Blue Willow Tea

Blue Willow Teaspot began as a wholesale tea operation founded by Lynn Mallard. When Mallard retired, Ali Roth, who had worked within the business, purchased it in 2012 and redirected its focus toward a public-facing tasting room on Tenth Street in Berkeley's west side. The format is tea as a serious subject rather than a background beverage. The rotating selection covers 50-plus loose-leaf varieties across black, green, oolong, white, herbal, and matcha categories, with many teas direct-sourced from their regions of origin and a portion house-blended on site.

Guided tastings structure the experience around origin, preparation method, and regional variation, the same framework a thoughtful wine bar applies to flights. Food is minimal by design. The venue does not operate a kitchen in any full-service sense; tea-infused pastries appear as accompaniments to tasting menus rather than as a dining program in their own right. The draw is the tea itself and the education built around it.

Blue Willow also functions as a small-event and gathering space, reflecting its positioning as a neighbourhood third place rather than a destination restaurant. For visitors whose interest runs toward tea as a craft, cultivation, processing, regional expression, brewing technique, the Teaspot offers a level of structured engagement that most café settings do not attempt.