I always thought I remembered a tea place being here, but maybe it was a different tea place in March 2024, but I am unsure. I also didn't know about the Central Market until last year or the year before. I don't remember seeing a Middle Eastern place last year- so it might be new this year. The cuisine variety in the Central market here is astounding for an area of this size. The array of quality coffee shops Lancaster has to offer is no exception to that too. I was able to get a butterfly pea tea (hot) latte and they have a good variety of all those non-standards flavors for reasonable prices. While they call themselves a Tea Bar, they serve coffee too and they only opened in 2024. With only 4 IG posts so far, they might be a pretty new place. Staff is friendly.
Addendum 4/14/25: I ran into this card and remembered correctly that this tea place is no longer in the Bourse. I remember I worked too far away to go during their hours for lunch and I used to do board games at the Bourse and they were not around when I did play most of the time. The tea products of Lauren's and the former Kari's look similar to me. I wouldn't say I have an eye for tea at all- could be all in my mind. I did like Kari's and I do like Lauren's. On Kari's Tea IG, there is even a tag for Central Market Lancaster. I wonder if Lauren's replaced Kari's and maybe Kari just got tired of running a customer serving tea place but Lauren wanted to start one with her own name.
As much as I hate to say it, I do think Lauren's should NOT aim for the Philly market in addition because it seems people have too many distractions and tea isn't on the top of their list. Random Tea has been around but they have their own spot and are able to attract people. For some reasons the Bourse is not advertised out as well as it should be. Maybe the Bourse should've stayed as a lower class eatery plaza :/. But Lauren's seems to hold its own place in Lancaster just fine! read more