Chado Tea

What Chado Tea does

Chado Tea is a specialty tea retailer and experiential hospitality operator founded in 1990 on 3rd Street in Los Angeles. The company was acquired in 1992 by founders Devan and Reena Shah, who have since expanded operations across Southern California. The business curates and retails more than 150 teas and proprietary blends sourced from China, Japan, India, Sri Lanka, Taiwan, South Africa, Colombia, and other origins, offered through two primary formats: pyramid tea bags (full-leaf in mesh sachets) and loose leaf. Curated product lines are organized by occasion (Afternoon, Morning, Evening), function (Immunity, Wellness, Chai), and specialty category (Wine-Infused, Ayurvedic, Organic, Turmeric), with flagship premium SKUs including Ceremonial Matcha from Shizuoka and Gyokuro Supreme.

Chado Tea operates a hybrid go-to-market combining direct-to-consumer e-commerce on chadotea.com (with US and Canada shipping) with four physical Tea Room locations in Downtown Los Angeles, Hollywood (adjacent to the Dolby Theater), Old Town Pasadena, and South Bay/Torrance. The Tea Rooms provide Afternoon Tea service, retail tea purchases, and private event hosting for birthdays, showers, corporate gatherings, and full buyouts. The company also runs the Chado Tea Club subscription (30/45/90-day cadences at 10-20% discounts), electronic gift cards in $25-$100 denominations, the Chado Rewards loyalty program, and a Give $10/Get $10 referral program. Marketing is multi-channel, spanning a blog ("Tea Stories"), Instagram, TikTok, YouTube, and email capture offering 20% off first orders.

The business is privately held and founder-owned by Devan and Reena Shah, with no disclosed external investors, funding rounds, or parent company. There is no technology platform, mobile app, or AI/ML infrastructure referenced; the underlying business is fundamentally a curated retail and hospitality operation. Customer segments are exclusively consumer — tea enthusiasts, Afternoon Tea experience seekers, and corporate/private event hosts — with pricing structured as per-unit retail ($9.88-$79.88), subscription tiers, and gift cards. Revenue is generated across four streams: retail tea sales, subscription recurring revenue, gift cards, and in-person Tea Room/event services.

Name

Chado Tea

Legal name

Chado Tea

Website

https://chadotea.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

1990

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

1–10 employees

Short description

Chado Tea is a privately held, founder-owned specialty tea retailer founded in 1990, curating over 150 teas and blends sold through e-commerce and four physical Tea Rooms across Southern California, with subscription, gift card, and private event revenue streams.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Specialty Tea Retail

NAICS

Coffee and Tea Manufacturing (311920)

akta.pro primary industry

Tea Rooms & Tea Cafes (THAFADAF)

akta.pro secondary industries

Tea (Leaf, Bagged, Instant, Concentrates) (CRADAHAE), Specialty Coffee & Tea Retail (Beans, Leaves, Accessories) (CRAHAGAI), Tea Blending & Flavoring (AFAFADAG), Specialty Tea Shops (Loose-Leaf, Tea Bars) (THAFAKAD), Specialty Coffee & Tea (Single-Origin, Micro-lot, Premium) Processing (AFAFADAJ)

Keywords

• Specialty tea retail
• Loose leaf tea
• Pyramid tea bags
• Afternoon tea service
• Tea subscription service

Headquarters

HQ city

Commerce

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices4 records

Markets served

GTM type

B2C

Offering type

Hardware or Manufacturing

Cost components

Operations, Supply Chain, Personnel, Marketing or Sales, Infrastructure

Revenue model

1. Retail Tea Sales: Direct-to-consumer sales of loose leaf teas and pyramid tea bags through e-commerce and Tea Room locations. Products range from basic breakfast teas to premium single-origin varieties.
2. Subscription Service: Chado Tea Club offers recurring delivery of teas with discounts up to 20%. Flexible plans at 30, 45, or 90 day intervals. Automatic reordering generates recurring revenue.
3. Gift Cards: Electronic gift cards sold in denominations of $25, $50, $75, and $100. Never expire, redeemable only online.
4. Tea Room & Event Services: Physical Tea Rooms hosting Afternoon Tea service, private events including birthdays, showers, corporate gatherings, and full buyouts. In-person dining and tea service revenue.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels3 records

Marketing channels8 records

Core offering

Chado Tea is a specialty tea curator and retailer offering more than 150 teas and blends from origins including China, Japan, India, Sri Lanka, Taiwan, South Africa, and Colombia, sold in loose-leaf and pyramid tea bag formats. The company sells through its chadotea.com e-commerce site, four physical Tea Rooms in Southern California (Downtown LA, Hollywood, Pasadena, South Bay/Torrance) that provide Afternoon Tea service, and a recurring Chado Tea Club subscription. It also offers private event hosting, e-Gift Cards, and tea accessories.

Product overview

Chado Tea is a specialty tea retailer and experiences provider offering over 150 teas and blends sourced from around the world. The company operates a dual-channel model combining e-commerce (with pyramid tea bags and loose leaf formats) with four physical Tea Room locations in Southern California. Core products include pyramid tea bags and loose leaf teas across black, green, white, oolong, pu-erh, and herbal varieties, organized into curated blends (Afternoon, Morning, Evening, Immunity, Chai) and specialty collections (Wine-Infused, Ayurvedic, Turmeric, Organic). The company also offers a subscription service (Chado Tea Club), private event hosting, e-Gift Cards, and tea accessories, with flagship specialty products like Ceremonial Matcha from Japan and Gyokuro Supreme.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Pyramid Tea Bags

Segments3 records

Ideal customer profiles3 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Scale indicators4 records

Recent moves15 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Direct peers

• Steven Smith Teamaker: Premium small-batch tea brand combining DTC e-commerce with a flagship tea tasting room in Portland — the closest analog to Chado's DTC-plus-physical-tea-room model.
• Ten Ren Tea: Established Asian tea retailer with brick-and-mortar tea houses, online DTC, and broad assortments of Asian teas (oolong, jasmine, matcha). Comparable product mix and physical-store retail model.
• Stash Tea: Long-established specialty tea brand offering bagged and loose-leaf teas across grocery, foodservice, and DTC. Comparable assortment and channel mix, with broader mass-market distribution.
• Adagio Teas: Online-first specialty tea retailer offering hundreds of loose-leaf and bagged teas plus a customizable subscription program. Directly comparable in DTC assortment breadth and recurring subscription mechanics.
• Harney & Sons: Family-owned premium tea company selling loose leaf and sachet teas DTC and through wholesale/hospitality. Comparable curated assortment, single-origin sourcing, and proprietary blends, with a tea room/salon in Manhattan that parallels Chado's experiential retail.
• The Republic of Tea: Direct specialty tea competitor offering curated leaf teas, blends, and pyramid/silken sachets via DTC and wholesale channels. Comparable assortment breadth (hundreds of SKUs), similar premium positioning, and subscription/club model.

Emerging players

• Ippodo Tea Co. Premium Japanese green tea specialist (Matcha, Gyokuro, Sencha) selling DTC and through tea rooms in Tokyo and New York. Directly competes in the specialty Japanese tea SKUs that Chado highlights (Ceremonial Matcha, Gyokuro Supreme).

Broad incumbents

• Teavana (Starbucks): Specialty tea brand acquired by Starbucks, historically combining DTC retail, in-cafe tea service, and standalone tea bars — directly analogous to Chado's hybrid model and a benchmark for what scaled specialty tea retail can become.
• Twinings: Mass-market heritage tea brand with broad grocery distribution and an experiential tearoom (Twinings Shop & Museum in London). Comparable legacy brand and curated-blend identity but at vastly larger scale.

Regional players

• Tealux: New England-based tea retailer/café chain combining tea retail with tea bar service. Comparable hybrid DTC + café/tea-room model, though operating in a different U.S. region.

Market position

Strengths4 records

Weaknesses4 records

Competitive moat3 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• YouTubeyoutube.com/@ChadoTeaRoomLA
• Facebookfacebook.com/chadotea
• Instagraminstagram.com/chadotearoom
• TikToktiktok.com/@chadotea
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/chado-tea-room

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles2 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Chado Tea