The Westside Tea Scene
Atlanta's Westside has spent the last fifteen years rebuilding itself — first around Westside Provisions District and the Howell Mill strip (Bacchanalia, Miller Union, Bellwoods, JCT Kitchen, Miel, Star Provisions), then outward through The Works, The Interlock, and the Upper Westside's Moores Mill stretch. It's become the densest food-and-design corridor inside the perimeter, with the BeltLine's Westside Trail now cutting through and a natural-wine-and-cocktail axis that runs from West Midtown up to Marietta Boulevard. Tea arrived late, but it arrived well.
The anchor is Wai's Gong Fu Tea House on English Street — the only traditional Chinese teahouse in Georgia, where aged pu-erh and high-mountain oolong get poured across a 1,000-pound jade table. A few minutes north, The Chai Box is building out its first brick-and-mortar at 1963 Howell Mill Road — the Atlanta chai brand Oprah featured in 2020, now becoming a dedicated chai bar set to open in summer 2026. Inside the Chattahoochee Food Works food hall at The Works, Unbelibubble operates the Westside's only dedicated boba counter. And on Marietta Street, Urban Grind — the Black-owned neighborhood coffeehouse that predates most of the corridor's reinvention — has quietly carried loose-leaf tea on its menu since 2006.
The Westside also hosts two of the city's most interesting tea-makers in ways that don't look like retail. Thistle & Sprig Tea Co. blends its plastic-free loose-leaf from a Bishop Street production space, supplying hotels and cafes across Atlanta — no walk-in tearoom, but their packaged tins reach farmers markets and specialty grocers. The Herb Shop of Vinings, tucked inside the Westside Village shopping center on Marietta Boulevard despite the legacy name, carries loose-leaf herbs and blended teas alongside its apothecary shelves. More tea momentum is coming — The Chai Box's 2026 opening will add a third dedicated tea room to a corridor that a decade ago had none.
Getting Here
The Westside stretches from the Marietta Street Artery near Georgia Tech up through West Midtown, Howell Mill, the Upper Westside, and Blandtown. Driving is the default — most destinations cluster along Howell Mill Road, 14th Street, and Marietta Boulevard, with structured parking at Westside Provisions, The Works, The Interlock, and Moores Mill, plus plentiful street parking elsewhere. I-75 exits at 14th Street and Howell Mill feed the neighborhood directly.
MARTA reaches the edge at Arts Center (Red/Gold) — a rideshare to Howell Mill from there runs about ten minutes. The BeltLine's Westside Trail now connects through Washington Park and English Avenue up toward the corridor; Wai's Gong Fu Tea House sits within walking distance of the trail's northern extension work.
The Westside rewards a loop itinerary — an hour at Wai's, a walk through Westside Provisions, boba from Unbelibubble at Chattahoochee Food Works, a stop at Urban Grind for loose-leaf and neighborhood context. A full afternoon easily stacks with the food and shopping that surround every tea stop.