Set among tea terraces in the hills southwest of West Lake, this museum traces the history and culture of tea from ancient China to the present. The six-hall permanent exhibition covers cultivation, processing, tea ceremony traditions, and the export routes that spread tea across the world. The setting is as attractive as the content — the museum gardens are planted with dozens of tea varieties, and the surrounding hillsides produce Longjing.
The museum operates traditional tea ceremony demonstrations at set times, and there are tasting rooms where you can work through different types of Chinese tea with guidance. It's a twenty-minute taxi ride from the lakeshore and combines well with a visit to Longjing Village just up the road. Free entry.