open to learning! This place literally is a hidden gem, tucked behind some businesses, it's almost like a place where a secret society of tea people can come and talk tea!! IYKYK!

After visiting Tea Habitat, I can honestly say I felt more proud of my roots! My favorite tea is Phoenix shit, Milky duck shit is a must try not only for the laughs but for taste. If you are looking for an authentic Tea spot please check it out. They also sell mini tea pots and were on LA times, LA magazine and Eater.

Tea Habitat is just the best place for rare tea, as well as authenticity, overall quality and care. I would recommend if you're visiting LA area to visit this shop.

Introduction: Tea Habitat, one of Alhambra's well-hidden gems [seriously, it's well-hidden]. I stumbled upon this place when I was researching on orange peel Pu'erh teas since they're one of the few suppliers that carries legitimate orange peels from Guangdong Xinhui. This tea shop is hidden behind a water fountain within a small apartment complex; the shop also doesn't have any signage. Tea: When here this is how things work: the patron pays twenty five dollars and the proprietor lets the client sample as many tea on the menu as he/she wishes. The proprietor, Imen, is not stingy mind you; she doesn't limit to the kind of teas the patron is allowed to sample: the customer can sample the normal teas, the medium-priced teas and the high-quality teas. Out of the various teas I have sampled, I can definitely say Imen carries teas of good quality that are hard to find at conventional tea establishments. Ambiance: Quiet, elegant and tasteful Service: Imen is patient and knowledgeable when it comes to tea. When the customer enters the establishment she doesn't try to do any hard sell on the prospective client(s). Instead the patron pays the $25 and she takes about three hours to educate and talk to him/her about various aspects of tea: teawares, how to differentiate between good/bad tea, the current atmosphere within the tea industry, what kind of water to use when brewing tea and how using fire to heat the water is beneficial when making tea. Price: $25 allows one to sample a variety of high-quality teas within a timespan of three hours. Where else in Los Angeles does such a deal exist? Recommendations: When here I recommend trying the following: -#22 Orange Flower Fragrance -#15 Bamboo Leaf -#11 Phoenix Shit [that is the literal name of the tea for whatever reason] -#70 2018 1,000 Years old Ancient Tree Purple Sprouts -#68 2018 Laos Wild High Mountain Forest Ancient Tree Green/Raw -#62 2018 Purple Azalea Wild Ancient Tree -#61 Jin Jun Mei 50 Years Old Garden -#59 Da Xue Shan 1,000 years Old Wild Ancient Tree -#47 2018 Wild Huang Shan Mao Feng-Yellow Mountain Hairy Tip

Tea Habitat is very well hidden amongst the apartment complexes in this area. When you put in the address, it will take you to the side gates of the location. To get there, you need to walk around it and go through the garden to reach to the room. There's a lot of options at this tea shop and I find it extremely impressive that there is such a large variety. There's affordable tea and there's very high end pricey tea options. To try about 6 of them out, you can pay $25. The store owner will explain to you the types of teas that are out there. If you're in the market to become really snobby about tea, I would highly recommend this place. You can really taste many different flavors at this place.

I bought some Wu Niu Zao Jong Jing tea, Dark Cow Early, Dragon Well tea. She said that this is their standard one she keeps. Cost 35$ per two ounces but the quality of this tea was medium - medium quality tea. Which isn't easy to find without paying extremely high prices for it. I'm extremely over critical about tea. Medium quality is on the scale of low, medium, high for the first one, second category is a sub category that speaks how high it is on the scale of the first category. I shop at Teance in berkeley and while I've had some amazing teas from them this dragon well tea trumps the tea Teance has out on display. I can't wait to try the rare dragon well teas that are being held up in China's customs because of Covid and other problems. This year wasn't good weather and yields from crops were pretty bad I keep on hearing.

Teavana, Chado(well mostly) and any boutique tea place and sadly even Wing Hop fung all of them are synonymus with one thing. Overpriced, overhyped "tea" that is not sourced directly from the farmer but by big corporations so you do not know what you will be getting. Teavanas so called rare teas you can get at any of their stores. meaning every store will have them. So truly how rare does it make it? Chado is great for Dajeerlings but even then they only get their tea from middlemen. Tea habitat is the place that is like Postcard teas in London, sourced from the farmers themeselvs, genuine and truly rare. This is the place to come for TRUE tea . What is best is for $25 you can taste as many teas as you want before buying. This is the place to come for genuine Dan Chong, wu yi, and Puh -er and even white and other oolong teas. As well as genuine yxing clay tea pots. Imen is a true tea master/sommiler from China, the Guangdong Province where Dan Chong is made. So she knows truly what she is talking about. The prices for the tea are not just reasonable but justified becasue like David Lee Hoffman she does genuine fair trade with the farmers. Furthermore many of the teas especailly the single tree ones come from trees that are almost 800-1000 years old! Unlike Teavana, Chado etc. teas whcih come from factory placed trees.

I arrived in Alhambra and called the owner. She was nice to set up a tasting for me even though it was not planned. Together, We tasted about 7-8 different teas and talked about China. Very nice experience. It took about 3 hours and cost $25. The teas were acceptable but not top of the line. This is understandable as top of the line teas will be very expensive and people perhaps wouldn't buy them or would not even appreciate them if they are not tea experts. Overall a very nice tasting experience. I even bought a Laos Sheng Pu. I also like the White tea cake. Highly recommended.