Teahouse Kuan Yin

Absolutely love the place! My daughter and I enjoyed the conversation with the young man behind the counter. We bought bags and bags of lavender, thai, dragonweed? and pink chai. The place was packed and would have love to stay and chat some more, but the gentleman has to help other customers. Will definitely be back.

I walked into this tea house, exited, as I’m visiting the West Coast for the first time and am an avid tea drinker. The guy outside of the shop, who seemed like the owner, was really friendly, so I’ll say that. I went inside to check out the environment and menu. There was nice, calming music playing in the background, it was cute and the prices were decent. I talked to the friend I was with about coming in later that evening for a pot of tea. On my way out, I figured I would take some pictures for my future Unilocal review while the place was pretty much empty (a woman working and one customer drinking tea in the corner of the shop). I didn’t think I was much of a bother but, the woman working came up to me and spoke very passive aggressively. She asked why I was taking pictures and I said I’d never been here, before I was able to finish, she gave me an attitude (the ones that are masked by fake smiles) and said I should really be asking the artists and the shop’s permission first and asked me to leave. I understand that I maybe should have thought about asking first but, I was new, excited and she could have politely asked me to not take pictures of the store before kicking me out. As much I would have liked a pot of tea there, I’m no longer interested.

Relaxed atmosphere (⁴⁄₅) like a tea place should be. Great for studying or having a chat with a friend. Pretty spacious with comfy sofa chairs or tables and lots of various quality teas as well as interesting varieties of foods and pastries.
I ordered the genmaicha tea and it was very good if you like a roasted barley flavor, and i could taste the quality in the tea. I also ordered the small cup of soup of the day $ 3 kind of pricey but tasty! (⁵⁄₅) It was vegan chunky tomato with mushrooms and great flavor + a hearty nicely flavored taste. Their samoas were pricey about 3 $ for a small one so just pricing (²⁄₅) in general is what stops me from giving them a 5star.
But if you really like tea this place has the good stuff! :)

Staff was not very polite or friendly. Tea was warm, not hot.

You can’t buy happiness but you can buy tea… And that’s sort of the same thing, isn’t it?
When you’re in the Wallingford area Teahouse Kuan Yin offers tea drinkers a cozy space to indulge in some wonderful teas and excellent customer service. When I walked in there was a young man behind the counter who was very welcoming and also knowledgable about tea. After a conversation I wanted him to recommend a tea for me and he made an excellent recommendation of a great tea I gave not had yet. It was the Taiwanese Wild Black. It had a nice unique taste to it and was different from many other black teas I have had from here and other shops. I definitely recommend it.
Teahouse Kwan Yin uses a double carbon filtration system and also deionizes their water. This makes a difference in taste especially for the tea-​purists out there! I have noticed a difference in tea I have had here and at home and the water does make a difference. I appreciate that this teahouse puts in the extra effort!
Get your tea for here or to go. You first select your tea and then choose your size. They offer a mug, single pot and a double pot. The double pot serving is not the same as the two pots used for seeping.
All of the green, black, yellow and white teas are served with two pots. They pour hot water over the leaves in one pot and then start a timer. When it’s finished you pour the tea through a strainer into the second pot. This keeps the tea leaves good for a second seeping if you want.
I like that there is a timer for the tea but make sure you pay attention to it. If you let your tea leaves seep for too long you may ruin the taste of your tea.
Their herbal teas are served in a pot with a basket. Use your timer to make sure you get the taste perfect.
They serve their oolong teas in a small ceramic pot and a pitcher of hot water for multiple steepings. They may also serve it in a Gaiwan which is a small bowl with a lid.
The Puerh teas is served in a Gaiwan with a pitcher of boiling water or a Yixing pot. Remember that these teas seep quickly so ask the staff how long to let them seep.
If you’re in the mood to splurge, they offer Gong Fu Service for an extra dollar. It’s a traditional Chinese method of preparing and serving the tea. It is served in a Gaiwan or Yixing on a wooden tray with traditional utensils.
If you don’t have the time to enjoy a pot in the store you can get tea to go. You get 75 cents off the price of a single pot and it comes with an organic tea bag.
The tea shop has 12 tables for two as well as two areas with two soft chairs. You can move some of the tables together if you need to for larger groups.
When you finish please bus your pots and dishes to the selves in the back.
On a side note, I noticed staff cleaning the toaster oven and the microwave and it wasn’t just a quick wipe down. They actually cleaned them! Good job guys!
Here are their teas with the number of types available in the brackets (#).
ORGANIC TEA SELECTIONS
— White tea (3)
— Green tea /​Japan (3)
The Genmaicha & Matcha are excellent!
— Green tea/​China and Taiwan (5)
The Jasmine pearl was good.
— Black tea /​India Sri Lanka (3)
The Darjeeling singbulli was great!
— Black tea /​China and Taiwan (3)
The Yunan golden monkey was smooth!
— Oolong tea (2)
HOUSE FAVORITE TEA SELECTIONS
— White teas (1)
— Green teas (4)
Try the Jasmine pearl.
— Black teas (4)
The Yunan Gold was excellent!
— Oolong teas (3)
— Herbal teas (4)
— Chai (1)
GENERAL TEA SELECTIONS /​non-​organic
— White tea (4)
— Green tea /​Japan (14)
Ceremonial grade Miyabi was amazing!
— Green tea /​China and Taiwan (12)
Try the Tie Kuan Yin Green.
— Yellow tea /​which is dried with special cloth to slow oxidation (1)
— Black tea /​India and Sri Lanka (11)
— Black tea /​China and Taiwan (12)
I had the Taiwanese wild today it was perfect!
— Blended and scented tea (9)
— Oolong tea /​Green (9)
— Oolong tea /​Dark (6)
— Scented (4)
The Jasmine oolong is smooth and beautify scented!
Stop in and buy some happiness!

The tea is great, but the atmosphere is meh.

If I could give this «teahouse» –1 stars I would. The business looks like a neat place with interesting tea offerings, but, a teahouse that microwaves a chai instead of brewing it fresh for customers is just not a place to be visited again.

Credit card De Bacillary: Has anyone else had the experience of getting their credit card kept by the employees? This has happened to me and weirdly my friend on a separate occasion. To make it worse the place has a drawer full of credit cards due to seemingly being in the habit of this. Dirty bathrooms void of toilet paper. Lukewarm tea. Would not recommend. Shady employees.

This is a modest U-​style teahouse with a great selection of teas and much better serving options than all but the elegant tea houses.
They have been in operation since 1990, so they have had some time to develop their list of suppliers.
They don’t really have a large herbal tea selection. But they had some unusual Taiwanese and Chinese teas.
My suggestion to them is to open additional more formal teahouses in another non-​student neighborhoods.

I live in the neighborhood, and I come here at least once a week.
If you’re looking for a tea place that looks fancy inside, go to Miro or Remedy. I like both of those places, but Kuan Yin has better tea quality overall, it’s less crowded, and I almost always see someone I know inside. It’s a good place to work or have a conversation without feeling like I’m taking up too much space or staying too long. My taste in tea tends towards Taiwanese oolongs, especially aged or roasted oolongs, sheng puerh, and Japanese greens when it’s hot outside. Tea House Kuan Yin has more quality options for all of these than any other sit down tea house around. The employees tend to be knowledgeable about their teas and accomodating if I ask for my tea in a kyusu or gaiwan. Yeah, the atmosphere could be better and they could replace the soap in the bathrooms more often, but I’ll keep coming back anyway.

I found Teahouse Kuan Yin many years ago when living in Snohomish. I was a regular as I made regular trips into Seattle and always had great service and tea. If you’re looking for a spot to relax and have an excellent cuppa… this is it. Unpretentious, friendly, comfortable with a great selection of teas.
I now live in CA and purchase through their website. Free shipping with orders over $ 75 and super fast. I placed my order Wed, the order was processed the following day and arrived today, Friday, at 2PM. You can’t beat that. :)

They know their tea.
Very quiet so great environment for concentration.
A little hippy, but thankfully the good kind.
I get tea in bulk here because it tastes powerful. Also, it is cost effective because you can re-​steep many of their teas several times rather than using a tea bag and throwing it out.
Also, little tip. Try their Channa Masala or Butter Chicken. It is inexpensive for a large amount of belly pleasing amazingness.

I cannot for the life of me figure out what people like about this place. I live in Wallingford and have been in the shop about three times. Each time I leave feeling depressed and ripped off.
To start, the ambiance is TERRIBLE. Nothing about this place makes me feel relaxed. The plastic tables, the off yellow paint, the awkward layout. It’s all bad. And the patrons are all silently bent over their computers and textbooks so the whole shop is eerily quiet (too quiet). I might be able to overlook all that if the tea was any good but the teahouse fails on that front too. Last time I came in I decided to try the pink chai that everyone raves about. It took fifteen minutes for the girl behind the counter to serve us because she had to heat both cups of tea in the microwave. She was juggling multiple mugs and burning herself trying to get the cups out of the microwave to serve. How does a tea house not have a better system than MICROWAVED WATER? To top it all off, a pot of the pink chai costs $ 9 and it tastes like hot milk. If you bring your own tea and ask for hot water they charge you nearly $ 4! I’d rather go to the dozen other cafes nearby than return here.

Teahouse kuan yin is small and serves great chai. We stepped in, had the pink chai which was made from scratch with real spices and not from a powder or readymade mix. We got a pot of chai for five dollars and it was enough for two of us to sit and sip and talk for three quarters of an hour. The only downside was that the place needs a little upkeep and sprucing up. The overreliance on plastic and inexpensive tables does not do justice to the chai

Delightful pink chai! Doesn’t seem to be created out of powdered concoction but like the real deal chai one would crave back home. It was served tastefully complete with a tea-​cosy. I liked the quaint neighbourhood shop even though it seems the décor needed an uplift.

How I heard of this place: When I moved to Seattle in 2002, Teahouse Kuan Yin was recommended as a good place to study. It has probably been since that time that I was at the teahouse. It is thanks to Pegah that I rediscovered this small, serene space.
Type of cuisine: For a teahouse, Kuan Yin has a surprising number of culinary options. Everything from tea (of course) and coffee, to pastries, vegan brownies and muffins, to quiche, paninis, samosas and soup.
Ambiance: Quaint and cozy. Limited wooden seats available at tables with so many students finding it a quiet place to study on their laptops, listening to music on their earbuds or quietly studying with friends. The yellow color of the space and the floor-​to-​ceiling windows help make even the grayest of Seattle days a little brighter.
What I ordered: I ordered the original rooibos winter spice, infused with orange peel, cinnamon and cloves. My friend ordered the lemon verbena after initially considering the go-​to herbal choice: peppermint.
What I loved: I loved both of the infusions we sampled. The lemon verbena was light and full of citrus energy and perk. The original rooibos winter spice brought forth the warmth and earthy full-​flavors of cinnamon and cloves, perfect for a chilly what-​happened-​to-​summer day.
Why I loved it: I love the quaint setting and bright colors of the space. I loved that we were offered a sands-​of-​time time keeper for perfect steeping of the teas (though it would have been nice if the barista let us know how long each should be steeped). I loved the calming feel of the space and the serenity that welcomes you to the teahouse.
Cost: Average ($ 3-​$ 5 for a small pot of tea)

TKY is a quaint little place in Wallingford that serves tea properly (don’t expect tapioca bubbles, tea bags, or lattes). Most of their teas are from China, though there is a decent selection of Earl Greys and chai. Tea is served brewing in a pot, with small teacups on the side, and a sandglass timer. My favorite is the Jasmine pearl green tea. They also sell the loose leaves by the ounce, with all the brewing paraphernalia you need. To go with the tea, they have pastries and a curry rice bowl that’s decent.
The music is quiet and it’s a good place to work on your laptop or read a book. Look for the white Buddhist monk on his MacBook Pro; he’s a regular there.

I was really hoping for more since I checked this place out due to my fiends Unilocal reviews.
My expectations of a teahouse is to have an establishment that is kept nice, treats that are desirable to go with the tea, and place that says «comfort» when you walk in, or at least «pretty». and for a teahouse I would expect your restroom to be clean and tidy since your customer has a 90% chance they will use it.
This place has spider webs everywhere as well as spiders in the restaurant itself and in the bathroom. The walls are a yellow which one would think would look cheery, but instead looks dirty and reminded me of smoky cigarette walls. Many of the seats are folding chairs. There are a couple lounge chairs but most are at best cafeteria style seating.
The tea was good. We tried a double pot of the (cant remember the official name right now) Green tea, rice tea. $ 7. The way they serve it is with two pots. One to brew the tea freely in the pot and the other to pour the water into after the first pot has been brewed. They offer a timer and a tea cozy.
They offer mostly Asian/​Chinese teas. They have Indian and some others. They offer the menu at the counter which was weird. They also have you order at the counter and then they hand you the heavy tray to take to your open seating table.
Service is ok. nothing special. They offer soup of the day which at the time was a zucchini. They had pastries and a couple food options
Note to owner: your bathroom is disgraceful. The only positive about it was it had paper.
You also have a great selection of tea products but it’s displayed in a way that is not ideal.

Ratings like A-​OK are a great way to give a business props, and more often than not, are businesses I’ll actually frequent places because they are A-​OK for convenience!
Teahouse is a peeeeaceful place. Even when I am giddy over my sock finds over at Sock Monster, I come in here and immediately mellow out. I’ve been coming here since I lived in Wallingford and a business with staying power, you have to respect.
They have almond milk (whee!) and of course, have a ridiculous assortment of tea. This used to be my sit-​in tea place, but I’ve found that I’m actually buying more food and coffee here than before. I also like to pick up a box of PG Tips for my guy. PGT is like the quad espresso shot to a tea drinker, although I wished that it wasn’t dyed: we don’t need the dye, PGT.
Their samosas are delicious, and hold up to microwaving well. I had the vegan samosa with peas and potatoes and it was a perfect snack. But you know I can’t miss out on anything with lavender, so I also had the lavender shortbread. It was wonderful! Whole pieces of lavender, but the flavor crawled into each crumb within the shortbread. Shortbread is rich, but I could have stood for it to be a little bigger, it’s that good. They also have quiches, cookies, and GF baked goods.
The food display could use some help though…
If I head to SM, you know I’ll be here right before for after. Pax, tea-​drinkers.

Great place to do a little work. I needed to do a couple of hours of work on my laptop and decided to check out Teahouse Kuan Yin. I ordered a pot of their pink chai tea — chai tea made out of green tea. It was delicious! You can choose what kind of milk you want (dairy /​soy). The pot of tea was steaming hot and came in a tea cosy to keep your tea warm. To go with my Indian style tea, I had the spicy vegetable samosa which was served with a bit of chutney. Very good! Authentic Indian samosa. The girl working there said their samosas (and vegetable and chicken curries) come from Indian Sweets (in Shoreline I think?). Very tasty indeed. You can have it warmed up by microwave or toaster oven. I said toaster oven but then the inside was still cold so I asked her to microwave it for 20 seconds.
They have a retail section of teas, teapots, cups and tea storage canisters (I especially liked the Japanese washi paper canisters). I’ve purchased washi tea tins elsewhere and the prices here were comparable.
Wifi is free. Cell phones are not allowed. They play music at low volume which is nice because it is not distracting. During my particular visit they played adagio classical music from Mozart et. al. There are power strips for your computer. 1 hour free street parking outside. This place is calming and soothing. I like.