Jing Studio Brings Single-Origin Tea Culture To Tan Yeok Nee Mansion

A quiet new fixture has settled into one of Singapore's most storied addresses. Jing Studio, a Chinese teahouse pouring single-origin brews and contemporary blends, has opened inside The House of Tan Yeok Nee on Penang Road, sharing the heritage compound with recently launched cocktail bar BAR KAP. The location places it within a four-minute walk of Dhoby Ghaut MRT, putting it on the radar of residents in the surrounding Orchard, Cairnhill and River Valley enclaves who have long lacked a serious tea destination at this end of town.

The setting matters as much as the menu. Built between 1882 and 1885 for Teochew merchant Tan Yeok Nee, the mansion is one of only four such grand residences ever constructed in Singapore and the last still standing in something close to its original form. Gazetted as a national monument, the building has cycled through previous lives as a railway station master's residence, a Salvation Army headquarters and, more recently, a graduate business school campus. Its return to public hospitality use marks a notable chapter for the site.

Jing Studio occupies a restored section of the compound, where original architectural details have been preserved alongside a calmer, contemporary interior treatment. The result is intentionally low-key: muted tones, soft lighting and a layout designed for slower conversation rather than the laptop-and-flat-white rhythm of the surrounding cafe circuit. A resident Tea Master guides service, walking guests through a menu built around provenance, terroir and brewing method.

The Single Estate selection is the more serious entry point. Ember Road, at S$12, is a premium black tea from Yunnan with honeyed sweetness and a dried-apricot note. Toasted Velvet, an oolong from Nantou in Taiwan, is offered hot or cold with milk at S$8 and leans into roasted chestnut, milk chocolate and caramel character. These are teas pitched at drinkers who already know the difference between a Wuyi rock oolong and a high-mountain Alishan, but the format is accessible enough for the curious.

The Blended Tea menu is where Jing Studio reaches for a broader audience. Citrus Breeze, a Sichuan green tea brightened with citrus and floral notes, is priced at S$8. Coco Pulut Pu-erh, also S$8, pairs aged dark Pu-erh from Yunnan with coconut milk, a nod to Southeast Asian flavour memory through a Chinese tea lens. For non-caffeinated occasions, the Herbal Nectar at S$7 layers South African rooibos with longan, rose and jujube, landing somewhere between a tonic and a comfort drink.

The broader context is interesting. Singapore's specialty coffee scene has matured to the point of saturation, with third-wave roasters now present in almost every central neighbourhood. Tea, despite the city's deep Chinese, Peranakan and South Asian heritage, has remained comparatively underdeveloped at the premium end, ceded either to hotel afternoon-tea services or to traditional Chinatown tea merchants. A handful of newer operators have begun to close that gap, treating tea with the same provenance-led rigour now standard in coffee and wine. Jing Studio sits comfortably within that small but growing cohort.

For residents in the area, the practical appeal is the rhythm. Open daily from 10am to 7pm, the teahouse works equally well as a morning meeting spot, an afternoon pause between Orchard Road errands, or a quieter early-evening alternative to the cocktail bars now multiplying along Killiney and Cairnhill. The shared address with BAR KAP also allows for an unhurried progression from tea to aperitif within the same heritage compound, a format that has worked well in restored shophouse clusters elsewhere in the city.

The opening also points to a wider pattern in Singapore's conservation economy. Heritage buildings of this scale require sustained commercial tenancy to remain viable, and the city's most successful restorations, from CHIJMES to the Raffles arcade, have leaned on a curated mix of food, beverage and lifestyle operators. The arrival of a tea concept and a cocktail bar within Tan Yeok Nee follows that template, and suggests the mansion may finally find a long-term hospitality identity worthy of its monument status. For foreign residents who navigate Singapore partly through its restored shophouses and grand mansions, it is a worthwhile address to know.

Jing Studio is located at 101 Penang Road, House of Tan Yeok Nee. It is not halal-certified.