Premium Steap

Awwww how sad this place closed. I am more of a coffee person, but when I did purchase tea and related gifts, it was from here. They had an excellent selection of teas and merchandise. The owner, although eccentric, was happy to share her encyclopedic knowledge. Per the website, you can still purchase online.

So very sad that this place has closed. They were amazing — I would often stop over lunch to grab some tea to keep in my office desk. Their samplers also made wonderful Christmas gifts for my wife. At least there is a web store, but it just won’t be the same — it’s kinda hard to buy tea sight unseen and smell unsmelled. I’ll also miss the little esoteric mugs, pots and other tea-​accessories that so often found their way into my bag (I treasure my Mr. Fox mugs!).
If you order online, I highly recommend the Cinnamon Almond — it’s incredible. So is the Fancy Earl Grey! I’ll absolutely be ordering those online, but it will suck not being able to visit and check out new things myself.

A solidly good selection of teas in a cozy space. Steap was my tea store of choice until I found Harney & Sons (NYC), which directly sources its teas. In any case, I have not been disappointed by the quality of the tea or the assistance here. If I ever have a tea emergency or need to explore additional tea pot options, I will be back.
As others have written, Steap is a superior choice to Teavana.

great assortment of teas including chinese, japanese, and herbal. the workers were very knowledgeable and sweet! they also have miscellaneous tea supplies like strainers, teapots, containers, and cups. would highly recommend this place.

The customer service here is awful! I am a tea drinker so I wanted to try this place while I was in town. I was meeting up with a friend and I suggested we go here, as the photos here on Unilocal indicated that they had loose tea as well as tea to go.
My friend and I walked in, and the sole employee… maybe she was the owner, seemed to be in a hurry even though no one else was in the store at the time. I asked if we were able to get tea to go and she rudely dismissed me saying they do not do that. There was no thank you for coming in or suggesting we look around. It was a complete turn off, and I will never go back.
Just a tip: if you have a small business, perhaps you should be more appreciative of people who come in.

Great store for tea drinkers and/​or buying presents for the tea drinkers in your life. It was my first experience with loose tea, but I had browsed the website before stopping in and had a few teas in mind. The woman in the store was super helpful, showed me the teas I had previously picked out online, and suggested some others when I told her what I was looking for. I walked out with a few different teas and the «perfect cup of tea» measuring spoon.

While I agree with some of the previous reviews that the customer service can be hit or miss. the last couple times have been hits. Great selection, just take your time– there is a lot to see. I can’t say enough good things about the coconut oolong! Got a free sample of pumpkin spice black tea with my purchase today I can’t wait to try.

Great tea shop after a not so great experience in another (won’t name names). The selection is great and the customer service was fantastic but not intrusive or overbearing. Settled on a vanilla black blends, black current blend, and something with cucumber. All well-​blended so far. I’ll probably order from them online in the future.

Best teas.
I found this place while on a wander… I’ve been shopping here for almost 6 years since for almost all of my tea. Her tea is simply better in both quality & flavor than loose leaves I can find elsewhere. There is a good & creative selection and the price is about right for good quality tea. She is great about delivery too– whether you call ahead & do an order & pick up via literal drive-​by or mail order as I do now. Once I found a favorite tea and it was discontinued because the supplier changed it & the owner dug through the store finding me plenty of this tea to last me for a while & I thought that was just so kind and wonderful. While her tea accoutrements are pricey, her tea is perfect. Now that I live really far away it is very comforting to know I can still get her tea no matter what.
Ps– I find teavana’s tea to be extremely low-​quality (& therefore extremely overpriced) after finding good tea at premium steap. I was never a tea fan til premium steap.

Great selection of all kinds of good quality loose leaf teas. Helpful and patient staff.

I stumbled across this place walking through the city and I’m really happy that I did. I was instantly greeted as I walked in and the two employees helped me find exactly what I needed.
I was shopping for a birthday gift for my bfs mother and they helped me narrow down the perfect and most practical tea mug that I think she will really enjoy. They also advised me on different kinds of tea that she might enjoy.
I really appreciate the fact that they weren’t hounding me or forcing me to buy any particular item for the sake of the sale. They gave me as many pertinent details/​facts as they could as far as their best sellers and their own personal opinions, allowing me to make my own decisions. Another customer walked in as a I was checking out and overheard the teas I was buying and immediately started raving about the Holy Detox saying that it was the perfect choice.
I’m excited to give this gift and I anticipate coming back here!

So, I was really pleased with the selection and the store is super cute. I had heard of it and planned to make sure to go at some point when I was downtown, but happened upon it while it was still open when I was out one evening. I specifically wanted to find out what teas were low acidity (because I love tea but many types — even just decaf — tend to give me terrible acid reflux). When we went in and started browsing the teas, I was immediately overwhelmed. There was another customer in the store who the sole worker was helping, but the employee didn’t even acknowledge us when we walked in or indicate that she’d be right with us. I almost just left. But I wanted tea, so I waited a few more minutes and perused.
When it was my turn, I asked about low acid tea and the employee said she had «no idea» what would qualify. As she thought about it more she suggested some things that I should probably avoid, and I finally settled on a honey ginger tea she steered me towards. In the end it all worked out, but I wish she would have been a little friendlier in the whole exchange. She didn’t crack a smile even once.
When it comes down to it, no one really NEEDS that huge variety of tea — it’s fun and it’s something special though to people who really like tea (which I do). To me, when your selling something that’s maybe a bit of a splurge or something that’s more of a treat, the shopping experience in addition to the tea should be great. I at least want to feel valued as a customer. I got great tea on my visit to Premium Steap, but not great service.

Best selection of teas hands down, locally owned, reasonably priced. What more do you want?

As a self proclaimed tea connoisseur, I feel like I definitely know my stuff when it comes to tea.
The lady in this store beat me in terms of leaf knowledge. The store is well organized and the women in the store was patient enough to answer all my questions and politely handed me all the jars of teas that I wanted to smell.
I ended up leaving the store with the White Mango Pear and the Green Organic Lung Ching which I LOVE. I prefer loose leaf because I like the taste and it reduces the amount of packaging and waste I consume. The packages have nice little instructions on the back for steeping based on your type of tea, and ladies in the store gave me a nice little tip for cooling the tea before steeping.
They have other accessories in the story like tea strainers and infusers, and they have an adorable assortment of cups with animals’ faces painted on them. I think these would make great gifts for the Holiday season.
This place has great variety and the quality of tea seems superb. A must try if you’re a tea addict like me ;)

I am a huge fan of this store. They have an insane selection, it would take years to try all of their teas, and they are always bringing in new ones. They give you sealable bags that you can store the tea in, which keeps it fresh, and the tea itself has never disappointed. The people that work there are very helpful and do a good job of describing the teas and recommending ones that you might like. They also have a great selection of tea-​drinking paraphernalia.
I can basically attribute the fact that I started regularly drinking tea to this store. Their blends are infinitely more complex than anything I’ve tried on a pre-​packaged tea pouch. I usually just keep pitchers of iced tea in my fridge, which makes for excellent sugar-​free (and caffeine free if you like) beverages.

I was extremely hesitant to visit Premium Steap after reading such mixed reviews. However, after being released from work early on Friday and suffering from a sore throat all week, I decided to venture in in search of a tea based relief. Unlike many of the reviewers on Unilocal I was quickly assisted by a very friendly young salesperson. I told her my favorite flavors and she guided me through a multitude of selections. I emerged with gratitude and a bag full of delicious, organic, reasonably priced tea.
I can attest that the Spicy Chai steeped in coconut water then mixed with coconut milk and cacao was not only heavenly, but has eased my throat pain.
Double win!
I can’t wait to sip on more of these marvelous infusions throughout the summer!

I have mixed feelings about this place… While the tea selection is pretty decent, I felt it was lacking a few blacks. Their rooibos selection is pretty impressive, as well as their green. But the young lad working there hardly knew what was going on, was a bit pushy (despite not remembering which one I’d ask him to smell) and was quick to walk away while I was paying for my 8 different selections.
Bottom line it’s decent loose leaf (and they have some cute mugs/​cups/​pots) but don’t expect anything as far as customer service goes

I am conflicted as to the number of stars to give Steap. The teas are marvelous, and the selection is wonderful, but the customer service is terrible. I am the friend mentioned in JK’s review. I had raved about the place, convinced her to come with me during our lunch break despite her previous bad experience, and ended up being embarrassed that I did.
The owner was there, as well as a person who had just stared that day. He was excruciatingly slow. The owner started my order, which I had written down, then passed it off to the newbie. I would have thought that she would have then turned her attention to my friend. Nope. Absolutely ignored her. My friend might as well have been a speck of dirt on the floor. She proceeded to fill an order that someone had left with her, leaving Newbie to fend for himself. I would have thought she’d wait on my friend, and let Newbie work on the other order, but not so. We were in there for almost an hour. I was appalled, both of us were very hungry, and both of us were getting angrier by the minute.
I’m not sure if the owner has a social interaction issue, if a customer must be the «right kind of customer» to get her attention, or if she is just rude. Between the two of us, we spent more than $ 100 on tea, but maybe in the Rittenhouse Square neighborhood that’s chump change. I am not sure what would have happened or how long it would have taken if we actually wanted to talk about/​smell the teas instead of having pre-​made lists of what we wanted. I don’t know, and I don’t care. Teas good, service/​experience bad bad bad.
Newbie will need to pick up the pace or he won’t last long. The owner seems to have one of the only games in town so she doesn’t care. Neither my friend nor I will be back. I will mail order from elsewhere and have it delivered to my office. Don’t even bother going unless you have a lot of time to kill. And whatever you do, don’t take a friend.

I gave this place another shot based on my friend’s experience and the tea that I have tried from there (gifted by others) was delicious. What a mistake!
We got there and it was busy. After waiting a few minutes for service, my friend got served while I was ignored. I was continually ignored throughout my friend’s service, others were served (who came in after us), even when the store emptied out.
When I asked for someone to help me make a purchase, I was told to wait on the clerk who was waiting on my friend. He was new and very slow, not his fault, but the owner would not even help out with my order (she helped out with my friend’s order.) When my friend mentioned how long it was taking and we were out of time for our lunch hour, we were given the excuse that he was new. No additional help to move it along, no apologies for how long it was taking, no acknowledgment about the poor customer service.
I don’t care how good their product is, I will never buy from them again. It was a miserable experience.

I’m really diggin’ Steap. As an unabashed overconsumer of tea (black, straight, the way its supposed to be), this place had a great selection of loose teas and related accoutrement’s to get your infusion on. Not cheap though; 4oz. will run you about $ 10, but you’ll get extremely good quality and on a cup for cup basis about what you’d be for payin’ for premium bagged tea. I’m throwing back pots of the stuff and couldn’t be happier.
If you haven’t made the switch yet from coffee to tea, do yourself a favor and take a page out of the British playbook on this one. Kiss the stinky, sweaty armpits goodbye (that recent episode of «The Office» comes to mind where they all tried every coffee k-​cup to figure out which one they liked the best), narsty breath that would make a Labrador retreiver recoil in horror, and nervous energy that is akin to an antelope catching wind of a nearby lion. Tea will give you the mental acuity boost without all the drawbacks of coffee. Just please don’t dress up as Indians and sink the damn ships.