Algebra Tea House
★★★★★ – 1 reviewwww.algebrateahouse.com
Tea House or Tea Bar
2136 Murray Hill Rd
Cleveland, OH 44106
(216) 421-9007
A cafe focusing on tea but also serving coffee, baked goods and snacks, selling a small selection of fresh produce, and providing Wi-Fi and a printer. In the evening, various activities are hosted on different nights.
Reviews
★★★★★Alex Zorach (1453 tea reviews) on Jul. 10th, 2014
I lived in Cleveland for three years, and this was my favorite place to hang out in the whole metro area. I spent many evenings here, and when possible, I got here during the day too. I visited Cleveland recently, and was glad to see that this place is still around and thriving.
Back when I frequented this place, I liked tea, but I wasn't the die-hard tea enthusiast that I have become recently; it was long before I had thought about creating RateTea. But I really enjoyed the teas here; I tried every tea on the menu, and become rather fond of some of them.
Many of the teas here are not pure teas, but rather, artful blends of varied ingredients, but they do have a few pure teas. I actually have become more a fan of pure teas since I lived in the area, so I wonder if my favorites would change if I came back to this place. My old favorite was the South African.
What I liked most about this place was the sort of community it created. Each night of the week, three would be a different sort of activity hosted in the tea house. Each activity would be managed or overseen by the employee working that night. There used to be regular chess tournaments, I think on Tuesday nights...laid back tournaments, casual and easy to participate on. On thursday, there was bluegrass. There were all sorts of other interesting things that were happening.
Even when there wasn't a formal event going on, there was lots to do in here...there is a bar at the front and there are lots of board games in the back. There was wireless internet, and there was a printer that you could use for a (very reasonable) fee.
This place also serves food. One day a week, it used to be wednesday, the owner would make couscous, and it was fantastic--definitely worth going out of your way to come in on that night. The other foods are mostly snacky, baked goods and the like, but they do have sandwiches, and they also sold produce, basic stuff like fruit, potatos, and onions, which was very convenient if you dropped by this place and needed to pick up odds and ends to cook later.
I miss this place a lot, but I'm glad that it is still here. If I ever move back to Cleveland, I'll probably go back to being in this place often, just like I was when I lived here.
