This shop is easy to miss. It's small, and you have to walk down a set of steps to enter. But once…read moreinside, you can't help but smile -- it feels like you've been transported straight into an Indian bazaar. They surprisingly have a wide variety of organic spices, nuts, lentils, and ingredients you wouldn't even imagine they would have, such as their organic cocoa butter, which we have yet to find at another local shop. It was so much fun just wandering around the store and discovering everything. Everyone there is so nice and welcoming too. My absolute favorite thing here is their Mango Lassi, it is $4.95 and it is perfection. It may be the only lassi better than the one I make at home. If you are as obsessed with mango lassis as I am and want to try one the makes it better than most (if not all) of our local restaurants, then please save one for me.

This store has everything you could ever need. Tea, curry, pani puri, colon cleanse, and much more!…read moreHelpful staff as well

It's a great place if you're looking for herbs & other nicknacks. Family run which is cute.read more

My search for certain Chinese medicinal fruits & herbs led me here. There are quite a few herbal…read moremedicine stores around this block but many of them seem to be selling them openly, letting in all the germs and the dust from the streets. That seems counter productive doesn't it? Well these guys have some stuff that are in the open, but most are either inside or packed and sealed in a bag if outside. The store inside is clean as well. The products I was looking for were hong zao (jujube aka Chinese dates) and gouqi (goji berries or wolf berries) in order to make black chicken soup. Both were properly packed and looked clean. I was happy with their products and so when my wife wanted chuan bei mu (Fritillaria extract) for a Chinese pear recipe, I went back to them for it. Sure enough they had them inside, sealed tightly in a glass jar. However, they were of the smaller kind. Buying herbs can be a daunting task for a non Chinese speaker... I mean the sheer thought of going home and cooking for my wife with the wrong herbs is enough to give me nightmares ... but they actually understood my Google Translate Chinese and helped me out big time. They seem a little more expensive than some of the other ones but surely the cleanliness is worth an extra few cents. What? Don't call you Shirley? Dude you need some Chinese herbs.

It is a nice little shop with a great selection of teas and spices. The store has a cozy feel, and…read moreit's a great place to stop by if you enjoy trying different flavors of tea. They have many options to choose from. It's also a good place to pick up something unique for yourself or as a gift. They also have natural honey and other items you can use for kitchen and making tea.

Knowledgeable staff and a nice selection of loose teas as well as sachets (tea bags). It is located…read morevery close to NYU and only 2 blocks from subway. We were visiting from out of town and it was great to find such a place. I recently ordered some more of the Ruby Oolong I purchased there. Very clean store and very high quality inventory with good variety of black, green and oolong and flavored teas (which I don't care for). I will make it a stop whenever I am in the city.

Great spice shop inside the Essex Market. Friendly service and reasonable pricing. I live buying…read moretheir insanely fragrant saffron from Afghanistan. Other spices I have bought include their garam masala, turmeric, za'atar, and ground cumin.

I've been patronizing Essex Olive & Spice for years -- fantastic shop with delicious olives, oils,…read morespices, and other goods. And, like, the other reviewer wrote, Saad is the best -- a passionate business owner & super friendly dude.

The vast array of herbs that I can get without having to wait until I travel back home to replenish…read moremy stock. The courteous help and the store is CLEAN. Thank you

wonderful place. so grateful for the supplies there. really feels like a visit to the east village…read moreif you get a treat at flower power.

In NYC, especially the West Village, where there's a coffee shop within a stone's throw in every…read moredirection -- Porto Rico stands out. No, there are no crazy long lines going around the block waiting for fru fru coffee, but the PR will always satisfy you. From the inviting benches outside to the waft of chocolatey coffee smell as you open the front door, the PR will always be here! Counter service is pro and friendly. Whether its a dash and walk, or you linger and shop for coffee beans and teas, Porto Rico is one of those local institutions and treasures that we need to support in lieu of giving our money to coffee shops where hedge fund managers want to cash in on our daily coffee habit. The only limitation would be their hours with weekends opening later on Sat and Sun, but give them workers a break and make everyone happy.

Walked into Porto Rico Coffee in Greenwich Village and suddenly felt underqualified to drink…read morecoffee. This place has been around since 1907. Meanwhile, I still need GPS to find my car in a parking lot. Over 130 coffees from around the world, shelves packed with teas, spices, and enough coffee beans to keep New York awake until 2126. Also the ambiance is what a coffee shop should look like. I came in for a cup of coffee and left feeling like I just completed a history lesson, a world tour, and a caffeine-fueled life upgrade. Some guys collect watches. Some collect sneakers. Today, I collected coffee and good decisions.

Deaf-owned Chinese mini-grocery store. That's already a one-of-a-kind. Friendly and helpful staff…read morewilling to explain what some things are used for. Lots of option here for dried seafood, herbs & spices. Also have a lot of products with ginseng and lingzhi. The store seems to do a bulk of their business through shipping.

I ordered delivery through Mercato and was very pleased with the service…read more I ordered the steak, a 15lb bag of Kokohu rice and a 5lb box of frozen shrimp. Delivery in the Financial District was on time and accurate. Rice was absolutely fresh. My wife is Japanese and would not tolerate bad rice. This bag of rice was excellent. The 16 oz steak was fresh and high quality. The shrimp was also good quality, and arrived frozen solid, which is a good thing. I appreciate getting delivery during this terrible time of pandemic and I'm glad they are open. I realize how difficult it is for all Chinatown businesses at this time. I miss going to Chinatown almost every day to shop and eat. My favorite restaurant, Xing Wong, is closed. Wing Fung Hong is almost directly across the street from where my daughter attends (attended?) school at the Yung Wing School. I hope I can shop at Wing Fung Hong soon after the lockdown is over. * I'm sorry that I have to amend this review on May 9, 2020. I carefully wore mask, gloves and took all precautions, and went to buy food in Chinatown with my son. One of the first places I visited was Wing Fung Hong. I attempted to enter the store, but a man who was in his 50's or so blocked the door and said to me very rudely "What do you want?" and refused to let me enter the store. I am a white guy, my son is half-Asian. The store was full of Asian shoppers. I told him I didn't know what I wanted yet, I wanted to look to see what he had. He refused to let me enter the store. I'll chalk this up to fear and the stress of the COVID lockdown, but it left a bad taste in my mouth. (no pun intended)