What are the opening hours?

Monday 10am - 4pm Tuesday 10am - 4pm Wednesday 10am - 4pm Thursday 10am - 4pm Friday 10am - 4pm

Extra Special Teas

Community tea house where diversity, creativity, goodwill, & purpose come together for savory moment We brew belonging and you can too.

We’re a vibrant, eclectic tea house in the beautiful Berkshires of Massachusetts. We explore new possibilities to experience tea...and we want to share all we discover with the world! ExtraSpecialTeas is a teahouse - actually two tea houses - that employs young adults with disabilities that includes an Employment & Community-based Day Program offering unique opportunities for vocational training in a retail teahouse open to the public. Traditional employment service agencies turn away a percentage of otherwise qualified employees because they cannot meet certain daily living (ADLs) criteria. Some disabled adults find it difficult to have a place in society once they leave school. Some may get jobs working in laundry, lawn care, grocery or fast food businesses, but most simply remain at Day Habilitation Programs, receiving no vocational training or continued growth opportunities of any kind and with little, if any, exposure or integration with mainstream culture. Come visit, eat, drink and enjoy our two locations:

ExtraSpecialTeas Great Barrington
2 Elm Street
Great Barrington, MA 01230
413-645-3247

ExtraSpecialTeas Housatonic
226 Pleasant Street
Housatonic, MA 01236
413-274-5059

10/07/2025

🧡🫖💜 Communitea! We popped up at Robbie's Community Market and offered teas and gluten-free brownies. If you haven’t been, go eat some of the Market’s delicious sandwiches, salads, pizza, and more.

09/25/2025

to our first social media post EVER! We made no comment just the image on June 19, 2014. ☕️🧋 What wonderful years these have been: we look forward to so many more.

09/24/2025

Get our gluten-free Gratitude energy bars in your mouth! Made with Chocolate Ginger Turmeric Tiesta Tea. And and 💙☕️❤️

7 other tea-infused flavors too! Choose from: Courage, Dream, Possible, and Purpose or Gratitude, Joy, Love, and Magic.

Our healthy ExtraSpecialPower Bars are gluten free and vegan. Made from raw ingredients, and colored with natural vegetable, fruit, and flower dyes. Minimum order online is a package of four -- you can purchase one at our teahouses in Great Barrington and Housatonic.

Buy online: https://buff.ly/uzZe9ED

09/22/2025

Visit our Housatonic teahouse today for a yummy yogurt parfait!
🍓
Cocojune Parfait: Dairy-Free Cocojune yogurt topped with house made granola, mixed berry compote and fresh fruits.

Here's our full menu: https://buff.ly/cQCSf9x

09/17/2025

☀️ Bright, bubbly, dedicated, and kind Sonali is our September Employee of the Month. Thank you, Sonali, for your work! 🦋 Sonali is part of our group employment program. Read on to learn more about our vocational program.

☕️ Group Employment participants work on the tea room floor with our tearistas and are involved in all the duties of running a tea room – like greeting and waiting on customers, running the cash register, stocking shelves, taking inventory, busing tables, and washing dishes.

🫖 With the help of vocational teacher Kristen's wonderful skills and knowledge, our participants create all the gluten-free baked goods for our tea houses, as well as wholesale orders.

🧋 They also stamp all our paper goods, such as bags, cups, and tissue paper for our take out goodie boxes, handle labels and packaging for all our EST products and mail out our online orders.

🍪 With Chef Caitlin, our Kitchen Manager in Housatonic, participants in our Vocational Food Prep Program prepare delicious foods for our breakfast, lunch and afternoon tea menu in the "back of the house." Also in Housatonic, our participants learn table service and other customer service related skills.

🍵 Sarah, our Tea Blending Director, leads participants in blending and packaging our Signature Teas.

💵 Participants are paid at least minimum wage for work performed at the teahouse in our group supported employment program. We believe that people with disabilities deserve & desire equal opportunities.

09/09/2025

So, hey! Go subscribe to our podcast: Tales from the Teacup. Everyone works very hard to produce one episode each month. https://buff.ly/2TVphPO

09/05/2025

This is your sign to come and enjoy our gluten-free biscotti. 😍 You'll find all our made-with-love bakes at both teahouses: 2 Elm Street, Great Barrington + 226 Pleasant Street, Housatonic. See you sooooon!

09/03/2025

Our marketing group went to see the new Southern Berkshire Chamber space on Main Street, Great Barrington to check on our rack cards. We were pleased to see they already had our cards on display! We loved our time with membership services coordinator Rachel!

09/02/2025

You can make our signature tea blends at home! Come grab a bag or two and
🩵🫖💜
Can't get to one of our teahouses? https://buff.ly/hQuKtZ3

09/01/2025

Happy Labor Day!

Address

2 Elm Street
Great Barrington, MA
01230

Opening Hours

Monday	10am - 4pm
Tuesday	10am - 4pm
Wednesday	10am - 4pm
Thursday	10am - 4pm
Friday	10am - 4pm

Telephone

+14136453247

Website

http://www.extraspecialteas.org/, https://www.youtube.com/@extraspecialteas

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Our ExtraSpecial Story

We believe that the future belongs to everyone belonging.

ExtraSpecialTeas is a visionary non-profit teahouse. We employ young adults with intellectual and developmental differences who have aged out of school and who are otherwise not employable. We offer a therapeutic vocational day program so that each participant can learn, grow and work in the way that best meets his or her needs. Our teahouse is a safe haven for others with special needs & their families.

ExtraSpecialTeas visitors explore, sample and enjoy our more than 50 teas from all over the world within our charming, colorful and convenient Downtown Great Barrington location. Whether you’re a traditional ‘hot pot of tea’ afficionado, an avid iced tea lover or bubble tea fanatic, we have the tea that will become your absolute favorite. We carry Tiesta Tea, Six Depot Coffee Roasters tea and coffee, and Little Red Cup Tea Co tea.

We also bake our own delicious, all natural, gluten free, vegan and Paleo-friendly treats, including signature shortbreads and ExtraSpecialPower Bars featuring an assorted variety of unique teas baked right in. The teahouse is filled with quirky and unique gifts – ranging from participant made tea infused ‘EST Bath Brews,’ soaps and candles to funky bags and practical tea travel mugs.