Discover a whole world of tea at Budapest’s Bonthé

Anyone can lose themselves in a world of tea at Bonthé near Blaha Lujza tér, with a dizzying array of colours and flavours, and a friendly staff of experts.

The interior design of the shop is reminiscent of a herbal medicine store, all minimalist décor and white walls, backdrop for the endless jars and bottles of tea leaves. There are at least 200 varieties with plenty of unique items and original creations.

The store is divided into two parts with a long counter. On one side, visitors can find fruit teas, flavoured mixtures and red rooibos teas in large glass jars. The other side is filled with the more traditional black, white and green teas.

But that’s not all: on a separate shelf we find a range of herbal teas as well. To help you choose, study the ingredients and sniff the items, as their scent is what makes teas stand out at first.

What makes Bonthé exceptional is the range of options. There is an especially varied selection of Darjeeling teas, and while elsewhere you might see around two or three flavours of Japanese tea, here there are eight, with a good range of Korean and Vietnamese as well. The continent of Africa is represented by flavourful selections from not only the more common Kenyan range, but from Rwanda and Malawi, too.

Although the leaves are imported from international sources, the charming, uniform packaging is the store’s own creation. If you prefer teabags instead of loose-leaf, there are 25 different options with pyramid filters. Here, these are not lower in quality than the ones in jars. The teas are also given creative invented names. Types recommended for warm weather are indicated on their packages.

Bonthé also celebrates the culture surrounding the beverage, hence the accessories: containers, bamboo filters and cute cups. The functions of some of the items were not easy to decode, but this only adds to the intrigue.

For Christmas, Bonthé has plenty of innovations, creating an online store, while the outlet on Rákóczi út will be a showroom with the addition of coffee to the selection.

Bonthé District VIII. Rákóczi út 27B

Open: Mon-Fri 10am-6pm