Snake River Tea

I seriously love this place. I am there almost every weekend working on homework and drinking tea. It has a perfect relaxing atmosphere and amazing tea.

I love Snake River Tea. My favorite is the Tahitian Vanilla Rose oolong. So lovely and comforting on these chilly Boise days. I recommend it with a bit of cream.
The atmosphere is utterly charming with cozy seating, a gorgeous chandelier and a selection of teacups and teapots for purchase. It is a peaceful experience coming in to Snake River Tea and is definitely a downtown Boise gem with excellent, thoughtful customer service.

Great tea shop. The girls behind the counter were very friendly and helpful. They have a tea wall that you can smell the samples. They had cards, games and lots of reading material available. For me the music they were playing made it perfect. If I’m back in town I’ll be back.

Went to get a tea, the girl behind the counter was a bit preoccupied. After paying almost $ 3 a cup for tea… I did not enjoy the tea as I thought. It had a very ‘stevia’ after taste. Oh well… Wasn’t worth it to me, and less than mediocre service… get a personality at least.

Alissa was so sweet, patient and helpful. The teas are amaaaazing– make sure you read the descriptions and then go smell the samples they have on the wall. The owner and manager are both knowledgable and kind as well. We spent way too much money on teas– it was tough deciding! Coconut Oolong, Jumpstart (not on the menu), Organic Mate, Chocolate Rum… To name a few out of our haul. If you’re a tea lover, this place is a must. They have a rad French press system they use to make cups to order– programmed for the right temp and time for each tea!

Cute and fun place. Great for studying, chatting and board game. Love the Open space and design sensibilities. I have discovered new tea that I’d love to add to my favor tea collection. Wish they have more tea sets to sell or display.

I have been into Snake River Tea a few times now. I love the store and the tea. It is a great atmosphere. There is one thing I do have a complaint about. I came in this morning to buy some tea for my mother for Mother’s Day. The employee that helped me, was horrible. She was not educated on the tea I was interested in. She was not able to tell me where any of the teas come from. (Country wise). She had to get her coworker to help her. She may have been new. I don’t know. But it was enough to send me away this time. I went back later in the day, around 3:00 or so. I’ve had the pleasure to be helped by the other amazing staff the second time. There was a gentleman and wonderful young lady who were very knowledgeable and made up for the horrible service earlier.

One of the coolest tea shops I’ve seen. Perfectly brew controlled teas with iPad technology. Wow cool!

What a fun spot for afternoon tea. Great location if you are staying downtown. Tea selection is great and reasonably priced.

Enjoyed the «smelling wall,» enjoyed the tea, and the price was very reasonable.

Very good teas — the staff is a bit younger and so not very knowledgeable about teas but very friendly and sweet. The tea process is fantastic and always yummy. They have a wall of teas to try and smell ahead of time before you buy any — yum!

I like this little tea shop. The décor is a bit rustic/​country, done in light, airy colors, with bright yellows and greens. Not over the top with the rustic theme, just little touches here and there — i.e. weather molding framing their menu boards, and a standalone dish cabinet with a farmhouse feel. A nice change of pace from the standard industrial look everyone seems to be doing these days.
Large counter area, with an even larger seating area — probably a half-​dozen well spaced two tops, a small couch and coffee table up front, counter seating along the store-​front window, as well as counter seating at the end of counter where you order from. Free wifi as well, so a nice place to just camp out for a bit and get some work (or a Unilocal review) done.
Their wall of tea is nice — magnetic board with those little circular containers. They’re grouped by tea types, and you can see them as well as open and sniff from each of the tins. I’d guess close to 100 different teas.
They’ve splurged for a tea shop and are using the Alpha Dominche Steampunk system. This is a pretty rad setup, where you can program in brew time, agitation, volumes, temperatures, etc, all from an Android tablet, and is pretty much automated, allowing for four cups to be brewing simultaneously. It’s more a coffee system (hence agitation) and seems a bit like overkill for teas, but the geek in me loves it. It’s also got a pretty nice aesthetic with how it brews, pumps water, etc, seeming a bit like a coffee siphon with the water moving up into the brew chamber via steam, steeping (and maybe being agitated), before the extraction via vacuum to a lower chamber. The system also has the advantage that the temperature and time are all pre-​programmed, so training can be minimized. I haven’t used one personally, but I’d imagine the system allows the grind/​tea amounts to be stored in the system, i.e. if you’re making a 16 oz of the Ethiopian, add 23 grams of ground coffee. I mention that this seems over the top for teas since for tea it’s mainly just time and temperature you’re concerned with (as well as amounts, but that’s the same for both manual and the Steampunk setup).
Nitpicks — my Irish Breakfast was a bit bitter and they could probably shorten the steep time on it. I was also surprised to see no plain rooibos — there were a half dozen or so, with cocoa, black teas, matcha, etc, but no plain rooibos.