oronto's love affair with the coffee bean has led to coffee shops on just about every street corner in the city. It’s only a matter of time before my nostrils collapse from repeated drags of the invasive aroma. Don't get me wrong, when you're trying to get up early for work or if you've just endured a long night of drinking, you often need that burst of caffeine that only a Black Grande Columbian can provide.

But coffee is no longer the only drink in town. Noticeably, more and more tea shops have been popping up in downtown neighbourhoods, making it easier for Torontonians to find a hot and savoury alternative to our city’s beverage of choice. All Things Tea one of a long line of welcoming haunts dedicated to tea and the culture that goes along with it.

Located in the heart of the Annex, the independent tea house emanates an atmosphere as welcoming as its tea selection. All Things Tea opened its first location on Bloor West at the end of June and has since been crowded with neighbourhood residents, students, tea snobs, and resident student tea snobs.

Before the shop opened, tea drinkers in the Annex were extremely limited in their options with nowhere suitable to sit and sip a flavourful cup of steeped herbs and spices that wasn’t from a packaged paper sleeve. The dominant vendors offering tea, namely Starbucks and Future’s Bakery, deliver an honest assortment of selection but fail to satisfy when it comes to a truly enjoyable tea experience.

Unlike coffee, tea is a ceremonial beverage. While thousands of suits are happy to grab a tall cup of Joe for the road, tea drinkers are happier to sit, relax, and enjoy. For such connoisseurs All Things Tea will exceed all expectations because it has everything a leafhead needs when enjoying that perfect cup. It may even convert a few coffee purists.