Miro Tea — Restaurant in Seattle

Miro Tea is hands down my Third Place in the Seattle area. I don’t even know where to begin. The TL:DR is that Miro has the nicest balance of amazing staff, an eclectic space, delicious food, a great location, and EXCEPTIONAL Tea.

I’m going to start with layout—Miro has a little bit of everything when it comes to seating. There are traditional 2 person tables, larger tables, bench/booth options, low couch, a regular couch, and outdoor seating. There’s something for everyone, if you can find a seat (it’s usually fairly busy midday or on the weekends). There’s also a 3 stool bar, which offers a view of the behind-the-counter Coffee and pastry prep area. The café provides reliable, secure wifi—I’ve never had connectivity issues.

Beverage-wise, there’s an impressive variety of coffee drinks, tea lattes, iced teas, mocktails, etc. There is a complete paper menu/catalog for all of the loose-leaf hot tea offered, which is logically broken down into all of the parts of the tea spectrum (White, Green, Oolong, Black, Ripe & Raw Pu-erh, Tisanes, Herbs). One can purchase a cup of tea (one serving with infinite re-steeps) a pot of tea (3-5 cups of tea, comes with a tea-light warmer, also free re-steeps) or a serving of tea in a Gaiwan.

The Gaiwan service is the price of a pot, plus 3 dollars, and gets you a tea tray with 1 gaiwan, a strainer, a fairness pitcher, one or two thimble cups, and a thermos of the appropriate temperature water. This serving style is generally reserved for the Oolongs, Blacks, and Pu-erhs, but exceptions can generally be made. If you are unfamiliar with GongFu brewing, staff are willing to show you the ropes! (I highly recommend this)

Food! We can’t forget the food. Behind the case next to the register lays a delectable assortment of house-made and locally sources pastries, some of which are gluten-free or vegan (it is in Ballard, after all). There is also a menu for crepes, salads, and sandwiches, which are all delicious!! I think there are certain days and times where Crepes are available, fyi. On the back wall of the shop, there is a tasting bar, with a handful of freshly brewed teas for sampling. This is also where you can purchase loose leaf tea, by the ounce.

My warmest and sincerest thanks goes out to all of the staff, who are incredibly kind, knowledgeable, and skilled in their environment. If you couldn’t already tell, I recommend you go to Miro, and spend some time with a beverage and a book, or simply...

Love Miro. The lines are long but usually move quickly. The tea is high quality and they carry Tokara mochi. I've been many times and I expected them to live up to the high standards they have demonstrated the numerous times I've visited. Go in person. Online pickup experience is lacking.

My husband was ill and wished he had Chill tea (his favorite blend and we had run out). Since my infant and I had been exposed I didn't want to linger too long in the store. I placed an online order for pickup at 8:30am on Saturday morning. It said you would get an email when it's ready. I assumed that it would be later that day. Nothing, maybe I misread the confirmation? Okay well we were around the next day and I stopped up to ask. There were two tea baristas standing at the packaged tea counter chatting. They let me know that usually it is a day or maybe two if you put it in on the weekend and that the people in line had been waiting so it wasn't fair to them. But sir, I have been waiting for 30 hours. Does my waiting not count? He told me it sometimes takes a day or maybe two if you order online on the weekend. For a turnaround that long I'd have expected it communicated before I ordered. Had I known, I would have gone in person early in the day to wait. It is now Monday afternoon and still no word. Just disappointed that I don't live nearby and have to drive back and I wasn't able to do something nice for my husband while he was sick. Miro, you let me down and I'm still waiting. I usually don't like a public negative but want to caution others to not...

I’ve came to Miro Tea more times than I can remember now. It’s definitely my favorite spot for tea as well as for relaxing or getting work done.

The staff are always friendly and welcoming. When you walk in the vibe is zen with some nice merchandise for sale on the right. There is some baked pastry’s on display that also have some gluten and dairy free options available (the brownie is pretty good). They have three to four tea tasting sets available for sampling daily that from what I noticed rotate daily.

My favorite part of the experience is that the staff and owner Jeannie are passionate about tea and it translates back towards the customer in every experience. Ordering isn’t complicated even there are so many options. The teas are consistently steeped, and you can even have a second steep if you so desire.

The only thing that could be improved upon is the trash area and tea sets. On a busy day it can get clustered and there is occasionally no place to put the dishes down.

Overall, excellent experience! I really enjoy the green teas with gyokuro being my favorite. I see myself coming to the place for as long as...