Sun’s Organic Garden

I walked in today looking to buy some good local tea to send to a friend without having to go online for it. I was so pleasantly surprised by this authentic little shop. The woman behind the counter was super friendly, helpful and just lovely to chat with. I had a very nice experience… will definitely be going back!

Don’t know too much about the named teas that sound like disease saviors, but I love this place. It’s a small shop so the fresh aroma hits you as soon as you enter. The vast amount of jars never fail to amaze me. I spent around 30 minutes just staring at the jars because it was just amazing. The teas are the real stuff! The lady there was really nice and asked if I needed help, but didn’t pressure me despite my long stay. Purchased a few ounces of a few different teas. Will be back for more!!!

The shop seems very interesting with vast variety of jars containing tea leaves, powders, and what not. However, friends and I went in and were ignored as the only person there at the time was on the phone. It was my fault that I did not see the «do not eat or drink» sign as friends and I were eating snacks we bought from another store. When she was done with her phone, she immediately came by and asked if we were buying anything, which a friend said yes. She acted very paranoid and OCD, stating that she doesn’t allow people to eat in her store, then went on to assist my friend who told her what tea she wanted. The friend who was eating opened the door and went outside to complete the snacks while some of us continued to look at the shop and jars of tea, at which point she immediately rushed toward us from back of the shop telling us that we are not supposed to touch the jars. We looked at her and saw that we didn’t touch the jars, she asked what was the sound of the glass, which we explained to her was the bell she hung on the door when the friend exited the store. She then went on and said so many people broke her jars and she doesn’t like people touching them. We replied okay, quickly made our purchase, then left. The store seems like it has big variety of options, but the owner/​staff was definitely OCD with signs everywhere about no touching, no eating, no drinking, no talking, no cell phone usage. There were signs on each jar saying not to touch, and she definitely made us feel uncomfortable like we were 5-​year-​old about to trash her shop. The irony is that there were signs behind her counter about being peaceful, accepting, smile, and relax, which were the complete opposite of what we felt.

Authentic, powerful, delicious, and the price is right. The manager was extremely knowledgeable and particularly helpful in my selection of a desired strain of tea. After having tea from commercial places like teavana, etc, there truly is no comparison to the heart and soul that is Sun’s Organic.

I agree with Jen Y. One person there. Ignored me for 10 mins then very brusque. Wouldn’t allow me to smell the tea. Very expensive. Wouldn’t tell me what the tea was like: «every tea is unique. «Most jars had tape on them so couldn’t see inside. Used a scale that was meant for home use and didn’t have an inspection sticker on it. Not going back.

Yesterday my fiancé and I visited SOTS for the first time. We had an amazing experience and learned the benefits of the items we purchased. The owner was very kind and knowledgeable of her products. Our next purchase will be in two weeks.

Thanks,
The cop& the teacher.

Agree with the reviews that talk about the dizzying array of product. I first came here with a friend who had been here before, and was going back for a refill on some supplies. On that visit I thought the owner (guess her name is Lorna?) was somewhat rude to my friend, but that friend can be kind of quirky, so I chalked it up to that. Since I was there for so long, I ended up buying a powder for «joint pain.»
I tried the powder for 2 weeks and it seemed to possibly help so I returned to this store to get another packet. This time Lorna was there alone with an assistant and immediately barked at me «what I want» when I came in and looked at the shelf where I thought the powder came from. Long story short, I found the whole interaction extremely distasteful especially since she 1) argued with me 2) insisted that she knew exactly what I had bought before and when I asked to look at the packet to be sure before I bought it she told me that wasn’t possible. When I reached across the counter to turn it to face my way to see the color of the powder she snatched it back out of my hand and then told me I had to buy it now.
Awful. The store is truly interesting and I think her products are probably good but the hostile signs everywhere telling you about 100 things that you CAN’T do (don’t touch, no pictures, no refunds, etc) and her rude and stuck up manner will stop me from ever going back. Life is too short to give your business and your life energy to people like Lorna.

I was excited to come here after reading most of the reviews, but I was only in agreement with a few of them. There are a wide variety of teas here and they are definitely organic and quality teas. But I walked in with a couple questions and had to wait about 10 minutes until Lorna, the owner, got off the phone to assist me. She made me feel really uncomfortable and seemed pretty hesitant about answering my very simple questions. She kind of acts stuck up, like her teas are the best you will find. She didn’t really make me want to buy anything. I left empty handed, wouldn’t be eager to come back.

This is a fantastic tea shop. The selection is huge! Its impossible to take it all in in just one visit. The only downside is how the tea is stored. I wish it was kept in containers that would prevent exposure to the sunlight; however, none of the tea I’ve had from here has ever been stale so its not a huge deal. Anyways, the selection of oolongs is fantastic and the prices are great. The owner is friendly and knowledgeable. This is my go-​to tea shop in NYC.
And just FYI, there is a $ 20 credit card minimum!

Try the Brain Power tea.
I have been frequenting this shop for the past year or two and on one of my most recent visits, a gentleman was speaking of and purchasing a tea that he claimed to be extremely powerful in helping his memory. I decided to give this «Brain Power» tea a try. Starting back to school a few days later, I figured I needed all the help I could get.
The second day of my trial with the tea, I was able to recall things with such ease, with no hesitation or trying. I thought to myself, «How is it that I am soooo on point?!» Then, I remembered the tea!
This stuff is amazing. It works like a charm and I aced my first exam ;) I totally recommend the Brain Power tea. I do love tea in general and have tried a couple of her oolong teas, the rose bud tea and a few others. And I recommend them all.
Also, my mother has been taking a joint powder that is lessening some of the arthritis pain in her leg. It took about a week to kick in. She says it’s very bitter but it works.

To the windowwwwsssss… To the walllllssss… To the tea fill up my (infuser) ball, down this sencha falls…
As you may have guessed, Sun’s Organic Teas is filled with teas and herbs to provide an Eastern alternative approach to pharmaceuticals to cure your ailments. They have teas for relieving stress, sleeping soundly, waking up, going beserk, detoxification, increasing concentration and more. I don’t know how much stock I put into all of it, but there is merit to some of it. What they do — they do well. If you want a delicious, healthy tea to wake you up in the morning either subtly or by kicking you in the tastebuds they have it. If you want a tea to relax after a long day at work or before bed, they have it. If you want a fruity tea to enjoy with dessert… You get the idea.
I love perusing the shelves (don’t open the jars! the owner is quick to remind you) and have never left with under four 2−3oz bags of looseleaf teas to bring home and fall in love with.
My favorites are the «Brain Power» (I need all I can get) which has cardamom, ginseng, and some other herbs mixed with green tea and the Earl Grey Lavender. They have chais, green teas, oolongs, red teas, fruity teas, white teas and everything inbetween. It’s such a peaceful relaxing shop and the owner is a doll. Ciao until next time, Sun!

This is tea at its optimal.
A «mom and pop» style shop in the middle of Chinatown, this place sells over 1000 kinds of teas. It’s homey and comfortable, and Lorna takes so much pride and passion in her teas.
The teas here are legitimate, a Whether it is your classic sencha and genmaicha to the exotic white pu’er or Tieguanyin, trust Lorna to guide you to her favorites, and you won’t go wrong. It’s some of the best teas I have ever had.
The only downside? The teas are expensive, and the rating of expensive is based on Manhattan prices, not Chinatown prices. A lot of my favorite teas here are $ 8 — $ 10 an ounce. And that’s breaking the budget a bit.
I guess everyone has their splurges. Mine is tea.

This tea shop has a lot of character and feels like you walked into something out of a Harry Potter movie. All the teas have hand written notes and the tea we tried was great! The owner was very kind and we can’t wait to go back.

Sun’s Organic Tea Shop has a very deep selection of oolong and many other traditional teas, I was very excited about finding this shop as I am a daily tea drinker and love the entire spectrum of traditional chinese (and japanese green) teas.
Unfortunately the owner of the shop made me feel very uncomfortable.
I found her personality very sharp, uninviting, defensive, highly opinionated and just plain rude. I’m sure she means well, knows quite a bit about her teas and want’s to make people feel good about her teas, but she is just too rough around the edges. She also had been doing this a long time and I doubt she will ever change.
Perhaps she will warm up to you after she gets to know you, or if I’m in there for a one on one chat with no other interruptions. I’m not sure.
She goes on and on about how her tea is organic, but honestly if you have a very good tea source from the remote areas of southern China, isn’t everything ancient and very old. I have never seen such a distinction regarding organic and inorganic teas when buying high quality teas from other tea sources.
She also has a strict no smelling policy which I partially understand but at the same time was opposite to an article I read on the place where they said you can smell as much of the tea as you want. So you just sort of have to buy a tea on faith without getting any kind of sense of it’s smell, which for me means a lot.
I found her very unhelpful when trying to understand more about a tea, she seemed quite impatient and uninterested in engaging in any real conversation of depth.
She also said the «Cha Qi» was completely false (I’m referring too very old raw pu erh teas), and how she knows because she is a healer and practices Qigong. Well I also practice Qigong and have had very old teas where the Cha Qi is quite real, it’s a known experience with some of the old teas that this feeling is real. So she was quite opinionated on that.
I also bought an oz. of her finest Phoenix Oolong tea for about 17 bucks as she said there is no better Phoenix. I tried it and it’s good but I also got some at «Bird Pick» in Pasadena, Ca just before my trip here and I found that one to be even better (more fruity notes of peach). So I’m not sure how good her teas really are.
Overall I was very disappointed with the service.

I went to this shop based on the good review on Unilocal.I entered the shop. No one was shopping at the time, and a lady was sitting behind the counter playing on her smartphone. Told her I needed to buy some tea. Not sure if i spoke too softly, but she said, «we don’t serve tea here.» I repeated, «I need to buy some tea». She said ok, then returned to her cellphone. After waiting a minute, watching the lady continue to play on her cellphone that’s when I decided she was more interested on playing on her cellphone then selling tea at the time, So I left. How good is her tea and her knowledge of tea? I don’t know since she never looked but from her cellphone for more then a minute.

Great store!
Lorna has great knowledge of her products and for sure is a tea expert! I was in s couple of tea stores in NYC and could not find Nepalese white tea and here it is! Nice! Expensive but oh do good! A lot of other teas are from China, so many different flavors and smells, huge amounts of herbs and spices also.
Lorna is friendly but there are rules and I love it! No touching of anything in here, just great, I don’t want to buy expensive organic stuff that was opened, touched and smelled by tons of people! She explains you what temperature of water to use, how long to steep and what taste to expect.
So I bought the Nepalese organic white tea, white Jasmine infused tea (with the flower not the oil) and an ounce of Lorna’s favorite black tea, can’t wait to try it! She threw in a little bag of organic puh er tea she drinks, much appreciated, thank you!
I ll be back!

This is my favorite teashop in the country! I will go out of my way to visit when in New York. Sun’s has a huge selection. The owner is incredibly knowledgeable about tea and homeopathic remedies. Every time i stop in the store she spends a lot of time with me. I have been buying her detox mix for quite sometime. It does make me feel better after a weekend of over indulging.

An absolute gem for loose leaf tea, especially for the non-​sweetener type of people
Nice people in here also. Relaxing atmosphere as well
I think I got a pur-​eh in here once and it was quite solid.

No more bubble teas sold here, FYI.
Dropped by to wander and ended up buying two different kinds of loose leaf tea packets. One for function, the other for taste. No idea if it works, but I love teas so that’s ok. I mean, who knows if vitamins work right? Roll w me here.
The shop owner certainly knows her tea materials but she is hard to engage with. As a first time visitor, I was very overwhelmed w the choices and she was reluctant to both describe the varietals or recommend something based on my preferences. It took a bit of time to get her to choose an oolong.
In any case, visit this shop if you’re looking to support a local shop but you should have an idea of what you want as there are so many choices.

I came in here for genmaicha. Came out with an ounce of genmaicha and an ounce of brain power tea for around 8 – 9 dollars total.
I wanted to learn more about tea, since I am an avid tea drinker and constantly buy tea. But, I felt like I was pulling teeth asking her questions. I asked if I could take a picture of her brain power tea in its container and she said no. She replied that she did not list the ingredients on the glass container anyway. I just wanted to take pictures, but ok.
The genmaicha tea is average, I have tasted better elsewhere. The brain power tea is her own blend of herbs has a nice aftertaste to it.