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Top Tea Museums Around the World

top tea museums to visit

Decided to set off on a beautiful journey of exploring the world of tea? Visiting a tea museum dedicated to tea history or tea production may be as exciting as trying a new tea type for the first time. Here are top 16 tea museums around the world where you can explore thousands of years of tea history.

1. Tenfu Tea Museum, Zhangzhou, Fujian, China

If you really want to understand the history and beauty of tea, Fujian province should be on your to-visit list. Fujian is a cradle of many important kinds of tea, filled with tea history, tea bushes, tea shops and a largest tea museum in the world – Tenfu Tea Museum. This museum has a lot to offer to a passionate tea drinker – the main exhibition hall dedicated to the history of tea, tea tasting room, calligraphy and Chinese painting room and a Japanese tea room [1].

2. Hangzhou National Tea Museum, Xihu, Hangzhou, Zhejiang, China

West Lake in Hangzhou is the home of one of the most popular Chinese teas – Long Jing or Dragon Well. It’s also a home to the beautiful Hangzhou China National Tea Museum where you can experience traditional tea ceremonies, learn about tea culture and history of tea in China and appreciate Chinese teaware.

3. Pinglin Tea Museum, New Taipei, Taiwan

If you love Taiwanese teas, make sure to include Pinglin Tea Museum on your tea-places-to-visit list. Pinglin is the home of a famous Taiwanese Baozhong oolong tea. This tea museum has four different halls, including main Exhibition Hall, Tea Art Hall, Multimedia Hall and Theme Hall and among others, offers an insight into the history, production and brewing of Chinese tea.

4. Ceylon Tea Museum, Hantana, Sri Lanka

The Ceylon Tea Museum is perhaps one of the most important tea museums in South Asia. It’s located near Kandy, a city where tea was first planted in Sri Lanka. Museum is set over two floors, showcasing machinery and tea items and has a library too [2]. There’s also a cafe and a shop where you can buy famous Ceylon tea.

5. Kanan Devan Hills Plantations Tea Museum, Munnar, Kerala, India

Everyone may be talking about Assam and Darjeeling tea, but the most famous Indian tea museum is located in Munnar, Kerala. Kanan Devan Hills Plantation Tea museum is not only famous, but the first in India too. [3] It showcases almost 150 years of Munnar tea history and knowledge about tea production.

6. Happy Valley Tea Estate, Darjeeling, India

Munnar’s museum may be the first, but Happy Valley Tea Estate factory, located at 6800 ft in Darjeeling is the highest one [4]. This tea garden is the second oldest tea garden in Darjeeling, a town in West Bengal. It’s famous for exquisite black teas with muscatel flavor. Plantation offers a tour of the tea factory where you can get an insight into the production and history of Darjeeling tea [5].

7. The Flagstaff House Museum of Tea Ware, Hong Kong

The Flagstaff House Museum of Tea Ware in Hong Kong is a museum dedicated to tea and tea ware. A huge brown teapot in front of the museum will bring a smile to every tea lover’s face and spark an interest in exploring both traditional and modern Chinese tea ware. With permanent and special exhibitions, tea movies and a beautiful gift shop, this tea museum will keep you occupied for at least a couple of hours.

8. Tea Museum Shizuoka, Shimada, Shizuoka, Japan

Shizuoka is one of the most important tea producing prefectures in Japan and a home to must-visit Japanese tea museum. Except the tea museum and learning about tea history and culture, you will be able to enjoy a tea ceremony house and a garden, and even participate in tea plucking or matcha grinding experience [6].

9. Jeju Osulloc Tea Museum, Jeju, South Korea

If you happen to visit Jeju, a beautiful Korean island famous for its tea, don’t miss a chance to visit Jeju Tea Museum, architecturally beautiful tea museum near Jeju’s tea fields. It’s not only a home to a unique tea cup gallery, it offers an insight into a beautiful Korean tea tradition, has a tea roasting room and features a wide selection of tea cups from around the world too.

10. Beautiful Tea Museum, Seoul, South Korea

If you are more interested in exploring the traditional side of Korean tea, Beautiful Tea Museum in Seoul will prove to be exactly as the name suggests – a beautiful place to explore Korean tea culture, enjoy a cup of tea or learn and buy Korean tea ware.

11. Cau Dat Farm Ancient Tea Museum, Da Lat City, Lam Dong, Vietnam

Vietnamese teas may be less represented in the Western countries, but they are as unique and delicious as other Asian teas. Opened this year, Cau Dat Farm Ancient Tea Museum is Vietnam’s first tea museum. It’s dedicated to the rich history of tea, production processes, general tea knowledge and everything a tea lover should know about its favorite drink.

12. Gorreana Tea Museum, Sao Miguel, Azores, Portugal

Azores, a Portuguese archipelago in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean, is the home of the European oldest tea plantation – Gorreana. Gorreana is still producing tea and is open to all tea lovers visiting the Azores. You can freely stroll among tea bushes, explore different machines for producing tea, relax with a cup of European black or green tea and learn more about tea production.

13. Twinings Tea Museum, London, England, UK

With a history of over 300 years, Twinings Flagship store is the oldest tea shop in London. It doesn’t surprise that it’s also a home to a small tea museum dedicated to Thomas Twining, the founder of this famous British tea company. Tea experiences and master classes are available too.

14. Cutty Sark, London, England, UK

If you want to know more about the history of European tea, visiting Cutty Sark is a must. Cutty Sark is the last British tea clipper, designed for transporting tea and other goods from China. It’s also the only survived tea clipper that’s not only in an excellent condition but turned into a museum and still open for visits.

15. Treasured Teapot Museum, Blue Mountains, New South Wales, Australia

If you are interested in teapots, Bygone Beautys Treasured Teapot Museum is a place for you. It features a truly impressive collection of over 5500 teapots, old and new, traditional and modern, from all around the world. If all those teapots make you want to enjoy a cuppa, there’s a tearoom too, offering traditional high tea.

16. Teapot Island, Kent, England, UK

Teapot Island is one more heaven for teapot lovers in Kent, England. It features over 7600 teapots on display and offers 2000 for sale. It has an outdoor teapot themed garden where you can enjoy both food and tea.

 

References:

[1] http://teaarts.blogspot.com/2009/11/tenfu-tea-museum.html

[2] https://www.ceylonteamuseum.com/the-museum.html

[3] https://kdhptea.com/service/tea-museum/

[4] https://www.hindustantimes.com/india/treat-for-tea-lovers-a-tea-museum/story-yag5Pdsp7hLUj5xFAIvrvM.html

[5] http://happyvalleytea.com/

[6] https://tea-museum.jp/index_en.html

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