Tea specialist ‘House of Tea’ has recently opened a shop at the chq building in Dublin’s Docklands. House of Tea offers shoppers over 100 different varieties of tea, including black, green, white, Oolong, Pu Erh, fruit and herbal tea.

To complement the range the shop offers also tea ware, tea accessories and many gift ideas.

House of Tea has a small but cosy seating area where all the teas can be ordered and tasted on site. The menu also offers tasty homemade lunch options and freshly-baked breads and pastries. The speciality of the house is the afternoon tea, complete with cakes, scones and cucumber sandwiches served on a three-tier tray.

Motivated by the lack of good leaf tea in Ireland, Martin Mehner, pictured below, established The House of Tea in 2004. His goal was to introduce people to the diverse world of tea and prove that there is more to tea than just a bag.

The teas are sourced from around the world, often directly from the tea gardens or manufacturers. This allows the company to monitor the quality of their products and to ensure the workers in the, mainly Asian, countries are paid fairly.

Martin Mehner says that the company’s biggest asset is their knowledge and passion about tea: “We encourage anyone who enjoys tea– and even those who think they don’t– to visit us and taste some new varieties.”

The chq building is located in the IFSC on Custom House Quay, opposite the Sean O’Casey Pedestrian Bridge, in Docklands.