Citizen Tea recently opened their fourth retail location. Great for me as the newest one is in Mapleview, a reasonable distance from my place. I prefer buying tea in person, you can see and smell it before purchasing. If you are not familiar with Citizen Tea, it comes from the founder of Teaopia so isn’t “new” to the tea world. Teaopia was one of the first tea shops I found after moving from England. I got my first steeper there, the staff were so friendly and they always had delicious teas.
Citizen Tea was founded in 2016 as an online tea store with currently over 100 blends of tea so it is nice to see them back in malls. As of today, you can find Citizen Tea stores at the following malls
- Conestoga Mall, Waterloo
- Vaughan Mills, Woodbridge
- Oshawa Centre, Oshawa
- Mapleview Centre, Burlington
There are no immediate new store openings, but you can always reach out to Citizen Tea if you want one near you. It can help them plan new locations.
Citizen Tea at Mapleview Mall
I will admit, I had the urge to straighten all of the tins on this wall but onto my thoughts and experiences at the Mapleview Citizen Tea store.
You won’t find all of the teas they sell online in their four stores. They are going to add an identifier to the online exclusives so you know you can’t find them in store. Obviously, availability of some teas will be different by store too. Especially, if you know, someone buys a large amount of their fave tea during a sale and doesn’t leave any for you until they get their next shipment. So if you go to the Burlington store and they are sold out of Black Pearls, you can probably blame me!
That being said, there wasn’t anything in particular I was looking for that they did not have in-store. I noticed some teas that had never caught my attention online (but are stocked online). That is one of the things I love about having a store compared to just buying online. You hear someone ask for something and think oooh that sounds good when you may not have considered it when searching yourself.
Like most other tea stores, they have samples in-store. The tea of the day was Chocolate Hazelnut and a second one that I forget because I fell in love with this one and bought a bag. They also sell tea to go including lattes in store.
Minimum Purchase at Citizen Tea Stores
They do have a 40g minimum on their scales so you can’t get the little sample packs that they offer online. I love shopping in-store to smell new teas but usually only buy a small amount until I am sure I like it. So will probably still shop online from Citizen Tea for the sample sizes and stock up on favourites in store between orders. They did say that you can get a sample tea made if you don’t want to commit to a 40g purchase though.
Citizen Tea In Store Packaging
Their bags come with instructions for all teas which is a good reminder but the label lets you know the perfect temperature and timing for the particular teas you bought. They don’t have the coloured labels like the online packages to show you if it is black/green/fruit tea etc. But the black and white tins look classy and are square so no wasted cupboard space. The bags are also a nice size for getting your spoon into for an even scoop of tea.
They were offering a free tin if you filled it as well as the grand opening special of 30% off all loose teas. But store offers and online offers can differ so you might want to check with the store before making a trip based on a sale online.
They have a selection of steepers, mugs, tea pots, gift sets and more in store. It is always nice to feel the weight of a mug and decide if it is right for you. So would definitely buy those more in-store than online. While I have never got a broken mug in the mail from any tea company, it is always a concern.
Overall, it is nice to have another option to shop in-store locally. Certainly for tea to go as he prefers a lot of Citizen Tea blends. He finds they have more flavour than some of the other tea available locally. If you are looking for Citizen Tea in Mapleview, it is in the old Teavana location at the north end of the mall. A few doors away from Think Kitchen who have amazing mugs at great prices tucked away in the back corner.
Check out some of my recent Citizen Tea reviews if you are not sure what to try first.
Thanks for reveiwing this store went by it but did not go in. I am a loyal DavidsTea fan but wonder how does it compair I do like to try other brands as well