More Than a Tea House.
New York Tea Society was created to bring people together around exceptional tea, thoughtful learning, and the simple ritual of sharing a table.
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It Started With Curiosity
What began as an interest in tea grew into a deeper exploration
of its history, agriculture, processing, culture, and the people who produce it.
That journey eventually became New York Tea Society:
a community built around the belief that great tea becomes even more meaningful when it is shared.
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Our Mission
Tea Education. Tea Appreciation. Community.
New York Tea Society is a nonprofit organization dedicated to expanding
the understanding and appreciation of tea.
Through tastings, workshops, educational programs, gatherings,
and access to exceptional true-origin teas, we create opportunities for people
to learn about tea while connecting with one another.
Our goal is not to tell people the “right” way to enjoy tea.
It is to give them the knowledge, experience, and curiosity to explore it for themselves.
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From Community to Tea Studio
New York Tea Society began in 2015 as a community built around sharing and learning about tea.
In 2019, NYTS became a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization,
strengthening its commitment to tea education and community.
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What started as gatherings around a tea table has grown into workshops, tastings, virtual programs, sourcing projects, educational events, and the New York Tea Society Tea Studio in Manhattan.
Through all that growth, the idea remains surprisingly simple:
Put good tea on the table. Bring people together. Keep learning.
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Tea Begins at the Source
Exceptional tea cannot be separated from where it comes from.
NYTS seeks teas with a clear connection to origin:
the mountain, village, garden, cultivar, producer, processing tradition,
and people responsible for creating them.
Whenever possible, teas are sourced directly from farmers and producers
or through trusted relationships with people close to the source.
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For us, origin is more than a name printed on a package.
It is part of understanding the tea itself.
The Most Important—and Least Important—Thing on the Table
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Tea is the most important thing on a Gongfu tea table.
It gives us a reason to gather, to slow down, to pay attention, and to share something meaningful.
And at the same time...
tea is the least important thing on the table.
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What matters most are the people sitting around it,
the conversations, friendships, and lifelong bonds that form over cup after cup.
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That realization is what inspired New York Tea Society in the first place:
not simply a club about tea, but a community built through tea.
Everyone Has a Seat at the Table
Tea gives people a reason to sit down together.
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NYTS brings together people with very different backgrounds and levels of tea knowledge,
from someone tasting loose-leaf tea for the first time
to people who can happily spend an evening debating cultivars, roasting, storage, or water chemistry.
You don’t have to be a tea expert to belong here.
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Curiosity is enough.
