New Century Tea Gallery

First and foremost, this tea shop is without equal. If you want tea from the source of excellence (in terms of quality, selection and knowledge) then Dafe and Grace’s shop is THE place in the United States to satisfy your need.
I have such a strong emotional connection with New Century Tea Gallery, Grace and Dafe are gracious hosts, come in and sit down for a free tea tasting, you will learn more about Chinese tea than you could imagine– and in the meantime, make two wonderful friends!
Every time I visit Seattle, there are two things that absolutely MUST be on my list of things to do:
1. See family and friends
2. Go to New Century Tea Gallery for tea with Dafe and Grace in this beautiful little refuge from the world!
Live well, and drink tea!

Amazing authentic tea selection this place is the real deal… she will let u sample teas. kinda like wine tasting.

If you want to buy tea from an expert this is the place to go. I wandered in on a whim, but I was greeted by a tea tasting that allowed me to really sample what I was buying. Most of the time purchasing tea can be hit or miss, but this place has every kind and grade of carefully cultivated Asian tea that you could hope for. The owner grew up on a tea farm so he is extremely knowledgeable as well.
Even though prices can be more steep than some of the other markets nearby, it is so worth it! I would highly recommend the Special Jade Green Tea. It is amazingly fragrant and better than any of the 30+ different varieties that I have tried so far. It is vacuum-​packed by the quarter and half pound for easy travel (especially if you are flying)!

The woman running the shop was awfully rude. I was browsing through their pu-​erh (not touching anything, just reading the information), and she came up and asked my friend and I what we needed. Very bluntly. I was a bit flustered and asked what she meant, so she repeated herself slowly in an annoyed tone. We both felt really unwelcome, so rather than buying some tea to try at home, we left. I think it’s important to note that everyone else in the store was white+a tourist, and we were clearly college students, so she must’ve assumed we didn’t have money. Which is both inappropriate and untrue.
I was really excited to find a nice, well-​stocked tea gallery since there aren’t any in our area, but unfortunately the rudeness of the woman who interacted with us made this a location I won’t be revisiting.

New Century is a little tea shop in the international district. The Cantonese — speaking staff is knowledgeable and they do free tea tastings so you can make sure you like something before you buy it, they’ll make recommendations for you to try if you want, so you might just discover a new favourite tea. The prices are average compared to other tea shops in Seattle. They take Visa and Mastercards. Metered street parking only.

This is and has been my most favorite tea shop, not only for the vast array of tea’s, but more so for the wonderful couple that serve and share their knowledge and teas. Dafe and Grace are the perfect hosts, always smiling, always ensuring that your cup is never dry for long. You can’t help feeling at home, and like family here. If you have the time, make this one of your stops, just allow for some time, because these two wonderful people love to share their love.

I stopped by this location after eating dumplings and visiting my favorite tea shop up the street as I had always been wanting to check out its tea selection since reading the Unilocal reviews.
They seem to have a nice selection of teas at the New Century Tea Gallery, but I cannot say that it felt very inviting when compared to my favorite tea shop in the I-​District. When I went in, the store was completely empty. So I started walking around and then saw that there was a woman in back who did not even look up at me. She just said to let her know if I had any questions. This is much different than the warm greeting that I am accustomed to, and I think might be the reason why there was noone in the store, while the one I had just left was packed.
Needless to say, I did not do a tasting here…

I can’t believe it has taken me so long to write a review for this place! This is one of my favourite tea places in the state, next to Xiu Xian (Kent), Teahouse Kuan Yin (Wallingford), and Phoenix Tea (Burien).
They have the best selection of true, pure Chinese and Taiwanese tea and a nice selection of blended tea for those who prefer tea more casually or prefer herbals. I’ve also found more rarer varietals here, which is nice. The Pue’rh and green selections are truly something to behold though and I frequently come here for my bi lou chun (pilouchun, bailouchun) fix. However, be forewarned that the price matches the quality. While the prices are fair on many items, you will pay for the quality of Grace’s best teas and they will be worth every single penny.
If you are a tea lover, this place is not to be missed.

Others have described the wonderful experience of visiting this store, so I’ll just chime in that my partner and I wandered in here after stuffing ourselves full of dim sum and after sampling the Pu’erh tea, felt much better (stomachs settled). I learned a lot: like I have been steeping my tea way too long. We brought home a cake of Pu’erh, a sample size of the house special green, and a special mug I’ve been using at work. Spent more than we would have otherwise, but for great tea that will last a long time, and that we’ll actually drink. Highly recommended!

Amazing tea place — the best puerh shop in the US (there is one just as good in Hong Kong. a little far though!)
I was recommended to this shop by my friend. I waited for the shop to open and once the shop was open, I met Dafe and told him I was looking for good puerh. He showed me several different years (92, 98?, 2006) of «cooked» puerh and started preparing to let me sample all of them. Not wanting to take advantage of Dafe’s hospitality, I saw that the 92 was a bit more than I was planning to spend so I told Dafe that it was ok and I did not need to drink that. He said it was no problem, just try it to taste differences in the tea. We drank all 3 kinds at least 5 – 6 brews and talked and discussed tea, my visit to Seattle, the shop, everything. It was like drinking tea with an old friend. After tasting all 3, it was obvious the 92 was the best tea by far so I ended up buying it anyway.
We were joined by 3 other tea seekers and they stayed for awhile to try the jasmine (I declined not a fan) and special grade green tea. The special grade green tea has all the best qualities of dragonwell without the odd taste I don’t like. I bought this for my mother in law since she loves dragonwell. The special grade green is also from the shop’s family farm. So cool to know where it came from :)
After the 3 others left, I tried the moonlight sheng puerh. It was really good, crisp and not astringent. However sheng has a strong waking effect on me so I can’t drink too much so I didn’t buy any.
At that point I didn’t really want to leave but I was starving (I spent 3 hours drinking tea!). As I was leaving Dafe wanted to give me a puerh knife as a gift but I told him I can’t since I only had a carry on. He came me some tea samples instead.
Now the incredible part — 2 weeks later my friends went to visit the shop and mentioned I visited. They remember everything about me and also gave my friends the puerh knife to bring back to me!
This tea shop needs to get 1000 stars :)
It’s too bad I don’t live in Seattle :(

I had a good experience at this tea house. Grace served me cake that I liked but she didn’t realize it was not for sale. When asked to purchase it she offered it even though it was for sampling only. Thanks!
After a few more experiences with New Century I imagine my rating will change to ⁵⁄₅ stars.
Pros:
–Fantastic selection of puerh.
–Friendly atmosphere.
–Focus on serving tea (samples).
–Prices are clearly marked on most teas.
Cons:
–Some cakes do not have prices labeled.

I found the New Century Tea Gallery quite by chance about a year ago. I have been a devoted drinker of fine teas for many years and have enjoyed visiting many excellent tea shops in the greater Seattle area, but my first meeting with Dafe and Grace took my education and appreciation of Chinese teas to a new level.
Since then, I have had the great pleasure of introducing several friends to the joys of gong fu tea by taking them to the New Century Tea Gallery. Grace and Dafe have never failed to win them as converts to the art and pleasure of drinking tea.
Just before Christmas, my 23 year old niece came to visit for a couple days and I took the chance of introducing her to fine teas by way of a visit to this small tea shop. Grace was everything I could expect from a tea professional and welcoming host. We spent about an hour and a half tasting and discussing varieties of tea. My delightful niece was captivated by the experience and left with a sampler of oolongs and a user-​friendly brewing pot. I had the privilege of introducing her to the art of tea.
The moral: take your friends and family to authentic tea shops. They will love it.

Dafe is a master at what he does. He is very knowledgeable about his teas, very friendly, allows you to sample his teas before you buy and takes something seemingly mundane as brewing tea and turns it into fascinating and impressive spectacle and almost an art form. I plan on paying him a visit after a public tea house opens in my area for Japanese tea ceremonies.

Wonderful shop. Took my daughter here to buy some tea for a her tea set that I got her for Christmas. The guy working there was very helpful and patient with all of my questions and set us up with a really great combo pack of tea.
He even threw in one of the blooming tea flowers for my daughters.
I miss this level of service … other retailers should take note.
Also, the place felt really nice … obviously smelled good, but it was also lit well, and the layout made sense to my westerner mind.

How can I say how much I love this place?
My husband and I by chance saw it while walking to a dimsum place. I actually intended to go only to Floating Tea Leaves during our visit to Seattle, but I’m so glad we went exploring since Tea Gallery is amazing!
The owners are so welcoming. This is one of the few tea places I’ve visited that let you taste tea for free. They were so generous since I think we tasted at least 5 different kinds of tea the first visit. And though we’ve been drinking gong fu for a few years now, we also learned a few things from them. They introduced us to a form of tea play that we’ve never considered before even though it’s so obvious. They mixed brewed shou and sheng to see what taste that would create — it was cool since the shou balanced the sharp taste of sheng.
When we went in, I was just looking for a simple solid green tea that we can get a decent taste from without access to good water or a kettle. And that’s how I ended up with a pack of «Special Grade Green Tea.» Granted not the best name but we found out that the owner’s family make it. It is like dragonwell but has a fuller taste. I really wish I bought more of it.
After tasting a few more green oolongs, we quickly moved to puerh. The owner had us taste a shou that he’s been brewing all morning but is still so flavorful. It turned out to be one of the best puerh in the store. He apologized for starting us with that one since none of the other puerh tea could compare. It was a purple leaf 701 brick; I hope there’s still some left when we visit again.
I really want to taste everything they have in stock, but unfortunately, they have at least 50 different kinds of puerh, not to mention the all the other types of tea. I will say that in the tie guan yin category, the one called Monkey Pick is the best tasting tie guan yin I’ve ever had.

Simply the nicest people I’ve ever met in a retail establishment. They have exactly what you want from an owner-​operated business: items they believe in, chosen for a reason, at reasonable prices, sold with pride. What more could you ask for? The best Pu-​erh in Seattle? Oh yeah, they have that too… A lengthy discussion of tea-​culture while sipping multiple high-​mountain oolongs? Yep, that too.
What don’t they have?
Well, it’s not a place to go have tea with a friend while talking about your week, kids, strange rash, etc. That’s not their purpose.
For that, head up to Teahouse Kuan-​Yin, where you’ll have a table to sit down at, tea that’s almost as good, and some nice munchies to nosh.
But when it comes to getting the best loose-​leaf oolong, pu-​erh, green, white, or herbal teas in Seattle, or finding an amazing yixing pot or gongfu set, you’ve gotta get down to Chinatown and the New Century Tea Gallery.

All I have to say is Wow! Okay, I have more to say. I stopped here in my search for a Ti Kuen Yin (a type of Oolong) I was introduced to a couple of weeks ago by a Chinese colleague. This is not your Americanized pseudo friendly Teavana Mall Rat experience. This is a full on, personable world of the independent Chinese tea house.
And what an education of something I knew of but knew little about. I learned with clarity the differences in Chinese tea preparation as opposed to English and Japanese preparation. They have 2 nice tea preparation areas for hosting tea and watching them prepare the tea in a Chinese guywan (basically a small bowl with a doomed lid). Here, I learned the proper way of infusing the leaves so they can be used up to 6 or 7 times. Also, the preheating of both the infuser and the tea cup is important since the temperature of the water will change the flavor. Given that teas can be anywhere from $ 40 to $ 2000/​lbs, reuse is nice.
They also sell sample packs if you don’t have time to enjoy the samples of the tea of day at their tea tables. This can be a nice, inexpensive way, to develop your sense of likes and dislikes of tea. And they have a nice assortment of Chinese style tea cups, preparation and complete serving sets.
Overall, the experience here is analogous to a fine wine store hosting wine tasting except you don’t need a DUI Lawyer on retainer!

This is my new favorite tea shop in Seattle, because this one is the real deal!
Nestled in «chinatown» in the International District, where any respectable tea shop ought to be, this sweet little store is a gem.
This isn’t the place to go if you want a yuppy floral blend to brew in large pots at home and serve in super-​sized starbucks mugs, rather, this shop is authentic; it serves traditional teas in the traditional ways.
The space is beautiful! Gorgeous tea tables and services, décor that feels authentic, and that just-​slghtly-​cluttered sense that makes you feel like you’re going to uncover treasures.
They have a large selection of tiny tea pots and cups, complete tea services, and all of the special little items that make serving traditional tea feel like a sacred ritual. Prices for these items vary from inexpensive starter sets to pricey collectibles; a good selection in every price range.
The tea collection is extensive (in fact, the name «Tea Gallery» is totally appropriate!) Multiple offerings at various price-​points for a wide variety of teas. Their buyers travel to china personally to bring back the best teas to share with Seattle.
The best part is the service! Walk in even just for a visit and you will be treated to not only samples of many kinds of teas, but full on tea-​service, complete with a download of information from their delightful servers. They will make sure you know everything you need to know to serve their teas right.
New Century Tea Gallery is doing everything right! A casual visit might just turn you into a tea-​ceremony convert.

Continuing my education in this thing we call life
Last night I went to Seattle’s Chinatown-​International District Night Market and had a great time walking around an mingling with all the people, but then I stumbled on the Century Tea Gallery
I had been eying the Huge Buddha from across the street thru the open door, I had to get a closer look and that’s when my night took a turn to educational
as I said at first I just wanted to see the Statue of Buddha and maybe get a couple pictures, if the owner was cool with that, but I got oh so much more
I got Schooled on Tea, now this place usually closes at 6:30 pm but was open for the Night Market, so Instead of ignoring the crazy white guy like happens so often and yes I know my looks have a lot to do with it, but the man here just asked me a little about my knowledge of Tea and how long I had been drinking it.
then he started to show me a few different Tea’s and explaining to me about there age and about the difference between a young picked Tea and a older picked Tea, and then there are Tea’s called High MN Tea, these usually are Tea’s that grow wild on the MN and very much relished as a better Tea (thank you for the added help from the Chinese Lady I was drinking Tea with)
Also I was surprised to learn Tea doesn’t go bad or get Old, like a fine wine it Ages and with Age it goes up in price I also found out, that is why it was used for money at one time and Tea is relished and some times passed down to children as it may be 50 or more years old
Now this isn’t your Daddy’s Lipton Tea Bag Grasshopper
So as People are watching Bruce Lee in Enter the Dragon across the street in the park I am learning how to make and enjoy Tea, and one of the biggest thing I learned was that a good Tea can be used 6 – 8 times not a one time brewing then throw out the Tea Bag here, well there is no Tea Bag here we are using Tea leaves, even after 6 steeping of the Tea leaves there is still no bitter taste, the Tea is just as crisp and refreshing with a slight sweetness on the tip of your tongue just after it goes down, and kinda like a good brandy it warms your belly, but in a good way almost like you can feel the Tea working its Magic
so go in and enjoy learning about Tea, the Chinese have hundreds of different teas to drink, and don’t let the prices scare you, as you young Chinese lady told me last night you can get the same amount of Tea, and for about the same price of a box of Tea, but it is so much better tasting and for you in whole leaf form
I know I will be back to purchase more Tea and to try other types of Tea, I hope to bring a few friends with me as it so much better to enjoy with others

The New Century Tea Gallery is a beautiful little tea shop in the I.D. Here you can find many fine, high quality teas by the pound, tea pots and tea accessories. They also carry these hard to find aged tea leaves that are sold in the form of a large circular «tea cakes» often stamped or molded beautifully. I’ve never seen these, but maybe they are common in China? They do carry the 2008 Beijing Olympics commemorative teacake made of «pu er» tea. They are not cheap and range in price from $ 85-​$ 200.
I got a wonderful education by browsing in the store/​gallery one afternoon. I have never seen anything like the two gorgeous wooden tea tables there. We sat and were treated to a tea tasting where they prepared and brewed the tea in a traditional fashion. It felt very ritualistic and an elegant way to experience and taste the fine teas before buying. Who knew that there are tall tea cups for smelling and shorter tea cups for tasting. It’s definitely worth a visit if you are in the area and want to buy teas. In addition to the black, green and pu er tea, they also carry flowery teas like jasmine and rose teas.