About Us
Zhi Tea has been an Austin Treasure for 18 years. Put simply, we love tea and we love to share it. Our charming little shop serves up a wide variety of single-origin teas from around the world, high quality matcha, herbal teas, puerh teas, and dozens of our own amazing artisan blends made here in house.
Here you will find bright service, all sizes of loose leaf and iced teas for home, and tea supplies needed for making your tea time special. We also have knowledgeable staff to help guide you to your next favorite tea. We are all students on a tea journey and discovering tea is a fun and collaborative endeavor.
We are also a wholesale tea provider and many of our customers discover us while they are staying or dining in fantastic places all over Austin and the rest of the country. Our list of wholesale customers is a who's who of the coolest and highest quality coffee shops, bakeries, restaurants, hotels and resorts in Central Texas.
Please come see us in person or order something fantastic here on our website.
Company History
Zhi Tea began with a dream that grew from our love of tea.
For ages tea has been part of culture and history to people all over the world. Consumed as a tasty beverage, as part of sublime ritual, and as an elixir to improve health, tea stands out as something extraordinary. We like to think tea is a perfect way to step outside the chaos of life to relax and enjoy something simple, a way to pause, reflect and connect with ourselves or with others. From our very beginnings we knew tea was something we wanted to share with the world.
We are die-hard tea lovers with a deep respect for traditional organic farming and ethical sourcing, and high standards of quality.
In 2006, Owner and Founder Jeffrey Lorien and some friends set their minds and hearts on creating a world-class tea business built on a foundation of integrity, strong relationships, a culture of caring, and a demand for ethically sourced, high quality tea.
Jeffery's unfortunate passing in 2024 brought about some tremendous upheaval at Zhi Tea. But even he may have been surprised how much he passed on the passion of tea to others. Some of those closest to him decided to continue his legacy and his work of sharing tea to the community because it had become our mission as well.
Tea has been consumed for over 6,000 years. Everything we could ever do in our lifetime is a small page in that history. In Jeffery's passing we are reminded of the joy we can get by being a part of something bigger.
18 years later we are still proud to share fantastic teas, including our own artisan blends, all of which are hand-crafted in small batches by our team right here in Austin, TX.
Our desire is to create and maintain a welcoming atmosphere in person or online where people can discover amazing teas and get a taste of our amazing signature blends.
Meet the owners
Courtney Marhev - With a professional background and graduate work in jewelry art and appraisal, Courtney brings a passion for the refined. Zhi Tea has always been dedicated to being a higher quality of tea from the product to the experience, and Courtney is dedicated to stewarding that vision.
Kenny Jones - Kenny has been running operations at Zhi Tea for 8 years. His knowledge runs from how things operate in the warehouse to how tea flavors pair with foods and experiences. He is a consummate chef and the final word in flavor quality here at Zhi.
Jake Gostylo - The most recent member of the group, Jake brings his analytic work to bear trying to make things run and scale more smoothly. While he is mostly found at his computer he does like to poke his head out and listen in on the most recent thing people are nerding out over.
Jana Jones - Jana is the smile that greets you as you enter the tea room. She is head of hospitality and our resident expert on helping customers find something they like. Tea and people are both so varied. Jana is our matchmaker setting you up with that dream tea.