Divinitea

Only my second visit. The prior was a couple of years ago. Clearly I am not drinking enough tea! I am not aware of a seller in the area that has been in the business as long or is as committed to the trade. The shop is well stocked and the proprietor is very knowledgeable. She still gets giddy with excitement when new teas come in. The aromas! Orders small amounts to assure freshness. Happy to share with you the varieties that have recently arrived. Ask questions – you will be rewarded. Go!

Nice little shop, helpful staff. If you are looking for a pot of tea, you can get their tea next door at Tesoros Café.

High end tea shop with small batch and imported varietals and some expensive tea pots and paraphernalia. They have a lot of green tea, and china-​style scented tea, but not a lot of variety for the more robust Indian-​Ceylonese end of things (think: more Dareeling than Assam, more sweet than smoke.) The pots are high end and nice but not on the arty side, so if you’re looking for a gift you may have limited options. Everything is a bit pricey, even for high-​quality tea, which brings the rating down a tetch, but the quality has been good enough to keep us coming back — if we’re in a certain mood. (To confess, we get our bulk tea at an Indian grocery, where the quality is nearly as good and the price is about a quarter as much as we have paid here for the same quantities.)
Note Tesoro’s next door is featuring some of Divinitea’s wares, so in the try-​before-​you-​buy (by, um, buying a sample) there’s a certain synchronicity going on.

Divinitea — so appropriately named! I have shopped at the chain tea shop that’s in the mall, but since I highly prefer a small, independent business, I was thrilled to see Divinitea on Upper Union Street.
Then I remembered I had bought tea from this lady years ago — at a farmer’s market. Since that time, I’ve enjoyed her tea at Tesoro’s next door (great breakfast and lunch café) and The Tailored Tea in Latham (another favorite spot).
So, imagine going into Teavana, with that terrific wall covered with tins of tea. Only:
* It’s not a chain store owned by Starbucks.
* The staff is not pushy, and trying to sell-​sell-​sell. They’re just nice people who love tea.
* It’s all certified organic.
* It’s in a homey two-​family on Upper Union Street in Schenectady, so it’s got lovely woodwork, and an old cast iron stove.
* The prices are better.
* You can get some really unique, great teas — black, green, rooibis, herbals.
* The offer a ton of different accessories, such as strainer baskets, tins, you-​fill teabags — all at reasonable prices.
That’s Divinitea. I will be back. For all of the above reasons, and for favorite teas like peach rooibis, triple berry blast, pink lemonade, cranberry apple, etc. etc. etc.

Do you like tea? I mean the real deal whole-​leaf stuff? The kind of thing Americans don’t have time for anymore since the advent of TV in the 50s? Do you hate shaving? Did you go to a liberl arts college? If the answer to any of these questions is «yes», they you’ll like this place.
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This is a storefront in the front part of the home of the guy who runs it. It’s a cute little place, and all they sell are teas by the ounce (maybe some tea accessories, too, but mainly tea.)
There are sample jars over by the front bay window for you to open and smell. The teas are kept in giant bins behind the register where the guy will measure and put into little brown bags for you. It’s expensive, but it would need to be, I imagine. This guy is, essentially, running this out of his home. And you’re getting these custom blended teas he makes in the back room. You can see it through the beaded curtain. It was a little weird being there, because you can see into their apartment behind the workroom, and his wife (presumably) came home, threw her keys down, and shot me a glance. It felt like I was in someone’s home, which I was, and that was odd. But anyhow the tea was a hit so that’s what counts.