Tea NJ Comes To Jersey City!

On Saturday, Tea NJ held their soft opening, and while they started a little late, they quickly had a full house. Located at 262 Newark Avenue by Monmouth in the Village, next to Tachair Bookshoppe, the space is intimate but with room for about 10 tables and the counter. It's got a cozy, relaxed feel with an eclectic collection of art, figurines, and other decor placed all around the store including an art wall where Jersey City artists will be welcome to post their work for free.

Walking in, we were told to pick anywhere we wanted to sit down and menus were brought over to us while drinks to go were being ordered at the counter. The tea list is extensive, listing green, black, oolong, white, and many more as well as specialty beverages including tea ciders, bubble tea, different tea lattes and a number of coffee drinks with coffee from Red House Roasters in Union City. Each of the teas listed comes with a caffeine rating and a thorough description to help guide your decision and they offer a variety of milks and sweeteners so this is about as personalized as it gets.

There were also a number of pastry jars and display cases up front at the counter with baked goods including cupcakes, bread, cookies, cake by the slice, etc. and they will be serving a variety of savory food including vegan, vegetarian, and all other dietary lifestyles. I think they are still getting everything stocked up and ready, so options might be temporarily limited but I expect that they'll be running a full menu soon.

Once we took our time checking out the menu, one of the staff came over and asked what we wanted and after a couple of back-and-forths because they didn't yet have everything we initially ordered, we ended up getting two matcha lattes and a chaippuccino (pictured above) which is (as you can probably guess) a cappuccino except with chai tea (or whatever tea you want) instead of coffee. Both drinks were excellent - rich and creamy but with lots of tea flavor. The matcha was a nice smooth, concentratred green tea that wasn't at all bitter like some are while the chai was perfectly spiced without being overwhelming. Both tended towards the slightly sweet, but in a good way. If these were any example of what the rest of the drinks are like, I will happily try all of them (and very well might), especially since they do offer a customer loyalty card.

The specialty drinks run from about $3-$5 with pots of tea around $6 and most items are available hot or cold. The space and service is definitely still in early days and things are a little disorganized right now, but you can still get some amazing drinks. All the staff has been very nice and eager to help, offering suggestions and recommendations as well as clearly proud and excited to be open. Tea NJ is off to a promising start and is a welcome addition to Jersey City.