Ming Tao Xuan

I return to this tea salon almost on a yearly basis. It’s more than just the tea — it’s the entire experience. They always make sure to serve you as if it was their first time doing so, and as if it’s your first time there (which it might well be for you!). The workers are fully dedicated to their tea making and serving. It’s not just business, it’s their passion.
The variety of teas is phenomenal. My personal favorite is litchi tea. I’ve never tried anything quite like it anywhere else. The place itself is a haven for lovers of authentic good tea. Its shelves are full of tea, teapots and little cups. Definitely worth checking out.

I went there twice already.
For tea lovers, this is heaven.
The place is well decorated. Chinese atmosphere.
SO RELAXING. The waterfall and Chinese music.
OH Lala. SO MANY CHOICES FOR TEA.
Before, I had the golden turtle, which came with a turtle tea set. AMAZING.
This time, I went for the GABA dragon oolong, mainly for its muscles relaxing benefits.
The staff helped us start the tea experience. Super kind.
I felt super relaxed. My partner too. Had a great relaxing conversation.
We also ordered cookies that was super tasty.
Most relaxing tea place so far
Strongly recommend for tea lovers
I will come back to try other teas for sure.

Came here twice with my boyfriend during our recent trip to Montréal and fell in love. The tea selection is fantastic, the staff is very friendly, and there are some very affordable tea sets here (I walked out with two different sets to add to my collection, as well as some more tea). They do a really nice Chinese tea service, explain everything to you, and don’t rush you out the door. In fact, the first time we went, we only stayed an hour and the staff joked about how quickly we were leaving. The shop is extremely elegant and relaxing.
I didn’t get a chance to try the food, but they also serve a selection of vegetarian snacks.

When I first walked into this place I was captivated but the décor. However I did fear that I would accidentally bump and break everything in sight, everything in there seems easily breakable.
I have been there three times now and I would go back everyday if I could. Very polite staff who show you exactly what to do, (for newbies).
The tea menu is very overwhelming but I took my time and narrowed down a selection. I would recommend taking the time to read the entire menu to decipher what effects and flavours you are looking for in a tea.
The atmosphere is very calm and relaxing, it is like a meditative social setting.

Great décor, excellent tea, and friendly and helpful staff. I came here to relax with a book while I enjoyed some tea and I was not disappointed! They have a huge selection and are good about offering recommendations and explaining the differences between the choices. I will definitely come back here next time I’m in Montréal.

An oasis of calm in the middle of Old Montréal’s tourist trap.
Somewhere around the Basilica, Casse-​Noisette (a lovely stationery shop where it is inexplicably always Christmas) and a surprisingly good cupcake place, lies possibly my favourite spot in Old Montréal.
AESTHETICS
MTX manages to be both intimate and spacious, both rustic and modern, both airy and cavernous. The space is a bit larger than you might expect, but laid out in a way that somewhat separates seating into small clusters. The glass cabinets and large windows work well with the dark wood furniture and traditional tea vessels, some of which are displayed near the entrance (presumably for sale).
SELECTION
The tea menu is a physically large book, divided into categories (green, white, black, wulong, flowering and so on). As with many tea joints, they have those large canisters displayed behind the counter, which you can request to sniff.
There’s also a small food section in the menu, with pretty phenomenal dumplings, among other things.
SERVICE
You can buy looseleaf or brewed tea to go, but this place really is all about the in-​house experience. The staff (who appear to be a family) will bring your tea over, and take you through the steeping procedure. In some places this can feel a bit pretentious, but there is definitely none of that to be found here. That magical ability of a server to leave you to it, but always be near when you need them… yeah they have that here.
FLAVOUR
This is definitely one of those places where everything tastes better than you can get it to at home. Tea/​coffee home brewers will probably be familiar with that phenomenon.
AMBIANCE/​EXPERIENCE
This is about as Zen as it gets. If you come alone, you’ll be able to think clearly here. If you have company, the environment lends itself to great conversation. I used to duck in here at the end of a particularly stressful day at work, and it never failed.
RECCOMMENDATION
Give yourself at least 45 minutes to really enjoy what this place has to offer.

Quaint, cozy, calming. the tea is impeccable and the staff know so much. You could also spend hours looking at the vast collection of tea pots from Asia situated in glass cases all along the tea room. The same man (maybe owner?) always serves us and he’s always chipper and sweet.
If you’re munchy, their veggie skewers that look/​taste like chicken will satisfy you. I don’t know how they make them so addictive. Go there!

Delicious steamed or fried dumplings! 1 order is $ 8 and comes with 15 dumplings. Your choice of meat.
Perfect on a cold day

J’ai bien apprécié le the et le calme de l’endroit! De plus, quel plaisir de voir tous les beaux services de the a vendre!

I am a regular at this teahouse, and I wouldn’t go anywhere else for good tea.
They serve your tea in a yixing teapot and walk you through the gongfu cha ceremony.
The tea is top notch. They have a wide selection of oolongs and pu’erhs. Definitely try the Golden Leaf, and the premium Pouchong. Excellent Tiegwanyin King too, if you’re willing to pay the price.
They have very good greens as well — I recommend Yun wu, yun ya, and mao feng.
The owners are very friendly and helpful in choosing a tea for every occasion.
The shop itself is also worth a visit just to see the beautiful woodwork and all the teapots.
Great place to sit down after a long walk around old port, unwind after a work day, or wrap up a meal on a night out.

A visit to this tea room is a must.
Vintage wooden furniture, shelves upon shelves of different clay and porcelain tea sets, and walls of teas from all over Asia. If you are not a huge tea lover then it is still worth it to have a peak inside if you are in the area.
You can order tea (with a small selection of dim sum type foods) or just buy tea leaves to go. The prices for tea ranged from $ 14 — $ 30 per 100g. They have a menu list of teas and will let you smell each one but do not expect them to actually know anything about the teas. Any question I had about things like health benefits, food pairing, caffeine levels, etc. went unanswered. Overall a cute gem in old Montréal!

On a freezing Saturday afternoon, walking in Old Montréal, and as we were really just looking for a place to get in and warm up, we ended up here, and we were never happier to stumble upon a place we probably would not have entered otherwise. The staff is absolutely welcoming and friendly, giving you time and advice to choose from their long tea menu. The tea presentation and explanation on how to drink it the proper way was definitely appreciated as well. These people really know teas and they’re happy to share it. The atmosphere set by the place with all their teas, teapots and Chinese decorations puts you in some kind of tea trance and you leave in a tea zenitude you never thought possible (yes I believe my body reacts to tea as if some kind of drug and I’m now in the aftermath of wanting more more more!)

The shop has beautiful tea pots. I splurged and got a sweet-​looking and not inexpensive set, something I’d wanted for a long time. After a month of use, the made in China pot started leaking from the bottom. I called to ask if I could get a refund. The owner said he could not do that because he would lose money. He offered an exchange, but with me paying postage both ways (I live in Vermont). I felt this was poor customer service and feel cheated. I don’t want to pay double postage for a poor quality item that might leak again. The owner basically said too bad.

This place is in such a quaint looking area of the old port. Cobblestone and all. Inside, you are treated to a very tea house like atmosphere. Teas everywhere. They also have a small menu to pair your tea with light appetizer type food. It’s nice to sit down, relax, and pretend you are a little snobbier than you really are.
The service is nice and they will chat with you about the different types of teas. We got one of the blossom teas which are always fun to watch as they steep in the glass tea pot.
There is definitely a zen like feel to this place. I like it a lot.

One of my quiet spots in Old Montréal to take a relaxing tea with friends. The décor is quite exquisite, and you just want to be quiet when you sip your cup while looking outside. There is a wide array of tea selections, from white to red to dark teas, and they are quite reasonable in their price. There’s not a lot to eat as a snack to accompany your tea, but it’s ok: you don’t go there for the food, but for the tea!

Extremely cool place to get out of the cold and relax a bit. Do yourself a favor and get some tea here. The owners take pride in what they do and it is very affordable.

En entrant au Ming Tao Xuan on a l’impression d’entrer dans un musée de thé. Ils ont des tasses et théière présentées dans des armoires en vitre. Tout ce qu’il manqué c’est des petites cartes d’explications! Le focus est vraiment sur la culture de thé asiatique, et non anglaise. Un menu d’une dizaine de pages présente les diverses variétés de thé incluant thé noir, oolong, blanc, vert, etc. Vous pouvez en prendre sur place, dans une tasse pour emporter ou bien en vrac pour la maison. Certains thés sont assez dispendieux, mais considérant la qualité, ça vaut la peine. Né soyez pas gêné de demander de sentir les thés. Les gens de la place se feront un plaisir de vous expliquer les différences entre certaines espèces et vous donnerons même quelques trucs utiles. Saviez-​vous que pour garder votre thé frais plus longtemps, le frigo est le meilleur endroit pour le ranger?

Needed to kill some time while waiting for a dinner reservation and found this little place on Unilocal.Located on a corner in a lovely historic part of Montréal, the owners of this little tea house make you feel like you are part of an ancient personal tea ceremony. The tea selections are described in detail in their tea «menu». Each tea has it’s own special presentation and tea pot.
It was a wonderful way to spend a chilly late afternoon talking with friends and we were never made to feel rushed.
It only has 4 tables so I would recommend going at «off» hours to make sure you get a seat and are truly able to enjoy the experience.
I wish it was closer to home I would be there every week.

Ming Tao Xuan is a relaxing, beautiful, well decorated establishment. My party entered about 40 minutes before closing during a Montréal rainstorm. They advised us they were closing in 40 minutes but we still decided to order tea.
They have a huge variety of tea including herbal as well! We chose a green tea leaf and they immediately brought out the hot water and tea set. They show you how to properly steep the tea and they you follow the instructions to do it yourself 3 – 4 more times.
They also serve small snacks such as buns as well.
The price is anywhere from 6 to 8 dollars per person.
The service is excellent and the place has a elegant feel to it. I will return!

After an extremely relaxing day of some much needed R&R at Spa Scandinave I decided to take a nice walk around Old Montréal and came across a cute little Tea House on Rue Saint Suplice called Ming Tao Xuan.
With an air of Buddhist serenity, it feels like you are stepping into a tea house somewhere in a Chinese village and not off the street in old Montréal. Ming Tao
Xuan means «a comfortable and welcoming salon where fine teas can be enjoyed in earthenware teapots». What that actually means – not to sure – but the tea selection is phenomenal. There were so many choices I couldn’t keep up. The menu reminds me of a Sun Tzu novel!

Very nice!
A very relaxing experience here! The people are very nice too. They aren’t going to walk you through everything, at least not by default. Maybe if you engage them earlier they might give you recommendations, otherwise read through the extensive menu. I spent about an hour and a half here, had a great time too. The tea we selected was pretty good, not awesome, but decent none-​the-​less!
A large selection of tea, lots of background on it as well, but no «special» or real «premium quality» stuff it seemed.

Drôle d’expérience que d’entrer dans ce luxueux salon de thé… J’ai vraiment eu l’impression de voyager dans le temps; de me retrouver dans un univers déconnecté de la réalité; un genre de salonnier impérial, raffiné et symbolique, à la limite du rêve… Un long tapis se défile sur un plancher de bois reluisant et nous invite à découvrir les buffets rubigineux, garnis d’artéfacts saisissants. Et que dire de ce genre d’alcôve tout au fond de du salon, méticuleusement ornementé, abritant statuettes de déités? De très belles théières de Yixing sont en vente, mais comme tout le reste de l’artisanat, elles atteignent un prix quelque peu déconcertant… Néanmoins, ces théières sont d’exception; elles proviennent du sud de la Chine et sont faites à partir de glaise pure, (sable pourpre), le zisha… D’ailleurs, elles sont idéales pour les thés pu’erh (vieillis en cave), variété très abondante au salon, car elles sont réputées pour développer davantage les arômes de la feuille. Bien-​sûr ça l’aurait été une honte que le thé né soit pas en vrac; vous pouvez en ramener chez-​vous, soit dit en passant.
Prendre le thé ici est synonyme de tranquillité. Vous aurez le droit à une bonne dégustation de thé pour un peu moins de 10 $. On le sirote lentement, attablé sur les meubles élégants… Le personnel, affable, très calé en la matière (le thé est évidemment une partie intégrante de leur vie), sait très bien conseiller la saveur le plus représentative de nos préférences…
Une petit menu végétarien pour accompagner votre tasse…

Tea to cleanse your soul… well that’s what my Mama kept on sayin’!!
By sheer curiosity of the place (originally looking at the cupcake shop next door) we entered the Ming Tao Xuan tea house (aka: Salon de Te) and had the instant feeling of entering an actual tea house in China. The place is beautifully decorated with authentic artifacts and shelves loaded with hand-​crafted teapots and tea accessories.
A full-​detailed Tea menu is brought by one of their knowledgeable tea experts who gives you a full description of any and all teas, tea properties, and advises on how to choose your tea. Teas price range from $ 6 – 8 dollars and they also have several options of cookies and light pastries as an accompaniment
The tea presentation makes this a remarkable experience… I can’t describe how much fun we had throughout it all… Tea service is very affordable but prices of the teapots and its accessories are what could possibly break your bank. The craftsmanship of the tea pots is amazing and if you budget right, you can put together an exquisite set to bring back home and show how cultured you are!
Hit the tea house after the a long walk around the Vieux Port and before visiting the Notre-​Dame Basilica. You’ll feel immensely cleansed and ready for a prayer or two at church!