Tea Gallerie

Great selection of teas and a fair selection of infusers. If you are someone who has tired out teavanna and are looking for more teas of a higher caliber this place is great. It is located amongst a series of warehouses, because their primary focus is shipping teas. Lucky for us in San Diego though, we get to walk in smell all the teas and drop some cash on some bougie loose leaf teas.
I’m in love with the Scottish caramel puerh, and my sisters (who are not about that tea life) love it! It is a nice tea for coffee lovers.
I also bought the masala chai, and it is authentic and strong. The Earl Grey is smooth.
There is an area for you to sit, but you have to be really quiet, not a place to grab tea and catch up with some one. More of a place to drink tea whilst you read. Book or work in something. They also do tastings for $ 20, a cool experience to have with friends or a fun date night idea.
The price on the infusers is really expensive even compared to teavanna. The tea is fairly priced for the most part.

Super impressed by the customer service given in response to a previous review! I’ll definitely be coming back to see John who is obviously someone who cares about his customers! Thank you for such an impression, I’m sorry I didn’t see your response earlier!

By far the highest grade of the and knowledge I have experienced in my life. Better than Mariage Frère from France which I was putting pretty high on my list living in Paris for 2 years.
I even learned about Pu-​erh that I love and about a coffee place in San Diego of high caliber as well.
You can buy wholesale, you can enjoy a cup of tea, you can come tea testing. Plus very quiet because in an industrial zone.
If you love tea or want to discover tea, this is the place.
Make sure to enjoy the peacefulness of the place.

Smell the dry leaves first, then the leaves after steeping, then the tea itself. Now taste the tea itself. Light woody flavors teased my taste buds while the scent of oolong leaves lingered in my nose. I learned from John at his Oolong tea workshop more than I ever imagined. He showed us how the highest quality tea leaves were gently rolled. The darker the leaf the more oxidition. My fav oolong teas tend to be the lighter less oxidized. Tung ting is my fav flavor right now.
Selection and quality is among the best in town. Prices are competitive. The customer service is awesome. I was in desperate need of a jasmine Siberian rose blend my kid found in China. Nice young lady here was able to create a blend that was close enough till my kid brings me more from China.
Each time I visited has been an exquisite experience. I brew tea at home with Zojirushi water boiler like they have here and use water that has been filtered by reverse osmosis and carbon filtration. Still the tea taste purer and more refined here. Perhaps it’s the alkaline water they use. Or the talented tea masters here…

Tiny sign GIANT selection of tea. After exhausting the selection of tea at my local world market, and really wanting to avoid driving to old town, Tea Gallerie popped up my radar. So glad I finally made it in. They’ve got everything for your tea needs, from balls to steepers, pour overs and kettles, cups and well you get the idea. They’re friendly, helpful and happy to assist with selecting the perfect blend. Plus they do tastings, like a beer crawl but without the nasty hangover at the end. So good.

Honestly, I should have taken notes. Actual notes, with a pen & paper. Now that I am home, and reliving the delightful experience my mom & I shared at tea gallerie, I feel like I’m definitely going to miss something! We had the unbelievable fortune of joining John and Guil for a tea tasting this afternoon, and honestly it was a transformative experience. I will do my best to list all the things we tried & learned below!
Coconut crème — yum. YUM. So good. After taking a tour of the shop & learning a ton of fun things from Guil (who is fantastically passionate about tea, and has the knowledge to back it up) we started with this one. Light, sweet, smooth, almost buttery. I loved it.
Milk reserve oolong — This one was my favorite smelling tea in the shop. The taste did not disappoint. It was creamy and rich and aromatic. I wanted to bathe in it.
Coconut chai — I bought this one. This is my new favorite tea. It is a beautifully balanced chai with subtle sweetness and a creamy nutty flavor from the toasty coconut that blew my mind.
Scottis caramel something-​or-​other — Oh. My. Gosh. This tastes like sexy candy. Like sliding into silk butter colored sheets. I bought this one too. Soooo good.
Rose parade (I think?) was a «kids tea.» Ummm… kids? No. Delightful adult tisane. No caffeine, bright tang from hibiscus, it was like a sour candy.
Peach Melba — This tastes like candy. Gummy candy. I wanted more. Soooo much more.
And we also had the pleasure of trying a super fancy black tea that blew my mind. Defied description. Mind — blown.
Along the journey both Guil and John taught us about every aspect of tea. Brewing methods & temps, blends, how it’s bagged, how it’s picked, grades, we looked at rehydrated leaves for size & shape & integrity, we played with different brewing methods…
This experience was amazing. I can’t even begin to put into words how much more I love tea than I did yesterday.
In fact, I want to open one of my own… franchise?

Great variety of teas and a beautiful setting. I came here one afternoon to work on a quiet, focused project, and the cool, classy ambience was perfect. My midnight vanilla tea hit the spot amazingly.
The reason for 4 stars instead of 5 is the service. I found it confusing when I first arrived: The entrance door is completely unmarked, and then nobody was present to greet me when I finally entered. I rang the bell and an unsmiling man entered to say «Can I help you?» I began to doubt I was even in the right place.
Ultimately I would recommend this spot, but be prepared to be surprised when you enter, in a good way.

Totally bummed out that Leaf and Kettle closed down in Del Mar… began googling new high quality tea sources and oddly enough this place popped up! And it was located here in San Diego! No way!
Tea Gallerie is an active wholesale warehouse, but they have a store front and tasting room at the same location. You can try the tea you’re interested in purchasing or order any cup for $ 3. They have canisters of tea that you can smell to get an idea of what the tea might taste like before making a purchase. Prices listed are for two ounces of tea (except for the white tea, which I believe is for 1.5 ounces because the leaves are so big).
Looks like they have won awards for best tea in San Diego.
Recommend getting the Reserve Milk Oolong. Haven’t had anything like it before. Its a delicious oolong from Taiwan that goes through a roasting process. The flavor is very different.
If you don’t know much about tea, and have no idea what you might like, go here to become educated on tea. Herbal, White, Green, Oolong, Puereh, Black and flavored teas… they have the entire range of tea. For tea of high quality such as this, the prices are more than reasonable… Still way cheaper than going to Starbucks’ Teavana. Totally worth it.

A few months back, i went to Plumeria Vegetarian in University Heights. After my dinner, we ordered a pot of tea which they told us was «Cocunt Crème White Tea». Since it was late evening, we were assured it didn’t have too much caffeine and it sounded awesome so we went ahead and ordered it. Well, I fell heads over heels for this coconut crème white Tea enough to holler down the waitress and find out where to get it from! So she told me Tea Gallerie and their location and that they also come to Hillcrest Farmers Market.
The first time around, I ended up at the farmer’s market and got myself the white coconut crème and one of their tumblers to make tea in. 5 stars — the lady let me try the samples and was extremely polite, and also gave the card to their actual store location.
Forward few weeks, i found myself at the actual location looking for spearmint tea. Now as a tea lover, i know not many places sell whole Spearmint Tea and it is rather mixed with something else as a herbal tea. However, for acne purses and so on, i was looking for whole Spearmint tea and my research pointed me to Tea Gallerie. Having had a great experience, I found myself at their location browsing other teas as well on my search for Spearmint Tea. Well, it turned out that it wasn’t the season right now for Spearmint and they would be probably getting a new stock in a little while, so the manager (seemed like it) took down my name and number and let me know he would give me a call back once they get it.
Anyway, a month or so later — i was still hoping to hear back and decided to give him a call myself — he remembeered me, but did not have the tea in stock yet.
Well, unfortunately — i have yet to hear back from them — but now I am over the spearmint tea phase anyway and won’t be needing it!
All in all, I would have liked a call back at some point letting me know if they got it or still don’t have it or whatever the case. I don’t see myself going back to their location but I did enjoy the coconut crème, so would probably stop by at farmers market.

This is definitely a tea-fan’s hidden gem. You would never simply pass by and divert attention to here. Definitely need to purposely seek it. It’s in the middle of a business district well off the main areas of Kearny Mesa and Convoy.
As you walk in, you see cannisters and cannisters of loose tea from wall to wall, sorted by their types. Not going to lie, their collection is impressive. And they store it correctly (in opaque steel containers away from the sun). As you take a gander or wait for your tea to be ready, they play calming music in the background. And every once in a while, they have yoga there.
Prices for the tea tend to be a bit more, but the quality is worth more than what is paid.
If you purchase one if their nice special tea containers made of glass which includes a steel loose tea chamber, you may bring that to their farmer’s market stands for a free fill-​up of either of the two teas they offer at that time. It’s a great purchase, and it’s even more worth it if you remember to bring it to the farmer’s market every time.
Here’s one tiny drawback from this place: Not everybody here steeps the tea properly, according to my girlfriend. Sometimes, it’s steeped for too long. Sometimes, it’s not steeped for long enough. Sometimes, it’s not steeped at the correct temperature (although I’d give them a pass on temperature since not everybody has tea-​temperature-​precision technology on hand). But regardless of how much of a tea person you are, I’d still give them some business because they’re definitely one of the good ones.
If you check in through Unilocal,you get a BOGO order of tea. Not sure if that’s still in effect, but try it anyways.

Tea Gallerie is my new ‘Zen’ spot for a cup or two of tea and peace! Their diverse tea selections, ranging from black to maté, made my tea tasting ‘flight’ an amazing experience. Each tea sampled was perfectly brewed and served in a glass cup; so one not only smelled the aromatic flavors emanating, but one can visually enjoy the tea’s brilliant color. Even though there were no scones and slotted cream, this Asian take on ‘tea time’ was well worth the forty minute drive south of North County!
I highly recommend this California gem for its great friendly service and its calming ambiance!

I would say this is more a «tea experience» than a tea room. Don’t expect finger standwiches and pastries. This is a serious tea education, and I recommend it to anyone who wants excellent tea.
If you are having an event or just having a friend who is a tea conniosseur over to your home. Tea Gallerie should be your first stop! I learned more in the hour I was there, than I had anticipated. From tea selection to regional history and harvesting, the growing process to the steeping process, the Tea Gallerie knew it all and oh so much more!
They even had kids teas (that I have heard are sold in local healthy grocery stores.)
They even had infusers you could buy right there.
I can’t wait to take my tea loving friends & family there for a quick flight of teas!

I’ve been to Tea Gallerie several times over the years for their loose leaf teas. It’s in an industrial park, so while you’re driving down Engineer slow down or you just might miss it. I’ve talked to the salespeople every so often and they’re really knowledgeable in case you want to switch it up and try something new. There’s a large seating area in the middle and I’ve seen people conduct business meetings or study groups in that area. As for their loose leaf, I typically get the $ 9 2oz loose leaf bags. Although it’s less product for what you would get in a tin at Coffee Bean for example, but I do enjoy the quality of the tea at Tea Gallerie more. I have to say that the teas that I really enjoyed the most here are their Yerba Mate and Chai.

Tea Gallerie carries traditional teas and blends, but also offers unique and distinct teas to please any and all tea lovers, young and old.
Tea Gallerie really is a «gallery». They have wall-​to-​wall containers of all of teas where you can open them and smell the tea. The tea gallery is organized by type of tea. Oolong on one side, green, white, chai, and so on to the other side of the gallery. I found myself starting on one side and smelling my way over to the other side of the tea gallery.
During our tea tasting experience, Maria, Tea Gallerie owner shared some tips on how to best enjoy your tea:
1) When choosing a tea, it’s good to smell the tea. The smell of the tea parallels the tea’s flavor. So, if you like the smell, you like the tea!
2) For those who are sensitive to caffeine, they can still enjoy teas that contain caffeine like black and green teas. To minimize the amount of caffeine in the tea, you can «flash steep» the tea for 15 – 20 seconds. In this way, you can still enjoy the flavor of the tea without all the caffeine.
3) Water temperature and steeping time varies for each type of tea. All of Tea Gallerie’s teas come withwater temperature and steeping time details.
4) You can steep your tea ahead of time and store in your refrigerator for a few days. You can enjoy it iced or re-​warm in the microwave to enjoy.
Maria explaining the different teas of the tasting experience Here Maria is using a bottom dispensing tea infuser teapot to steep Hibiscus Rose Fruit Tea. This tea was sweet without any additional sweetener. The hibiscus, rose, vanilla, and rooibos was a pleasant blend that I know my kids would enjoy! This tea tasted lots like the Mexican jamaica drink.
We also sampled the Masala Chai prepared with coconut milk and raw Temecula Orange Blossom Honey, as well as the Carmelized Apple tea which reminded me of warm apple cider. Chatting with the ladies and sipping all the wonderful teas made for a very relaxing afternoon!
Tea Gallerie is also available to host private events like birthday parties or corporate events. Maria will work with you to create the best tea tasting experience for you and your guests.

This place is so cute!
I can not wait to go back and get more hot tea.

Ahhh yeahh, the aroma of tea leaves hits you when you enter through the doors, and you know you’re in the right place. I came here for a tea tasting for two and had the most delightful experience.
I had this place bookmarked for a quite some time and finally made it down. Tea Gallerie was named best Tea House in San Diego in 2013 & 2014 by A List for a reason. It’s teas are high quality and they’ve managed to build a loyal customer base since they opened their doors.
They’ve got a tea for everyone, seriously, they even make a line of teas for children! The tasting room/​lounge is organized from herbals to whites to oolongs to pu-​erhs to blacks to greens to chais to mates and it’s magnificent. You can open the large canisters to smell the teas. It’s a feast for senses.
We spent a good amount of time searching through the teas, deciding which ones we wanted to taste. We narrowed it down to four each for the tasting. I chose the Tea Gallerie Masala Chai, the White Coconut Crème, the Mango Maté, and the Scottish Caramel Pu-​erh. I also tried tried my tasting partners choices as well. She doubled up on one of mine, but she also got the Garden of Eden, the Green Pomegranate, and the Darjeeling Oolong.
Everything I tried was good. We both agreed that the Coconut Crème was not our favorite, which surprised me because I really wanted to try this one. We LOVED the Scottish Caramel Pu-​erh. It was earthy and smelled so sweet. I fell in love with the Mango Maté, it was brewed perfectly and the sweetness from the mango and passion fruit made it a pleasure for not only the taste but also the scent. The Garden of Eden was also noteworthy, I’d probably buy this one next time. It was a black tea blended with fruit and flowers.
The service here is excellent. Gil did our tasting and he was very friendly and helpful. While they’re located in an industrial park, business was pretty brisk while we were there. There was another employee in and out helping to assist the other customers. There is plenty of parking and a bathroom. There is also comfy seating. You can enjoy your tea here or order it to go. Right now there is also a Unilocal check-​in offer for a free cup of tea! But if you’re too lazy to make it down there, they’ve got you covered. You can order their teas online and have them shipped to you.

Tea Gallerie moved! A bit late to the party, I know, but better late than never. I have been getting their tea since they were just an itty bitty storefront just down the street from where they are now, and the new place is SO MUCH BIGGER. Like, wow. They have an honest to goodness barista and lounge area and everything! Its all quite grand, really. Thank goodness Google Maps exists, or no one would ever find the place. They seriously need a sign that reads «GOOD TEA THAT WAY,» and points that way (alluding to whichever direction goes to the shop, of course).
Tea is still really good here. Can’t go wrong with the White Coconut Crème, or the Scottish Caramel Pu-​erh, or the– aww, who am I kidding, THEY’RE ALL GREAT. GO TRY SOME.

Think of a quieter, more local version of Teavana. Tea Gallerie has a huge assortment of loose leaf teas lining their walls, available for you to sniff at your leisure. If you want to try one, a cup of tea is $ 3 or if you’ve checked in, free with ANY purchase! Unlike Teavana, Tea Gallerie has a lounge space where you can chill and sip your tea, and they even invite you to bring snacks or food to enhance your stay.
Their tea is most commonly sold in pre-​packaged 2-​oz bags, for about $ 9 – 15 each. The employees are laid-​back and friendly, and you don’t get hounded to buy anything. The location is a little unusual, in the business park area of Kearny Mesa, but it’s a neat place to check out!

There is a wide variety of teas to choose from & you can smell them before you make a decision.
Oolong
Green
White
Herbal
Black
Pu-​erh
I ordered the White Coconut Cream because it was one of the highlighted items on Unilocal & my boyfriend got the Mango Mambo. Both were delicious but tasted watered down & it was not as flavorful as other places that serve tea, such as Teavana. Service was not great.

As far as tea variety, I haven’t found a place with more options than this place.
Imagine a room full of floor to ceiling teas to smell and try. What’s nice is that although it’s a bit off the beaten path, being located in a business park, it’s also very serene inside. They make it worth your while to at least visit because you’ll get a free cup of tea with a Unilocal check-​in.
If you are a tea lover, bring a friend or just yourself and relax with a cup or flight of tea.
It seems that they have it all here.