Tea Drunk

Cute little tearoom for when you want to socialize but don’t want to go to a bar. Love the idea and the atmosphere. A little pricey but it is New York. Great spot!

This tea shop has the best tea I have ever had, they have a very nice employee brewing and serving the tea, who knows endless things about tea, I have learned many things from her. She is very much the best I have ever seen at her job, and we have since become friends.
I stayed from noon the night and had a great time playing Chess, Go, and the various other games they have there, all the while enjoying the great tea they provide. I definitely will be returning to Tea Drunk in the future many times!

When I told several tea people in San Francisco that I was travelling to New York, they all asked me if I had visited Tea Drunk. I decided to check out this tea shop that has made a name for itself in a few short years.
The shop is in East Village with neo-​traditional teahouse décor, stark white and bamboo, but there were a lot of cluttered boxes and dusty books by the tables in the rear. I was a little taken aback by the prices, but we ended up tasting an oolong flight for $ 59 – one Dancong, one Wuyi and one Tieguanyin.
Zheng Chao Tieguanyin 正炒铁观音: A green Tieguanyin, solid flavour, slight buttery fragrance, the typical minerality.
Bai Ye 白叶: Floral, peachy fruity Dancong, but was brewed too light for me to detect any complexity.
Qi Dan 奇丹: Has the typical Da Hong Pao /​Yancha flavour of bitter chocolate, mineral, dark fruity sweetness. Described on the menu as «Strong, sharp, flowery with bitterness.» I read online that this is the same cultivar as Da Hong Pao but honestly tasted quite forgettable.
—- PROS —-
— Good selection of teas, lots of Wuyi and Dancong Oolongs I haven’t heard of.
— Traditional «gongfu cha» tea experience with a tea tray, and we got to select a cute tea pet for our tray to feed tea rinses to.
—- CONS —-
— Not very friendly to first-​timers. She seemed to expect me to know how it worked when we first walked in. We weren’t even given menus /​instructions until I went up to the counter to ask.
— Teas tasted just okay (she admitted she selected the average-​grade teas for our flight), or maybe just weren’t brewed properly. She rinsed all the teas, which could be fine, but then proceeded to steep it for too short a duration, and with a questionable technique. The gaiwans were very small, so in order to fill the pitcher, she steeped the leaves in the gaiwan for about 5 seconds three times consecutively and poured all three infusions into the same pitcher. I’ve never had any other tea master serve me tea this way. She repeated this for the second steeping (steeping for only 5 seconds), which was nowhere near long enough so the second infusion was far too light and tasteless.
— Prices are appallingly, inexcusably, absurdly more expensive than tea rooms in San Francisco. $ 60 for an unguided flight of 3 oolongs /​$ 40 for 3 greens that are going to be brewed slipshod for you, or $ 25 — $ 40+ for a single pot of oolong tea. In San Francisco at Song Tea & Ceramics you pay $ 10 per person and at Red Blossom $ 15 per person for a guided tasting, and they have similar if not better grades of tea than Tea Drunk.
— Very little description and colour commentary of teas on the menu. Very little sourcing information. The customer can’t see why one tea costs twice as much as another.
— No Taiwanese teas.
—- VERDICT —-
Sorry, but Tea Drunk is overrated. The day after I visited Tea Drunk, I found another tea room, Té Company in West Village. The prices there are far more reasonable, the tea seems equally good, but they only source teas from Taiwan. It would be awesome if NYC could have a more inclusive, all-​encompassing teahouse to invite more drinkers into the blissful fold of tea culture. But for now, I’ll stick to the West Coast for quality Chinese tea.

A tolerable place for tea beginners to get exposure to traditional Chinese tea, if only due to the poverty of such opportunities in the US. You’d be better off going to a tea shop in Flushing, but that’s far away.
If you have any experience with traditional Chinese tea, be prepared for astonishingly arrogant service, remarkably opinionated for its degree of ignorance. We were served a lovely yellow tea, over-​steeped every single serving such that the tea was as bitter as the human interaction. My initial attempt to pour at an appropriate moment was curtly halted. The water was under temperature. We got three bad pours out of a tea that would have been good for at least seven.
The anti-​Taiwan Chinese condescension is at max volume here. You will not find any Taiwanese tea here, due to misinformed historical fantasies of Chinese cultural superiority, which extend here to a need to own tea. Wishing the owner here a properly served and mind-​opening 东方美 from Taiwan.

I’m really sad to write a negative review of a place that is dedicated to my favorite thing on earth, but… I’ve just had such a bad experience here that I feel compelled.
The woman working here was arrogant and condescending to the point of making us feel unwelcome. We had intended on spending the whole day here and spending a ton of money getting tea drunk (especially considering their teas are $ 20-​$ 30 per pot!), but we ended up leaving after our first tea.
We love tea, drink it daily, gongfu style as is served here. To us, tea is also about kindness, community, generosity and hospitality. None of this was exhibited here, sadly.
I don’t know if it’s because we brought our baby with us? Because my husband asked if they served any Taiwanese teas? She also used a pouring method id never seen in all my years of tea drinking and when I asked her to please explain it, she said something about how it was a «false method proved true in the 1990s» and how it is similar to how «cannot undo calligraphy mistakes». I found it resulted in bitter tea. :(
She also smelled the tea leaves as they opened but did not offer to us to smell, which felt odd and inhospitable. And snapped at my husband when he asked if we could use an yixing pot (sure, it was for a yellow tea and he didn’t know that it would be too heavy a pot for such a gentle tea – but couldn’t she have said it in a gentle way?)
I wanted to love this place. I had high hopes. I feel sad. And I hope others have better experiences here.

What a nice way to spend a «Thirsty Thursday» it was my first tea experience and I learned so much! Employees were so sweet.
We stayed til closing playing games of chess. Can’t wait to come back for their tea events!

Very pricy don’t forget to check the menu the business provides online first! Tea drunk does not serve food, but as our server told us, at Tea drunk it is all about the tea. If you want a unique, cultural and different experience than you will have anywhere else in New York, come here. Staff is friendly, professional, and knowledgable about everything relating to tea. The Teas are rich and of high quality. The atmosphere is also nice and relaxing. Everyone must come here at least once and I know I will return in the future.

Whoo hoo, another tea room located! I happened upon this cute little tea room by accident in the East Village. The name was intriguing so I had to stop by.
Unlike my usual haunt in Berkeley, Tea Drunk has a bar made of wood that has a drainage system for tea like Teance does. But they also have individual tables that has a slot underneath that also drains tea which is so cool! They also have a variety of tea tools, tea pots, and cute little tea pets. I drank with Abu, the monkey tea pet.
But onto the tea. They have a good variety of different teas from oolong to red tea to green tea etc. I also learned cliff tea is a varietal of oolong tea– pretty cool. Prices are about what I’m used to at Teance but I would say that their collection of tea seems smaller than Teance’s.
In the end, I tried their tea that came from a monk. This monk doesn’t want his tea to be sold– if you want to taste it, by all means do so. Instead, you donate for that tasting, whatever you want. Other teas were around 9 bucks. But this monk’s tea is an amazing red tea. Not too sweet or bold, just mellow.
The server was knowledgeable and efficient in getting the teas brewed and he also seemed very personable. I can’t wait to come back on my next trip to NY.

The tea is ok .not the monk tea though!
One of the ladies working her with the short hair yelled at us for ordering green tea for a large group even when we told her it’s our first time and it’s only for two of us. It’s unreasonably expensive. Please try to be nice with customers.

I do not remember the name of the young gentleman who was introducing us into magic of tea, but he was super knowledgable and pleasant. We were the only two guests at that time as it was Monday late night. We had a great time having a tea ceremony and listening to all those facts and stories about tea.

One of the best tea houses I have ever been to. If you ever manage to trek over there it’s great for many reasons. First, it’s next to butter Lane and let me tell you they by far have some of the best cupcake ever! So then you can enjoy tea with your sweets. And secondly, the service at tea drunk is amazing. I recommend trying out the choice of the tea master. Give them an idea of what you are looking for in a tea and they will direct you to the right one. My personal fave would be the monks tea. It has a beautiful shade of honey gold and tastes divine. Earthy yet sweet and the best part? You pay what you believe the tea is worth and trust me it’s worth it. The profit from that particular one goes to help the monks who cultivated this tea for our pleasure. It is you whom is helping the monks and get a taste from the other side of the world. Needless to say I will be back soon. The whole staff is amazing!
If you never had an experience of Asian traditional of tea, you might consider here and learn a bit more about the culture. You won’t regret it.

Loved it! What an experience. Met up with a friend here after seeing previous posts on Unilocal.It seemed like a unique experience and we were not disappointed! Small but clean & minimal, luckily we came in at a quiet hour so there was plenty of space. Wooden tea house with eastern influence in décor & furniture, an excellent jazz/​mellow playlist with a calming mood, a tea connoisseur of sorts serving us — my friend asked what he suggested for a floral green tea & he brought us Tie Guan Yin which was delicious! Very light, simple & subtle flavor, yet satisfying. You also get to pick a tea pet to drink with! We were ecstatic. They steep once to break the leaves in and «serve» it to your tea pet (poured the tea on him, but it thrilled me). The leaves slowly blossomed with each pot we steeped. Highly recommend for tea lovers and foodies looking for incomparable experiences.

It was such a unique experience in the city.
We, a group of three, shared a pot of one of their «real» black teas. The tea pets were cute, the tiny cups were cute, the sieve holder was cute, and the tiny game sets they had out for people to play was cute… The server was very knowledgeable and personable. The clientele was very friendly as well. The owner lady took over at the end of the service and it did take a bit of work to catch her attention. I saw a lot of reviews complaining about the owner’s attitude but I think she just cares more about her tea than getting money off of people. It can be a divisive factor for others, so I am mentioning it, but it wasn’t so for me.
It’s a no-​fuss Chinese tea service: just straight up steepings, no food. The menu was almost overwhelming, which is the one thing I can really pick on about the place. Some people may enjoy the museum — like collection of teas but frankly, I would have preferred smaller, more distinct selection. It would be hard for beginners to get to enjoy this place.
Overall, it is a tad expensive but the experience can entertain you for many hours. Splitting a pot between. 3 – 4 people seems like the way to go, since it works down to about $ 5 – 10 per person, about an average amount you would spend at a café in the city. It’s so unique and charming, though, so it was perfect for catching up with friends and hanging out for hours. I would visit again if I was in the city with tea — loving friends!

It’s a great place, feels very authentic. If you really love tea and the ceremony that surrounds great tea, then this place is for you. The owner is super passionate about it and the place shows: Owner, Shunan Teng, has had to «climb mountains, sleep in huts, ride motorcycles along the edges of cliffs, and bushwhack for hours to get you the best teas possible.»
The selection is truly astounding, but the tea isn’t cheap. If you’re looking for a quick cup of tea for $ 5, this may not be your spot. The median price for a pot is around $ 25 with many teas hovering in the $ 30 price-​range (there’s even one tea that is $ 399 for the super tea aficionado).
I would give this place 5-​stars easily, but the bar area is cramped, there’s no place for your legs, so you have to sit spread eagle at the bar. The lighting overhead is fluorescent lighting which I think could be dimmed down or something to make it more appealing. And I really wish they had a real music system because playing jazz brass band music off the iPad speakers didn’t seem to go with the overall wonderful aesthetic of the place.

I truly love this place! I stumbled upon it one rainy day when I was trying to avoid the rain and I have been back many times since. The owner travels to China to get her teas directly from farmers who specialize in growing tea. Each time I have been here I sampled one to three teas depending upon how much time I had. All of our servers were very knowledgable about the teas we tried.
They have a few games available to play, we have played two games of chess. There are smalle tables in the front and the back of the place and bar seating in the middle.
There are also a bunch of clay animals on the chelves and you cna bring one to your table as a tea pet/​drinking buddy. I chose a bird and eggs one time which you can see in one of my photos. This is strictly a tea room, there is no food served and there is no herbal nor flavored tea.

The tea place was like no other tea experience I’ve had. My friend and I came across this place while waiting for the ice cream place to open a few shops down. The place itself was so cute looking we sat at the tea bar area. Dylan was so knowledgable and friendly that it made our experience so fun and memorable. My favorite part was picking out my tea buddy (the turtle) We actually learned a little about the Chinese slow tea steeping process. Just docking one star because it’s definitely on the pricier side. I couldn’t tell you the tea we ordered but the experience was amazing along with the tea and customer service. :)

The tea here was very good. The person working was knowledgeable about the tea selections, was friendly, and we were encouraged to stay and savor our tea, not rushed out at all. I didn’t keep track of time but my friend and I were there quite awhile sipping our tea and chatting. We had the Dragon’s Well tea and I want to go back to try more tea.
I also loved the little «tea buddies» that Tea Drunk had for us to choose from. These are little ornaments that sit with you while you drink tea just for fun!

Sat here with a friend drinking tea for hours. I’ll be honest here, i loved this place.
The Good:
Really everything was good. The staff were friendly and knowledgeable and I rather enjoyed hearing what they had to say. Local regulars and other first timers alike were seated in an intimate, comfortable atmosphere and I had quite a few entertaining conversations. Of course, the tea was outstanding. we sampled five different teas each with a distinct flavor and experience. absolutely delicious.
The Bad:
Nothing. Really.
The Ugly:
Quality is not cheap and you pay for it here. That said, I’d do it again in a heartbeat. Probably tomorrow.

Very wide selection of white, green, red, and black Chinese teas to name a few. They continuously provide table service for the tea you order — which comes in two different sizes depending on the number of people you are with. Great quaint spot in the East Village for those looking for some late-​night, high-​quality tea.

Cute, low-​key spot for some traditional Chinese regional teas. They specifically serve Chinese teas, and it is a fairly good list. This is a great place for conversation. We easily spent about two hours here over a pot.
In terms of décor, very casual, homely and welcoming, almost like you are stepping into someone’s house and preparing yourself for some homemade tea. The menu is vast in high-​quality Chinese teas, and they provide a nice short description for each tea available. We chose a Green Tea, the Bi Luo Chun — East Mountain, Dong Ting (The First Pluck 2014) — Sharp, floral and fruity with notes of toasted rice. They come served in ‘Pao’ ($ 30/​Pao for Bi Luo Chun), or a serving of tea. A pao of tea can yield more than ten steeps depending and can be shared with up to four people. Between the two of us, it lasted a good two hours, though you will note more bitterness towards the end of the serving. A server will come by to refill the pot with hot water as it reaches the end.
Tea Drunk provides a very calming, soothing atmosphere. If you are a fan of teas, regional Chinese specifically, you will additionally appreciate what Tea Drunk has to offer.