About Us
Our Teas
How do we source our teas?
We go for the best tea of its type.
We're often asked what our favorite tea is. In short, our favorite teas are those that represent the best of what a specific type of tea - i.e. the combination of its cultivar, terroir, and, most importantly, craftsmanship in processing - has to offer. The way those elements, which must be individually excellent, come together to make something so beautiful is what we, as tea lovers, live to experience. Every tea that we choose is handpicked from dozens of teas from the same category that we taste through to find our favorites. Our best-represented category is oolong tea - they are simply unparalleled in terms of the master craftsmanship.
Our selection is vintage-focused, always.
Tea is an agricultural product, and each tea comes from a specific time and a specific place. Our focus on vintage serves as a reminder of this, and also reflects our commitment to transparency when it comes to the age of our teas. This also means that when a specific vintage is gone, it is gone for good.
We source directly from origin.
That is to say, we source directly from tea makers at origin, the people who are directly involved in the picking/making/roasting of the tea, and who have intimate, first-hand knowledge of it. By doing direct-sourcing, this is how we can learn the most about the tea ourselves! By buying directly from tea makers rather than distributors, we are able to access premium, small-batch, artisanal grade productions that wouldn't get picked up by volume-oriented distributors (aka the grade of teas carried by larger brands). In many cases, we are buying from tea-making families, who have been passing down their skills for several generations.
Our Story
When does a dream begin? It's hard to say. Officially, Yin founded Broken Cup Teahouse in early 2022, though she had already been dreaming about it and playing pretend teahouse for years. For her, tea is a thing of beauty. It is at once simple and humble, and yet profound. How is it that tea can cultivate such things as patience, curiosity, self-awareness, friendship, generosity, and appreciation for the true, good and beautiful? There is some undeniable magic in it. To be able to partake in and pass down this tradition that is thousands of years old is a true blessing and honor.
Founded in 2022, Broken Cup Teahouse is a first generation, Asian woman-owned small tea business based in Greater Boston. In addition to our own online store, our teas can be found at several local retailers that we partner with. We also design and host private and corporate tea tasting events.
To learn even more about us, please visit our Press page.