Our Shanghai tea house is featured as one of the '150 Tea Houses you need to visit before you die' and we couldn’t be prouder for making the selection.
Part of the 150 series on different themes published by Lannoo, the author Léa Teuscher transports us to some wonderful places to drink tea; how about a rooftop lounge on a high-altitude tea estate in Anji, China (01), where you can sip the region’s renowned Anji Bai Cha and grill some persimmon fruit? Maybe you prefer a classic Afternoon Tea aboard the Royal Yacht Britannia (54) in Edinburgh, Scotland, where Queen Elizabeth II once entertained Nelson Mandela and Winston Churchill? You could stargaze from geometric tea house pods in the first certified international dark sky community in all of Asia (08) on Honshu Island, Japan. Léa even recommends siting on a beach towel on Copacabana Beach (115) with a view of Sugarloaf Mountain and hailing one of the ambulantes carrying their gallons of cold yerba maté and lemon juice. Alternatively, you can receive a cup of welcoming mint tea, brewed in a metal teapot over the fire at Inara Camp (125) in the Agafay Desert, Morocco.
WAN LING TEA HOUSE (35) is listed as 'Family-run' and 'The place to learn all about Chinese tea'. Ours is definitely a tea house where we aim to serve tea knowledge alongside the drink. Other tea houses simply want to transport you to a place where tea culture differs from our own, for example the tea house in Berlin serving green tea with butter and salt in the Tajik tradition (50).
These are just a selection of the venues chosen for the book, which vary from modern and minimalist, cosy and bohemian, urban and trendy. There’s luxury, or there’s down-to-earth. What they all have in common is a passion for serving tea memorably. Drinking tea is social, or it can be a retreat. Reading through the book you’ll see there’s a venue for everyone.
Not many of us will have the opportunity to travel to far-flung places in search of tea experiences (Unless you join on of our Tea Tours), but for those of us who do, Léa Teuscher’s guide is a useful and inspiring first step in planning your journey! However if you’re a stay-at-home tea drinker, then it’s the perfect book to browse through and marvel at the descriptions and photographs, whilst sipping your favourite brew.
Teuscher. L (2025) '150 Tea Houses You Need to Visit Before You Die', Lannoo Publishers, Belgium.
