Tea-houses tend to conjure images of musty, hemmed-in rooms overcrowded with shelves of dusty tea tins and jars.
In Théatre, the Shanghai-based Sò Studio has, with consummate ease, ditched all the tired old tropes to conceive, instead, a light, pastel-hued cocoon that, if you didn’t notice the pots of tea on tables, you might otherwise mistake for a swish spa.
Tucked away on the fourth floor of Beijing’s tony Wangfu Central mall, the tea house reveals itself like a slow-burn, its façade of frosted glass panels and creamy drapes opening into an elongated room divided by floating planters, Cassina furniture, and curved walls. Pairing pastry chef Lily Zhang’s delicately wrought orange chiffon cake and and cherry mousse tart is a menu of some 70 teas sourced from plantations in Fujian, Yunan and Dimbula.
Somewhat unexpectedly, a bijou bar sits at the far end of the tea house – a particularly thoughtful alternative should you find yourself in need of a drink stronger than an oolong.
INFORMATION
ADDRESS
404C
4th floor
East Block
Wangfu Central
269 Wangfujing Street
-
Dine within a rationalist design gem at the newly opened Cucina TriennaleCucina Triennale is the latest space to open at Triennale Milano, a restaurant and a café by Luca Cipelletti and Unifor, inspired by the building's 1930s design
-
The collections you might have missed this S/S 2026 menswear seasonBetween the headliners in Paris, Milan and Florence, a few off-schedule displays are deserving of honourable mention – from Martine Rose’s sexually-charged portrait of Kensington Market to Sander Lak’s appointment-only namesake debut
-
Meet artist Michael McGregor, using hotel stationery as his canvasMichael McGregor unveils an exclusive postcard set made with notepads from The Luxury Collection properties in Minneapolis, San Francisco and Savannah
-
Tour the best contemporary tea houses around the worldCelebrate the world’s most unique tea houses, from Melbourne to Stockholm, with a new book by Wallpaper’s Léa Teuscher
-
Prada and Wong Kar-wai dream up a cinematic restaurant in ShanghaiPrada partners with Wong Kar-wai to bring Mi Shang Rong Zhai to life, a dining experience influenced by the arthouse director’s seminal oeuvre
-
Enjoy heritage views and contemporary brews at a new Beijing caféJM Café, White Pagoda Temple by B.L.U.E. Architecture Studio nods to the history of the Xicheng District while injecting a shot of vitality
-
Must-visit cinemas with award-worthy designThere’s more magic to the movies at these design-led cinemas, from Busan Cinema Centre’s ‘flying’ roof to The Gem Cinema Jaipur’s art deco allure
-
China’s Alila Shanghai hotel is a stylish hub of idle tranquillityAlila Shanghai, the brand's first urban resort in Greater China, is a serene bolthole amidst the pulse of the Jing'an district
-
2025 getaways: where Wallpaper* editors will be travelling to this yearFrom the Japanese art islands of Naoshima and Teshima to the Malaysian tropical paradise of Langkawi, here’s where Wallpaper* editors plan to travel to in 2025
-
Travel back to the Ming dynasty at Beijing’s new Mandarin Oriental hotelMandarin Oriental Qianmen merges traditional culture with contemporary needs in a 600-year-old historical building complex
-
Inside Palazzo Versace Macau, a lavish, mosaic-rich hotelPalazzo Versace Macau, the brand’s first hotel in Asia, continues to preserve Donatella Versace’s swanky hospitality vision
