Tudor House Tea LLC

Such a cool place! We stopped in here during our exploration of downtown K-​zoo two summers ago and we loved it. They had an incredible selection of teas, but given the hot weather we opted for a cold Kombucha drink. We loved that they used eco-​friendly products as well. No complaints!

Great little shop that offers prepared tea, loose leaf tea, spices, and various other related products. Prices of the loose leaf tea seem reasonable to me, priced per ounce. Whenever I’ve been there shopping, the employees have seemed quite knowledgeable and kind. Certainly willing to answer questions for newbies. I love the to-​go cup set up, very cool to have the loose leaf tea as an option to-​go instead of a tea bag. I admittedly don’t know a lot about tea but I enjoy browsing and like the selection. Great price to pick up a gift, too.
My only complaint would be the hours, but I don’t feel that merits a star loss because obviously I’ve managed to get there! And honestly, Kalamazoo shops tend to have inconveniently weird hours all over the place. This shop is, at this time, open on Sunday, which is a bit of a rarity on the Kalamazoo Mall!

If you live in Kalamazoo or are just there for their totally awesome Farmer’s Market (or in my case a show at the State Theater) and you just LOVE tea as much as me (which is hard to fathom), then this is the place to stop. Excellent selection of tea to buy either loose or a single cup to go. I’m pretty picky about my tea, but I do not have any complaints here. Great amount of leaf added, water a great temperature. Next time, I’ll stop and try the pastries.

This is a gem of a store I am sure I will be visiting every time I come to Kalamazoo. They have so much more than tea! For starters, their hand-​made chocolates are to die for! We tried four flavors: red rose, jasmine tea, chai, and cognac, and all were fantastic. Just let them melt in your mouth to enjoy their depth and character.
They also have wonderful hand-​made caramels and other locally made items like granolas, honeys, etc. A great place to get gifts for the folks back home!

We love stopping in every time we are on the mall. Anyone working there is super helpful in guiding you to what you might like but also leaving you be to explore the tons of choices. We have loved the couple dozen we have taken home as hot or iced and can’t leave without some treats from local businesses… like caramels!

There’s something about Tudor House that I love so much, and it’s not just that I thought it was called ‘Tea & Spice’ for the longest time. I think it stems from the fact that Tudor House didn’t succumb to the «cutesy» tea room look that so many tea shops aspire to achieve. It stuck to a clean cut look, and I love it.
Teas to try:
+ Peach blossom — if you’re into light, fruity teas, this is great!
+ Sweet Almond Yerba Mate — if you like teas that taste like almond pastries and give you ALL the energy you could ask for (Yerba Mate is used in energy drinks), this may be your cup of tea! (See what I did there? Wasn’t that pun-​ny?)
+ Masala Chai tea — because, honestly, who doesn’t like a spicy, flavourful masala chai? (Is my brown showing? Oops)
+ BONUS: if you want an organic version of the masala chai, get the Ayurvedic Chai. It has all of the same ingredients.
Pros:
+ ALL the teas.
+ Long hours of operation.
+ Reasonably priced (depending on the tea you buy, it works out to anywhere from $ 2 – 5 per ounce)
+ Each of their teas is meticulously labelled with the ingredients and flavour notes
+ There are tiny airtight glass jars in front of each large tea tin, so you can smell the teas and get a better idea of what they might taste like without risking destroying the display.
Cons:
— If you’re buying loose tea, you’re going to be at the store a while.
— Closed on Mondays
— A lot of their teas that have cinnamon, have an overpowering cinnamon flavour.
Don’t know much about teas? This is how I choose mine:
— Avoid fruity green teas, they’re always better with flowery notes
+ Black teas have a stronger flavour and pair well with most notes.
+ White teas are fluffy (literally, though) and require longer steeping times. They’re best paired with fruity notes.