SoMa, San Francisco · shop
Opened in 1993 as the first traditional Chinese teahouse in the country, the Ferry Building shop has spent three decades building direct relationships with tea farms in China, Taiwan, and Japan. The Monkey Picked Tie Guan Yin — silky, thick, long on floral finish — has been the house benchmark since opening day, sitting alongside aged puerh, competition-grade jasmine pearls, and a selection of Yixing clay pots commission-sourced from Jiangsu workshops. You can stop in for a pot at the counter or walk out with a quarter-pound of something you will be glad you found.