Spices and Tease

I have been in Spice & Tease several times & have not made a purchase, BIG mistake. Yesterday I was wise enough to buy a few blends. I got the Poultry Blend, Seafood Blend, & Italian Blend. Upon my return home to Miami I had nothing in my fridge except eggs & parmesan cheese. I decided to scramble them with the Italian blend. WOW they were so delish, I really don’t love scrambled eggs, but this blend gave them so much flavor. I’m off to the market to get some food & plan on trying my other blends. I wish I had purchased more, but thankfully they ship. I’m buying more for Christmas presents this year, what a great gift.

This place has really good teas and spice! Price is good too! But the biggest issue with there place is their service…
This is the slowest place ever, the girls were usually playing high school music or chatting with the friends…
Usually there will be 3 – 4 people waiting for their drink.
I would love to go here every morning for tea, if they work more efficient…

I LOVE THIS PLACE!!! They have so many unique tea flavors and are very reasonably priced. I always tell myself I’m going to get something new when I go here, but I always end up getting the same thing. Lavender tea with honey. SO DELICIOUS. It took me forever to find a place with lavender tea but it was worth the wait to end up at this place. I’m glad we don’t live closer because I would spend all my money here. Also, although I’ve never had any of their spices, I’ve been there when other people were buying them and they smell soooo good. Also, the have flavored sugars that I’ve been waiting for an excuse to buy because they also look very good. Also did I mention, their teas are very reasonably priced and they’ll make any tea both hot and cold, and they do it the right way so the iced teas are just as good as the hot ones. I seriously love this place.

I purchased a few teas and spices; all seem to be of good quality. Service was good and the place is busy. The teas I purchased were for gifts; reasonable price and easy and light to pack. Worth checking out.

Review is for the COFFEE– they advertised iced espresso-​type drinks, so I thought they were a coffee AND tea shop. The coffee was obviously very old, and poured from the dregs of the visible pot. I asked if it was ‘fresh’- she said yes. I asked how old, and she replied ’30 minutes’. (???) Worst coffee I’ve ever tasted– this is clearly a tea shop.

Beautiful oasis
A great place have a quiet cup of tea or quiet reflection.
They have a super selection of tea and spices.
Inside, it is cozy, smells good, quiet, and friendly.

Atmosphere — ⁴⁄₅ — Suuuper cute. The place has a sort of vintage-​y feel to it. There are giant pots of tea lined up on shelves on the wall and it seems to be a really nice place to just sit, and relax and have a cup of tea.
Service — ³⁄₅ — Cashier was nice :)
Food/​Tea/​Coffee — pending — I just grabbed a coffee… which tasted like coffee. Will be back to try teas for sure!

Stopped by this place a few times. I fell in love with their Peach Hibiscus Tea, and finally bought a tin home with me. The service can be spotty depending who’s behind the counter, but most of them are friendly and knowledgable about their tea selections.

I love this place!
They have a very nice variety of loose spices and teas and accessories. They have a mini café with pastries and coffees/​teas. They also sell soaps.
I don’t understand one reviewer below’s comment that the loose teas lose their flavor — I have absolutely not found that to be the case. As for the one complaining that they no longer carry a spice they like that is one of the fun things about this place — they change their selection often and you can find new and wonderful spices and teas to try!
Also, every staff member I have dealt with has been super friendly and helpful so I wonder if you talked to them if they could reorder that spice for you (I don’t know for sure if they would but it would be worth trying).
It is a great place to get spices and teas for yourself and it is also an excellent place to get gifts! I have given many gifts from here and they always go over smashingly. They will do up gift boxes for you and you can get the teas and spices in tins and include accessories as well.
Highly recommended!

Pizza spice gone — didn’t see an iced coffee option. Not happy with the downgrades.

I’ve been here a few times and I’m generally impressed by the quality of their teas. I like how they have such a big selection of black teas especially – the vanilla black tea is delicious!
However, I had a rather bizarre experience the last time I was there. I walked to Spices and Tease in the rain at about 1pm and when I arrived there was no one working there! What? There was customer sipping her tea and reading and so after waiting a few minutes, I finally asked that woman if she knew if anyone was working there. She said the woman working had literally ran out «for just a minute.»
I ended up waiting for 5 – 10 minutes before someone returned to help me. How bizarre! Who leaves their store abandoned and open to the public? And for me, the wait was also extremely annoying.
I also can’t speak to their pastries as I usually go in the afternoon and they’re all sold out.

As you step on your senses will be inundated with the plethora of spices they have. The staff is super friendly and cheery which is a big plus! I enjoyed my chamomile iced tea quite a bit. Didn’t hurt that Unilocal hooked me up with a 20% off coupon for checking in! :)

I looooove this tea shop. The tea is fantastic, the owner is friendly and sweet and has an amazing accent! He thinks nothing of offering you a sample of the delicious lavender sugar, or a hearty whiff of his favorite scoop of tea. His enthusiasm is contagious and the smells are so heavenly that you just want to stay all day sniffing around. The teas are incredible and the prices are great.
My favorites: the gingerbread tea… which tastes heavenly with a tiny dollop of real whipped cream on top. The hibiscus tea… makes the best iced tea. The green tea with lemon peel and lavender… sooo delicate and delicious. The chocolate mate… OMG…a tea as decadent as dessert! And… the rhubarb strawberry… the smell alone transports me to a happy place.
You get a TON of tea for $ 7. Treat yourself to a good infuser and enjoy it every day!

I haven’t been to the UWS side, but I definitely made a point to stop by this place at the winter holiday market in Union Square this past December. I first heard of this place at a street fair last summer, and was thrilled when I came across it again a few months later.
They have every type of spice from all over the world, and of course, an amazing looseleaf tea collection. I love how you can choose how much you want to buy, because sometimes you just need a little kick in your cooking, and buying a whole large container of something will take years to consume.
The staff is super nice and friendly, and also incredibly knowledgeable. When I asked for sumac, they knew exactly where to find it and could even recommend what to cook with it and how much to use in different dishes. They also have a great deal where, instead of a plastic baggie, you could buy a small square container and just fill it up to the brim for an incrementally higher price. So you get more per ounce that way.
I can’t wait to go to the retail location because I have heard amazing things, and plus, I need to re-​up on their lemon pepper seasoning.

I was wandering aimlessly on the UWS in the frigid cold, and decided to use the Unilocal app to find a nearby coffee shop, and this is where it took me: a tea shop. That’s about useful as the app gets I am afraid, but it all worked out.
Spices and Tease actually does serve coffee if that is your want, but you will feel like an idiot doing it, or at least I did. Once I got a sense of my surroundings and noticed the generous selection of fresh teas around me, I promptly change my order over to tea. I opted for a large Rooibos tea with a touch of honey; and, oh is that pain au chocolat they are selling too? Yeah, I had that as well. The French salesman with the thick French accent who I had to speak to in French to complete my transaction all kind of assured me that that would be a good choice to make.
The tea was excellent. It was in the 20s, the wind was blowing, and it had just snowed. Tea with honey really hit the spot, and it was so flavorful too. The pain au chocolat was decent as well, not having skimped on the chocolate. Tea drinkers have a lot to celebrate with this quaint shop. The only obvious drawback was the very limited seating (3 backless chairs along a narrow shelf lining the front window). This forced many to stand and congregate. Nonetheless, at $ 5.50 all in, I was pretty pleased.

Perfect teas. Just perfect.
They have a location inside the Grand Central Market. The options are overwhelming, and I could have easily spent an hour there. A compact tin runs you about $ 7, and their options are excellent. As I only need to throw a pinch of tea into my cup when brewing, this tin will last me a good amount of time.
You really feel the love that goes into their blend creations.
I bought the relaxation blend, which (amongst other herbs) include lavender, rose petals, and chamomile. I also got the detox blend, which includes … I don’t remember, but smells fantastic and tastes excellent. See photos.
Also grabbed the earl gray/​green tea blend & cardamom seeds as gifts. Smelled incredible.
This may just be my go-​to place for tea going forward.
They also have a broad selection of high-​quality spices/​herbs for cooking.

I was skeptical about the success of the family owned S&T store partly because of the neighborhood and another tea store?! After my first couple visits I was proven wrong. I hope the owners don’t think I am a stalker because I have a feeling this is going to be my going to be a frequent customer for authentic croissants and baked goods which their French friend prepares in Brooklyn among other things.
The aesthetics of the store is unique yet mod. I especially enjoy the colorful artisan sugar dispensers that include lavendar, cassis, bergmont, hazelnut and other flavors I would never think to combine with sugar crystals. Brewed and cooled blended tea concoctions are available to try and for purchase as well.
It is the South Asian spices and blended tea display that too is an eye catcher — Tres magnifique! Watching the staff scoop out your selection into the square tins and pick their brain about the use of their products is part of the experience!

They were at the Madison Square Pk Eats fair and they had a huge variety of spices and teas! It’s reasonably cheap for the amount they give, and it’s fresher than buying it from McCormack or or another brand. I ended up buying coriander and their dark choco orange tea. I’m drinking the tea now and it’s flavorful and buttery and savory. Omg so good, I would recommend this tea to anyone even if you don’t like tea much (like ME!) Also it comes in these cute tins so it would be a great gift idea for people.

I got a taste and smell of Spice and Tease when I was visiting Eat at Mad Square events at Madison Square Park last week.
I love how they displays the spices and loose tea leafs. You can really smell, touch and see the products… and it feels like you are in one of those spices market in Asia or Middle East or India!
At this particular event, their booth also sells hot or cold tea by the cup, so you can even taste their products!

Right now you can find Spice & Tease at a variety of markets throughout the city (such as the Madison Square Market and Union Square’s holiday market this past holiday season), but by the end of June they’ll be opening a store between 97^th and 98^th on the UWS! So exciting!
I love Spice & Tease. They have so many spices and varieties of teas for reasonable prices. And they’re always displayed so beautifully. Even if I’m not purchasing anything, I like to linger and smell and look at the splashes of color. Walking by one of their booths is always a literal bright spot in my day.