Todd & Holland Tea Merchants

This store has all the teas you could ever need, with generous samples and incredibly helpful staff. They also have complimentary gift wrapping. Make time to stop in.

This is just an awesome place to buy tea and the staff is so nice and knowledgeable. The store is beautiful and very well organized. You wouldn’t think it was that nice and the amount of tea they have just by looking from the outside in. I recommend getting your tea from this place. Just plain awesome.

Wonderful, wonderful tea selections for both hot & iced tea aficionado’s of which I’m both. As I write this review, I’m drinking from a pot of lovely Tisane Party Pear which is a delicious blend of pear, pineapple, papaya, mango, date, fig bits, rose, sunflower, blue mallow blossoms and red currants. Except for tea in China, it doesn’t get better anywhere in the USA than Todd & Holland Merchants. Having happily sipped tea from all over Great Britain, Europe, Egypt, and throughout Asia, I’d take T&H tea any day of the week. Tea doesn’t get better than theirs.
First, for tea in a flash, and with little fanfare, the shop has a few nice tea pouches to brew for delicious iced tea. Although not their premier tea makers recommendation, these pouches do their tea premier tea justice without adding ugly chemicals, preservatives, sugar and/​or fake sweetener. Never will you be stuck with a bitter and flat glass of iced tea. That said, I’ve never tasted a better iced tea than iced tea made from these pouches, in my entire life! My favorites are (and I drink them year-​round) are:
Peach Iced Tea in Gallon Tea Pouches
Passion Fruit Iced Tea in Gallon Tea Pouches
Island Mango Iced Tea in Gallon Tea Pouches
Black Savannah Sipper 8 cup pouches/​4 pitchers of awesome tea!
Black Aladdin’s Love 8 cup pouches/​4 pitchers of awesome tea!
Just as amazing, and some would say better, perhaps because it’s more time consuming to fresh brew, is their Iced Tea Estate Blend. A mix of Ceylon, Nilgiri and Darjeeling black teas — these loose leaves make an amazingly delicious, smooth and flavorful glass of iced tea!
What I love best about the teas at Todd & Holland, is they are best alone. Unless you feel you have to add milk or the tea has to be super sweet, there is nothing you need to add to the tea except water. Not only is tea a healthy drink, it’s delicious! If you don’t have any tea «supplies» the staff will help you. They have everything imaginable there and the prices are fair. Tea isn’t dirt cheap, but neither is anything that’s a quality product. I could write a book of how great this place is. Not being very accessible to lets say, Hong Kong or Beijing, it’s great to have a local place that’s relatively easy to get to from Chicago and surrounding suburbs!

Great place to come for tea — the shop is has hundreds of varieties to choose from so there’s something for everyone. We like coming here to chat about tea with the owner. Everyone at the store is knowledgeable, and we always learn something new about tea when we come here. There are always teas brewed to sample while browsing. The tea can be pricey, but it’s well worth it for the quality and taste of the tea.

Todd and Holland Tea Merchants is the best! They have a huge selection of teas. As well as a beautiful inventory of tea mugs, tea kettles and anything that comes along with tea makings.
I dropped in after a long walk around the neighborhood and was pleasantly surprised by the cool atmosphere this place has.
I was acknowledged as soon as I stepped in through the door. And I had no trouble finding a gift for a tea connoisseur because of the extended selections of tea.
The woman that took care of me was super nice (Terry) and they even did a complimentary gift wrap. The gift wrap was beautiful!
Another great thing about this place is that I walked out with a huge smile on my face because of the samples they had.
I will totally be shopping there again!

I was in town visiting family and this place happens to be around the corner from my in-​laws. Two carafes of tea freshly brewed for your enjoyment as you wander around this beautiful little shop. The floor plan is quite open yet packed with goodies. They have a great color-​coded system for different types of teas (red labels for herbals, yellow label for blacks, etc.) and little jars of each tea by the bags for purchasing so that you can smell them prior to making a decision. And each bag is labeled with key ingredients. I highly recommend the herbal «Meditation» (mint, rose petals, and rose hips) and the German Breakfast. Can’t wait to go back!

Loose leaf tea was on my Christmas shopping list this year. Since I’m tea illiterate, I had no idea what was good, but had the good sense to find this place.
This was a wonderful experience. Very helpful staff, little jars everywhere so you could sniff the tea and get an idea of aroma, and a large selection of teas as well as some infusers and pots. The atmosphere is very pleasant.
I started off shopping for a friend, but eventually started shopping for myself as well. They had two sample teas available — brilliant of them to do so, because after downing my second cup, I immediately added one of them to my purchase. It was so good.
The place is a bit pricey, I’ll give you that. But the quality of the product and the service is just outstanding. To me, that’s worth it. I’m definitely going back soon.

A spectacular family owned tea shop. The selection is incredible. Owners Bill was happy to suggest a number of teas that I never would have found on my own. Great prices, half a mile from the Blue line Harlem stop.

The tea is so good! The tea is a little pricy but it’s worth it if you are a tea lover and if you just like quality tea pots. I can’t wait to go back to get me another batch of their DELICOUS tea! I’m so excited to go again!

This is such a cute little shop. Imagine a warm, sunny Sunday Spring day walking up Forest Park’s famous Madison street and you stop to look at this wonderful window display. They have an awesome arrangement of teas, tea sets, and other «Team Time» favorites. The prices are higher than some tea shops so just FYI. We bought hibiscus tea from here that comes from EGYPT. It was pretty delicious. This is just a nice place to stop in once in awhile and take in the décor as well as purchase some unique tea and tea accessories.

Todd & Holland is a quaint and very elegant little tea shop in Forest Park with an excellent selection of tea accessories and products. Really beautiful teapots, kettles, and gadgets for those serious about tea. The owners are friendly and knowledgeable about the products they sell.
My problem with T&H is how pricey their teas are. Many are double what you’d pay at other tea stores and none are organic or fair trade certified. They have a wide tea selection and jars with samples to smell each one which is good, and the tea is overall good quality but not exceptional and certainly not worth the price.
I would come here to check out teaware but go online or head over to Davids Tea to buy tea.

If you like smelling candles/​perfumes, then you’ll love this place because they have around 200 varieties of teas that you can whiff individually. They also had 3 samples– I tried the peach and razzamatazz (the Earl Grey was out). Cute, quaint shop. Great date idea :)

Such a beautiful shop. I initially came in to replace a strainer on my teapot but after smelling the samples of the different teas I got a few new teas that I’d never thought I’d like. It’s such a tranquil environment.

Great variety of teas! However, be prepared to dispense a lot of cash. Not sure whether their teas are really worth the price. What I usually stop in there for is to look at their adorable tea sets.

This place is a wonderful, local tea shop. They have a great tea selection from basic to decadent (with prices to match). The staff is always friendly and helpful. They also have a lovely selection of tea ware. I would classify myself as a ‘tea snob’ and this place fulfills all my needs. I have also taken friends and family here, tea newbies, and they enjoyed it as well. As some other reviewers have noted, the prices are a little on the high side. However, they usually match the quality of the tea and have affordable quantities available. I have used them for sending gifts as well and it was very easy. Purchase in store, pay for shipping, fill out address and they gift wrap and send it along. They periodically have tea classes available. My husband and I recently participated in the pu-​erh tasting/​class and we really enjoyed it. Highly recommended store for tea lovers and curious alike.

very cute tea shop in downtown forest park. during the record-​breaking heatwave, i walked by and saw a sign for cold iced tea samples so decided to walk in. they had a couple different samples of cold brewed tea available. i tried the japanese cherry which was fruity and refreshing, but not overly sweet. i also had a cup of the spiced tea which had strong notes of cinnamon and other herbs/​spices. both were great with ice cubes and gave me a much needed reprieve from the heat.
the lady who was helping me was extremely kind and friendly, explaining the tea flavours to me and telling me about the store’s other offerings. they offer a large selection of tea, tea-​ware (kettles, tea cup sets), and other tea accessories.
i really like this store and highly recommend it to anyone who is strolling around downtown forest park.

The only good thing I can say about this place is that the service is friendly and attentive. And I guess the location is convenient.
Otherwise, this place is just not any good. The prices are horribly expensive! Why do people even shop here?
The selection is also not that impressive. Lame vanilla-​infested chai and similar bastardizations of good tea are typical here. Suburban mediocrity at its finest.
Plenty of other options for tea if you are willing to travel a little ways, and many of them charge less per ounce.
No one should shop here.

Todd & Holland… Sounds familiar? Well, I heard of them as a catalog company long before I realized their shop was in my neighborhood.
What a quaint little shop this is too. It has orderly shelves of loose leaf tea with cute little jars for smelling. Along one side, there is counter always laden with a freshly brewed carafe. The employees are friendly and eagerly suggest you help yourself to a mug (not a paper cup!) of tea while you browse. Other shelves and tables have a cornucopia of tea-​related products.
The only downside is that their hours are weird. There are a couple late days, some early days, and some days when they are closed. It’s hard for me to keep track.

I love tea, tea equipment and tea places but that is not why I gave this place 5 stars — it is just a great store with friendly staff, wonderful merchandise and such a pleasant atmosphere.
I bought some tea, a lovely tea towel and a super cute card. I wanted to buy lots more! This place merits a return trip.
It was calming just to be inside.
Tea merchants of calm, peace and happiness.

I stopped in during a Friday afternoon stroll and got a first-​class lesson in a number of teas! I had so much fun in there I didn’t want to leave. There were hot and cold teas on a table that made up a sort of «tea tasting». It was great!
As a seasonal/​flower/​plant allergy sufferer, I expressed this and was immediately directed towards teas that are claimed to help with this. I was also given an article on the benefits of Rooibos for allergy sufferers. This has become my new favorite tea!
I love having this place nearby — its great for gifts… for others and myself ;-)