Teahouses built for spending extended time in, open until the wee hours of the night, are popping up all over the city. Some are elusive, hidden in plain sight or only accessible via a mysterious membership. Others have gone viral on TikTok and have cover charges and waitlists to attend. Some reference East Asian tea ceremony culture, others lean California cool and bohemian.
Why the surge in places to drink tea? It might be because young people are consuming less alcohol (a 2023 study from Gallup found the number of people under 35 who drink has dropped 10% over the last two decades). Or maybe it’s due to the fact that the city has lost a sizable chunk of restaurants open past 10 p.m. — LAist reports nearly 100 since 2019 — leaving fewer places to sit and chat that aren’t bars or clubs. At the same time, activities centered on wellness and reflection, like gratitude groups, journaling or even reading silently in public, are being embraced by people of all ages looking for third spaces and activities outside of the standard dinner-and-a-movie.
Tea is an extremely social drink. For one thing, it’s a gentler caffeine ride than coffee, so it’s less likely to make you jittery and you can have more cups of it before you get too close to your comfort threshold. But it’s not just the caffeine: there is a social ritual in most tea cultures that focuses on pouring for guests. Finally, there are so many styles, regions, vintages, and flavors to explore – at least as many as, if not more than, coffee or wine – that it can be a fun thing to explore together. See if your local area has a tea house, a tea club, or something along those lines.