Virtuous Teas

I love this place so much. I love looseleaf teas as fanatically as some people love coffee (you know who I mean… those people who use a digital scale to measure out their hand-​ground beans, striving for that perfect 17:1 ratio) and I am rabidly loyal to this tea store. I have been going here since 2009, back when they were at their old Auburndale location, and they’re consistently well-​supplied with quality teas, incredibly helpful, friendly, and so knowledgeable.
Places like this are the reason I enjoy going to a local small business instead of ordering online. They know the origins of all their teas, they let you open the jars to take a smell before deciding if you want something, and they provide free sample packs. They’re true tea nerds and they make fantastic recommendations. Plus they’ve more than once gone out of their way to find a new supplier for a tea I liked when their current supplier stopped carrying it. Oh, and when we go in and make a huge purchase (yes, our household sometimes buys $ 150 of tea at a time) they’ll often give us a 10% discount just as a thank you for being such longstanding good customers. They recognize us and say hello and remember our favourites and it just feels like a great experience every time I’m there.
I had to stop drinking caffeine a couple years ago (insomnia, boo!) and the switch to decaffeinated teas was painful. It was made tolerable largely because of this place. They were completely honest with me about which decaf teas were really good and which were not really worth my time, and they patiently let me take a bunch of samples while I figured out what I like. If you’re in the same predicament as me, I recommend the decaf blackcurrant, the white peony, the decaf earl grey, and the decaf black strawberry as my favourite caffeine-​impaired options.
Bonus fact: did you know that one of the women who works here (the dark-​haired one with the English accent) is a published author? She writes young adult science fiction books! Isn’t that cool? She’s friendly and funny and has excellent taste in tea (everything she’s ever recommended, I have loved) and it always makes my day when I see her there.

Tea lovers, get yourself to Newton. Virtuous Teas will make you feel like a kid in a candy store. Their walls are completely lined with jars of fragrant rooibos teas, strong Earl Greys and a few fun dessert teas like Brownie Batter and Pina Colada. They also carry a variety of brewing supplies including pots, steeping tools and sugars. If you have no idea what you are doing on a tea shop, the owner is friendly and very helpful.