Hoboken Tea Company
Real ingredients. Real flavor.
Loose leaf tea, hand-packed in New Jersey
A woman-owned tea company based in Hoboken, NJ. We make loose leaf teas and caffeine-free herbal blends from whole, recognizable ingredients — no added flavorings, no hidden fillers, nothing artificial. If it's in your cup, you can see it.
We focus on clean blends you can drink any time of day: calming herbal infusions, gently caffeinated teas, and single-origin selections chosen for clarity of flavor over intensity. Whether you're cutting back on caffeine, exploring loose leaf for the first time, or just looking for something better than what's on the grocery aisle, you'll find tea worth your time here.
Every tea is selected first for quality and taste, then sourced from producers who prioritize sustainable farming and fair practices. How a tea is grown matters as much as how it tastes.
All of our tea is hand-packed in New Jersey. You'll find us at local markets and events around Hoboken, where the business began and where the work still happens.
Our approach is deliberate. Loose leaf only. Packaging chosen to be compostable or recyclable wherever possible. Not as a trend — as a reflection of how we believe products should be made: thoughtfully, responsibly, and meant to be enjoyed slowly.
Brooke LaFlamme, Founder
Diploma in Restaurant & Culinary Management
PhD in Genetics & Development from Cornell University
Hi, I'm Brooke.
Before tea, I was a scientist. I earned a PhD in Genetics and Development from Cornell University and spent the years after it in scientific publishing. It was a good career. It wasn't the one I wanted to keep.
What I actually wanted, specifically, was to open a tea shop in Hoboken. I couldn't find real loose leaf tea anywhere in the neighborhood, and I kept thinking about how many people were drinking tea without ever having had the chance to taste the real thing — whole leaves, actual flavor, not dust from the bottom of a bag. It seemed like something worth fixing.
So I left publishing and enrolled in the Culinary Management diploma program at the Institute of Culinary Education in New York to learn the business side of running a tea shop. Around the same time, I pursued formal tea training through the Tea and Herbal Association of Canada, earning certification as a Tea Sommelier®. Not for the credentials, but to build a clear point of view about quality, sourcing, and craft.
The week my first class at ICE started, I was also diagnosed with breast cancer. I finished the program through treatment and kept working on Hoboken Tea Company through the rest of it. In the middle of that, the five minutes it took to make a cup of tea became a small, steady thing I could count on — and it shaped how I think about what tea is really for.
My science background still shapes how I work. I approach sourcing with curiosity and discernment, test carefully, and choose partners intentionally. Every tea we offer has passed through my own kitchen first. If it isn't something I'd reach for in the middle of an ordinary day, it doesn't belong here.
A brick-and-mortar tea shop in Hoboken is still the long-term plan. For now, Hoboken Tea Company lives online and at markets around town — with blends like Sunrise on the Hudson, Hoboken Breakfast, and Jersey Fresh Mint, all hand-packed locally and meant for actual daily drinking.
Hoboken Tea Company reflects what matters to me: quality without pretension, intention without excess, and tea that earns its place in your daily life.
Why Tea?
People ask me this all the time.
For me, it's never just about what's in the cup. It's about the five minutes it takes to make it — the ritual of slowing down when everything else is demanding you speed up. Tea gives you permission to pause, and most of us could use more of that than we admit.
I don't believe tea needs to be complicated or gatekept by experts. It doesn't need wellness claims or trend cycles. It needs to be good, honest, and accessible. At Hoboken Tea Company, I'm building a place where anyone can find tea that's worth their time, sourced with intention, and better than the stale bag gathering dust at the back of the cabinet.
Learn more about my background and the inspiration for Hoboken Tea Company at this blog post.
Stay in Touch
Occasional notes on new blends, what's in season, and where we'll be next. No spam, ever.
Find Our Tea
Hoboken Tea Company teas are stocked at a small number of carefully chosen shops.
152 Newark Street - Hoboken, NJ
2876 Broadway - New York, NY
Hoboken Tea Co. exists for people who want to slow down, make space for small rituals, and sip tea that lives up to the moment.
Whether this is your first loose leaf or your hundredth blend, welcome. Let's find what you're looking for.
Our Packaging: A Thoughtful Approach to Sustainability
Our stand-up pouches are plant-based, home- and commercial-compostable, and free from PLA, BPA, and phthalates. We chose them after weighing the real tradeoffs — because sustainability in tea packaging isn't simple, and we'd rather be honest about that than pretend otherwise.
Why Sustainable Tea Packaging Is Complex
Tea needs protection from air, moisture, and light to preserve quality. This often requires multi-layer flexible packaging, which is not widely recyclable. Labels can also introduce challenges, as many standard laminations, adhesives, and inks are not environmentally friendly.
We’re transparent about this because sustainability is never as simple as choosing one “green” material over another—it’s an evolving balance of safety, performance, and environmental responsibility.
What We Use Today
Our stand-up tea pouches are made from plant-based materials that are vegan, non-GMO, and free from PLA, BPA, and phthalates. They are certified safe for both home and commercial composting.
To ensure proper composting, we recommend removing the product label before placing the pouch in your compost bin, as the adhesives and inks on most labels are not yet compostable.
What Comes Next
Sustainable packaging is an active area of scientific and industrial innovation. As new, truly compostable and recyclable materials become available, we will continue to update and improve our packaging to reflect the best options on the market.
Our promise is simple: we’ll always choose materials with integrity, transparency, and care—for you, for the tea, and for the planet.
