I am a fan of delicious tea, especially tea made with loose tea. I also love the aroma of coffee, and enjoy a good cup of joe with my desserts. This spot is all about tasty coffee and tea, with special baristas coming up with interesting concoctions.
The inside was long and narrow, with a few seating. Modern and chic, clean lines and colors. It has only been a few months since they opened, but people kept coming in, so I am sure they will do well!
The main feature here is the bar. The serious bar has no alcohol, but all coffee and tea! I must say, I have never seen a bar like this, with bar tap handles that pours coffee and tea…pretty cool. Their name refers to their main offerings, “Whistle” is nitro, and “Fizz” is sparkling. They had small jars containing loose tea leaves, where you could open and get a whiff of fantastic aroma, as you try the drink made with them.
They had some baked goods here to go with your drinks, and they are from one my favorite bakery, Colson Patisserie. How awesome! They do care about what they serve here, and they take their ingredients seriously. They source their coffee from Stumptown, fair trade, organic, and flavorful. And their tea comes from TeaSource, mostly direct-source, great loose teas. They use local, all natural milk from NY, and also offer almond milk as well as oat milk. Nice!
A female staff greeted us as we walked in, very nice and friendly. Then one of the owners, Ping, came over and took care of us. First, we received a sample of their signature drinks and popular drinks. It was cool to see him create all the interesting drinks off the bar!
We each received eight different kinds of drinks, vibrant colors and just begging us to drink them! It was like a flight of tea and coffee. We were so excited to try them all! Ping explained each drink, one at a time. He told us what they are and what they are made with, and what flavors we can expect. Great way to allow the customers to have the full experience! We had their nitrogen infused teas, and their sparkling selections.
From the Nitro (Whistle) offerings: Nitro Black Gold, unsweetened. Basic black tea that you can really taste. Refreshing on a hot day. Next one was the same tea, but with liquid brown sugar in it. It was quite tasty, interesting that they use brown sugar instead of regular sugar. I really liked it! Then the Nitro Red Berries Tea. It has red berry purée mixture, making it a bit tart. It was very…berry! A little sweet, nice summery drink! The last nitro drinks was Nitro Mango Tea. It is jasmine based, which went great with mango flavor.
Then, off to the Sparking (Fizz) offerings: Sparking Green Apple Tea, with green apple purée. It tasted like candy! The sweetness take the tartness out, just a little punch of tartness, really nice drink. Next one was Sparkling Yuzu Mint Lemonade Tea. They make fresh lemonade in-house, and mix it with moroccan mint tea. Really nice yuzu flavor, very interesting, refreshing tea! Then Sparkling Grapefruit Tea. Another jasmine based tea. They use fresh grapefruit, so it is a bit bitter. They balance out the bitterness with sweet grapefruit flavoring. Another nice, fruity drink. Not tart, not sour, just right! The last but not least, Sparkling Cold Brew + Lemonade. Made with Stumptown coffee and in-house lemonade. Citrus-y and chocolate-y. This one is the owner’s favorite. I never thought of coffee and lemonade mix before, but hey, it works!
After the sampling, we each got a regular size drink. I really liked Mango one and Grapefruit one, and I decided to go with Nitro Mango Tea ($4.50/16 oz), with Lychee Jelly (additional 50 cents). The lychee jelly was firm in texture, taste like actual lychee pieces! Awesome! The tea itself had a wonderful jasmine tea flavor. I could taste the high quality, and yes, the real mango flavor with mango purée. It had subtle sweetness, keeping the natural flavors alive. Love it!
My hubby went with Sparkling Yuzu Mint Lemonade ($4.50/16 oz) with Tapioca (additional 50 cents). Tapioca was really plump and awesome, the drink has a bit of punch and fizz that you can really feel when you have the full-size drink. Super refreshing! It contains no artificial flavor, so you taste the natural flavors. It was minty without being too overpowering, and yuzu flavor was definitely present, really tasty drink!
We had a great experience here, tasty and educational. They certainly put the flavored iced teas to the next level. There are so many bubble tea spots out there, but the tea and coffee they have here are no comparison… So great! They have become one of my favorite tea spot for sure!
Whistle & Fizz – 254 Greene St, New York, NY 10003