A small, rotating menu of house-blend loose-leaf teas brewed to-go — hot or iced — plus raw New Mexico honey, gourmet spices, and wellness goods inside the Burro Street Exchange. Sit and sip at the new coffee-table nook, page through the Mountain Monthly, and let Burro Avenue wait.
Part specialty tea shop, part provisions store, part Burro Avenue pause point. Order a house-blend tea hot or iced, then shop honey, spices, and wellness goods you won't find at the souvenir places next door.
"A house-blend tea to drink in, hot or iced, whichever the weather wants. Sit at the coffee-table nook, page through the Mountain Monthly, and let Burro Ave wait ten minutes."
House tea + reading nook
"A tin of loose-leaf and a jar of raw NM honey. Both fit in a carry-on, both keep, and both are the part of the shop that does something the souvenir places nearby don't."
Tin of tea + jar of honey
"A boxed tea set or a small spice bundle. Family-owned, blended in New Mexico, and unmistakably from a place rather than a brand. The kind of gift that does the work for you."
Tea set or spice bundle
Open every day. Weekday afternoons (11 AM start), with longer Saturday hours and a 10 AM open on the weekend. The "today" row below highlights automatically.
Hours can shift seasonally and around holidays. If a specific window matters, call (575) 682-7474 or email cloudcroft@oldbarreltea.com before the drive up.
Inside the Burro Street Exchange, on the boardwalk side of the 500 block. Same address as Noisy Water Winery and Cloudcroft Sandwich Shop — they share the Exchange building. Walk in from Burro and the tea shop is to the side.
505 Burro Ave, Ste 101
Cloudcroft, NM 88317
Burro Street Exchange building. Shared address with Noisy Water Winery and Cloudcroft Sandwich Shop.
Phone: (575) 682-7474
Email: cloudcroft@oldbarreltea.com
Web: oldbarreltea.com
Follow @oldbarrelteaco or Facebook for new blends and seasonal pours.
Where this shop fits in a Burro Avenue afternoon, and when to point your group somewhere else on the strip.
The Burro Street Exchange storefront, the tea wall, and the retail floor. Photos taken on a recent walk-through, April 2026.
The honest framing: this is a specialty tea and provisions shop with a small brewed-drink program, not a café you build a meal around. The drink menu is rotating teas, hot or iced, made to order — to-go or to drink at the nook. There is no kitchen and no pastry case. Per local judgment, Old Barrel is a retail shop and is excluded from the Cloudcroft dining guide.
If you want a meal on Burro, the same building holds Cloudcroft Sandwich Shop. You've also got Dusty Boots, Dave's, and Cloudcroft Brewing within a short walk.
Posted hours per the local dining listings are Monday through Friday 11 AM to 5 PM, Saturday 10 AM to 6 PM, and Sunday 10 AM to 5 PM. Open seven days.
Hours can shift around holidays and shoulder seasons. A quick call to (575) 682-7474 or a check of the Facebook page is the surest way to confirm before driving up.
The shop has a small coffee-table seating spot inside meant for sitting with a tea and a magazine. The Mountain Monthly is on the table. It's a quieter break than the boardwalk benches, and it works as a 10-to-15-minute reset between Burro Ave stops.
This isn't a long-haul work café. There's no full menu, no laptop culture, and the space is small. Treat it as a pause point, not a base camp.
Old Barrel Tea Company was founded in 2015 in Ruidoso, New Mexico, and has since opened locations across New Mexico, Colorado, and Arizona. Teas and spices are mixed at an Albuquerque warehouse and shipped to each shop; raw honey is jarred at the same facility.
"Our tea blends are all blended in our warehouse in ABQ and shipped off to our individual locations. Most of all of our blends are special to us and you can't find them anywhere else."
— Owner, Old Barrel Tea Company
During the 2024 Ruidoso fires, Cloudcroft Reader noted that the Cloudcroft store was accepting donations for affected residents. A small but real signal that the shop participates in the village beyond retail.
The Burro Street Exchange holds Old Barrel Tea Co. (Ste 101), Cloudcroft Sandwich Shop, and Noisy Water Winery, plus a few additional retail tenants. It's a one-stop for a tea, a sandwich, and a glass of wine without moving the car.
Parking is along Burro Avenue. Weekends in summer and during festival days fill up early, so park where you can and walk the strip. Cloudcroft sits at 8,676 ft, so take it easy on the first walk if you've come up from the desert.
"Old Barrel reads as a specialty retail stop with a small drink program attached, not a tea café. That's a feature, not a bug. The brewed tea gets you in the door; the loose-leaf wall, raw NM honey, and spice shelves are why you actually leave with a bag. On a Burro Avenue afternoon, it's the cleanest 15-minute stop on the boardwalk, and the gift you bring home from it is small, local, and shelf-stable."
Three Cloudcroft shops — one in the same building, two a short walk down the strip — or jump back to the full shopping guide.