Bell's Market
★★★★★ – 1 reviewbellsmarket.net
Ethnic Grocery
8330 Bustleton Ave
Philadelphia, PA 19152
(215) 342-6016
Massive Russian, Eastern-European, and Central Asian supermarket. Good loose-leaf tea and tea bag selection, with a focus on Russian tea culture.
Reviews
★★★★★Alex Zorach (1448 tea reviews) on Sep. 5th, 2017
If I were rating this supermarket on the quality of the tea alone, I'd only give it 3-4 stars, but it's such an amazing place that I can't in good faith give it anything less than five. The produce section is exceptional, and they have a great selection of smoked fish, fresh-baked breads and pastries, and inexpensive (and exquisite) prepared foods.
As for what teas you'll find here, it's a little heavier on the tea bags than I'd like (more than half the selection), but there are still far more loose-leaf teas than you'd find at a typical American supermarket. The tea is very inexpensive, lots of stuff available for under $10 a pound. Most of the loose-leaf teas are only sold in large sizes, which is not great for sampling, but good if you know what you want. Notable brands include Ahmad Tea and Czar Nikolas II. As one would expect from Russian tea culture, the selection tends towards strong black teas and teas with floral and fruit flavorings. If you want tea bags, you can find a number of Russian brands here that you can't typically find elsewhere.
I highly recommend checking this place out, whether you're here for the tea, or some other reason. I love this store so much, I'll go 20-25 minutes out of my way to visit if I'm anywhere near it and haven't been there in a while.
