Tea Garden Game Review

Varia-tea is the Spice of Life

Tomáš Holek has been on a roll lately. Between last year’s breakout hit SETI: Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence and Galileo Galilei earlier this year, the titles just keep coming. It’s impressive to see how quickly Holek releases new designs while maintaining both unique themes and consistent gameplay quality.

Tea Garden transports players to 8th-century China during the Tchang Dynasty—a time when tea culture spread widely across the country, with roots in the Yunnan region. As with his previous work, Holek steeped his design in rich historical flavor, wrapping thoughtful mechanics around the process of tea cultivation and export. This fits nicely along the trend of tea-themed games.

This midweight Euro economic game blends deckbuilding, resource management, tech tracks, contract fulfillment, and a few other flavors into a smooth, herbal mix. Compared to the more robust SETI: Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence, Tea Garden is a touch lighter in complexity. Brought to the U.S. by Capstone Games, Tea Garden makes its debut at GenCon 2025, carrying over the strong buzz it generated at Spiel last year.

The Blend of Mechanics

Tea Garden is played over five rounds, where the highest…

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