EZ EE “I Teatime in a coffee town › ... › 2018-08-26-Portland-tea-tour.pdf2018/08/26 · Each...
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F6 EZ EE THE WASHINGTON POST . SUNDAY, AUGUST 26 , 2018 BY ERIN E. WILLIAMS Teatime in a coffee town In Oregon, Portland has plenty of room for hot-beverage competition If you go WHERE TO DRINK Steven Smith Teamaker 1626 NW Thurman St.; 110 SE Washington St. 971-254-3935 smithtea.com The original Smith Tasting Room is located in Northwest Portland. The 13,000-square-foot Southeast Tasting Room also houses production and a tea lab. Both locations offer more than 50 teas, including seasonal and nitro choices on tap, as well as classes and workshops. Teas from $3. The Tao of Tea 3430 SE Belmont St.; 239 NW Everett St. 503-736-0119 taooftea.com The original teahouse — and Portland’s oldest — adjoins a retail store in Southeast Portland. The Tower of Cosmic Reflections teahouse is located in the Lan Su Chinese Garden. (Customers must pay $10 for admission to the garden.) Menus feature more than 100 teas from $3.50. Jasmine Pearl 724 NE 22nd Ave. 503-236-3539 thejasminepearl.com The menu includes sparkling teas, tea lattes and brewed teas. The shop also carries a wide variety of tea merchandise and offers classes. Teas from $2.75. Tea Chai Té Three Portland locations 503-432-8747 (Sellwood location) teachaite.com The Sellwood location is a caboose featured in “Portlandia.” The menu includes more than 100 handcrafted teas, boba and kombucha on tap. Teas from $2.50. Townshend’s Tea Company Four Portland locations 503-445-6699 (Alberta Street location) townshendstea.com A Portland-based chain (with additional locations in Oregon, Montana and Utah) featuring dozens of teas and kombucha on tap, as well as classes. Teas from $2.50. INFORMATION travelportland.com E.W. “I t sounds weird — and it sounds weird — but if you slurp it, you’ll get better flavor,” the server said as he arranged a flight of four teas before me. I glanced around the busy tasting room of Steven Smith Teamaker. Everyone else was delicately sipping their brews, so I slurped surreptitiously. I was in Oregon, at the end of a whistle-stop tour of some of Port- land’s best-known teahouses. Al- though Stumptown seems to re- volve around coffee, it is also a city of tea — from quiet cafes to larger retail operations. Its local busi- nesses have cast a leafy influence on American tea culture, ushering in a new era of specialized quaff- ing. My informal tally counts roughly two dozen teahouses, plus several tea supply shops and breweries. The city even celebrates its tea community with Tea Fest PDX, which was held this year on July 21. The day-long festival brings together enthusiasts and vendors for workshops, classes, musical performances, yoga and more. On a stereotypically drizzly Portland morning, I dodged the drops to reach the Tao of Tea, a two-story teahouse in downtown’s Lan Su Chinese Garden. The com- pany has two local teahouses, a retail store and a microbrewery that bottles teas for national dis- tribution. One of the first U.S. tea companies to join the fair trade movement, it also takes pride in using organic teas and traditional tea-making methods. The teahouse was serene, with only a few other customers. I chose a table near windows over- looking the garden’s courtyard and lake. In front of me, a server demonstrated a traditional gong- fu tea ceremony. I had selected a fermented pu-erh (or Pu’er) vari- ety — named for the city in China — which she had recommended as being “particularly forgiving,” a nod to my beginner status. “How many years do you think have people been drinking tea?” she asked. I guessed 2,000, but was off by millennia. “Five thou- sand,” she said. She arranged a few accoutre- ments — teapot, tiny cups and bamboo tools — on a tray while explaining the process. After flash-steeping the tea to remove tannins, she placed some leaves in my teacup to steep. Then I was on my own. Although my hands lacked her steadiness, three minutes later I was sipping the strong, earthy pu-erh and nibbling my accompa- nying snacks: spicy steamed tofu and candied mango slices topped with coconut flakes and goji ber- ries. I poured cup after steaming cup while watching passersby en- joy the rainy garden. Jasmine Pearl’s airy flagship teahouse sits across the Wil- lamette River in Portland’s North- east neighborhood. The company supplies teas, including 50-plus organic varieties, to more than 500 retailers nationwide. The tea- house’s long stone counter and attractive tables arrayed with tea merchandise awaited the half- dozen or so customers browsing during my visit. Dozens of loose-leaf teas are available for easy sniffing, and its menu includes tea lattes and spar- kling teas. A sign lists classes and events, such as an introduction to tea-leaf reading and a demonstra- tion of a Japanese tea ceremony. I was jittery from the pu-erh, so I chose a non-caffeinated Earl Grey rooibos, the citrusy berga- mot tempered with steamed al- mond milk. I also bought a vegan caramel brownie — to go. Further south, customers enter the Sellwood location of Tea Chai Té through a deceptively diminu- tive train caboose, which opens up into a lofty, spacious teahouse. The caboose, dating to 1920, might look familiar to “Portland- ia” watchers; the series featured it in its second through fourth sea- sons. In keeping with its hipster cred, Tea Chai Té offers kombucha on tap. Mason jar chandeliers, mismatched rustic wood tables and a cozy outdoor seating area reinforce the aesthetic. I was overwhelmed by the menu’s 120 scratch-made tea blends, including fair trade and organic (75) options, so the wom- an behind the counter recom- mended a light-tasting white peach tea. I settled into a table next to a miniature library, sipped my drink and tucked a similarly peachy kombucha bottle into my bag for later. The next morning, I was ready for two final heavy hitters. First up: the light-filled flagship loca- tion of Townshend’s Tea Company on gallery-lined Alberta Street. Local photographers’ art hung on the walls, and the menu offered a stunning variety of tea: white, green, black, oolong, pu-erh, chai, rooibos, yerba mate and herbal. I ordered a mammoth teapot of minty organic Highland Chai, sweet with coconut milk. I also refilled my 32-ounce mini-growl- er with an oaky kombucha from the tap — Townshend’s distributes its organic, raw (and wind-pow- ered) bottled kombucha through- out the United States and Canada — and purchased three ounces of vanilla rooibos loose-leaf for home. A cluster of tables, a comfort- able couch and an outdoor garden accommodate an equal mix of out- of-towners and regulars who have made Townshend’s their work- space. Many customers come from nearby Concordia Univer- sity. “Our bubble tea is a big hit with students,” the barista explained. Townshend’s was tweaking its bubble tea ingredients to make them healthier, he added, and in- vited me to a tasting at the Mon- tavilla location. “Especially here in Portland, people care about what they eat. We want them to have options,” he said. Near the river, Steven Smith Teamaker’s sprawling Southeast Tasting Room is housed in a 13,000-square-foot warehouse space in the Central Eastside neighborhood. High ceilings, ce- ment floors and glass garage doors frame the communal wood- en tables and provide an indus- trial ambiance that reflects the neighborhood. The server brought me a flight of four teas, arranged from green to black to herbal — and made that slurping recommendation. I sniffed the dry leaves and read the informational cards that accom- panied each variety. The flight represented a fraction of the menu’s 50-plus varieties from In- dia, Africa, China, Sri Lanka and other locales. Behind the counter, another room houses production, blend- ing and packing. A recipe-testing lab also adjoins the tearoom. Dur- ing my visit, several executives were sampling new summer teas on tap. Steven Smith was a Portland native who co-founded two of tea’s biggest names, Stash and Tazo. In 2009, Smith and his wife, Kim DeMent, launched Steven Smith Teamaker in Northwest Portland. Smith died in 2015, but his entrepreneurship and palate helped usher in a new era of spe- cialty tea appreciation in the Unit- ed States. That influence is just one of the ways that Portland’s tea culture continues to reinvigorate and transform the way that we experience brews from pu-erh to kombucha — in Stumptown and beyond. [email protected] Williams is a writer based in Nevada. Her website is erinewilliams.com. PHOTOS BY ERIN E. WILLIAMS CLOCKWISE FROM TOP: In Portland, Ore., the two-story Tao of Tea can be found downtown in the Lan Su Chinese Garden. Jasmine Pearl’s flagship teahouse, across the Willamette River in Portland’s Northeast neighborhood, has more than 50 organic varieties. At Steven Smith Teamaker’s sprawling Southeast Tasting Room in the Central Eastside neighborhood, visitors who sit at the coffee bar get a peek into its tea-production facility and lab. Each cup in a flight of tea there comes with an explanatory card. Among the accoutrements — teapot, tiny cups and bamboo tools — a server begins the gong fu ceremony at Tao of Tea. Vacation Rentals, Inns, Lodges & V i lla s 18-0394-02 NORTH CAROLINA WEST VIRGINIA ESCAPE TO THE WOODS! WV getaways, only 90 miles from DC. 36 holes of Golf, Spa, Swimming,Tennis, more. 800-248-2222 or www.TheWoods.com Inns, Lodges & Villas runs in Award-Winning Travel Section Recipient of Gold Medal in 2012 Named TOP large-circulation Travel Section by Society of American Travel Writers Foundation * LIMITED TIME OFFER * Double Ad Size @ No Extra Cost Run 5 Sundays for as little as $363! Reach more than 1.5 million metro market adults every Sunday! To advertise, call Mon-Fri: 202-334-6200 [email protected]
Transcript of EZ EE “I Teatime in a coffee town › ... › 2018-08-26-Portland-tea-tour.pdf2018/08/26 · Each...
F6 EZ EE THE WASHINGTON POST . SUNDAY, AUGUST 26 , 2018
BY ERIN E. WILLIAMS
Teatime in a coffee townIn Oregon, Portland has plenty of room for hot-beverage competition
If you goWHERE TO DRINKSteven Smith Teamaker
1626 NW Thurman St.;
110 SE Washington St.
971-254-3935
smithtea.com
The original Smith Tasting Room is located in Northwest Portland. The 13,000-square-foot Southeast Tasting Room also houses production and a tea lab. Both locations offer more than 50 teas, including seasonal and nitro choices on tap, as well as classes and workshops. Teas from $3.
The Tao of Tea
3430 SE Belmont St.;
239 NW Everett St.
503-736-0119
taooftea.com
The original teahouse — and Portland’s oldest — adjoins a retail store in Southeast Portland. The Tower of Cosmic Reflections teahouse is located in the Lan Su
Chinese Garden. (Customers must pay $10 for admission to the garden.) Menus feature more than 100 teas from $3.50.
Jasmine Pearl
724 NE 22nd Ave.
503-236-3539
thejasminepearl.com
The menu includes sparkling teas, tea lattes and brewed teas. The shop also carries a wide variety of tea merchandise and offers classes. Teas from $2.75.
Tea Chai Té
Three Portland locations
503-432-8747 (Sellwood location)
teachaite.com
The Sellwood location is a caboose featured in “Portlandia.” The menu includes more than 100 handcrafted teas, boba and kombucha on tap. Teas from $2.50.
Townshend’s Tea Company
Four Portland locations
503-445-6699 (Alberta Street
location)
townshendstea.com
A Portland-based chain (with additional locations in Oregon, Montana and Utah) featuring dozens of teas and kombucha on
tap, as well as classes. Teas from $2.50.
INFORMATIONtravelportland.com
E.W.
“I t sounds weird — and itsounds weird — but ifyou slurp it, you’ll getbetter flavor,” the server
said as he arranged a flight of fourteas before me. I glanced aroundthe busy tasting room of StevenSmith Teamaker. Everyone elsewas delicately sipping their brews,so I slurped surreptitiously.
I was in Oregon, at the end of awhistle-stop tour of some of Port-land’s best-known teahouses. Al-though Stumptown seems to re-volve around coffee, it is also a cityof tea — from quiet cafes to largerretail operations. Its local busi-nesses have cast a leafy influenceon American tea culture, usheringin a new era of specialized quaff-ing. My informal tally counts roughly two dozen teahouses, plusseveral tea supply shops andbreweries.
The city even celebrates its teacommunity with Tea Fest PDX,which was held this year on July21. The day-long festival bringstogether enthusiasts and vendorsfor workshops, classes, musicalperformances, yoga and more.
On a stereotypically drizzlyPortland morning, I dodged thedrops to reach the Tao of Tea, atwo-story teahouse in downtown’sLan Su Chinese Garden. The com-pany has two local teahouses, aretail store and a microbrewerythat bottles teas for national dis-tribution. One of the first U.S. teacompanies to join the fair trademovement, it also takes pride inusing organic teas and traditionaltea-making methods.
The teahouse was serene, withonly a few other customers. I chose a table near windows over-looking the garden’s courtyardand lake. In front of me, a serverdemonstrated a traditional gong-fu tea ceremony. I had selected afermented pu-erh (or Pu’er) vari-ety — named for the city in China— which she had recommended asbeing “particularly forgiving,” anod to my beginner status.
“How many years do you thinkhave people been drinking tea?”she asked. I guessed 2,000, butwas off by millennia. “Five thou-sand,” she said.
She arranged a few accoutre-ments — teapot, tiny cups andbamboo tools — on a tray whileexplaining the process. Afterflash-steeping the tea to removetannins, she placed some leaves inmy teacup to steep. Then I was onmy own.
Although my hands lacked hersteadiness, three minutes later Iwas sipping the strong, earthypu-erh and nibbling my accompa-nying snacks: spicy steamed tofuand candied mango slices toppedwith coconut flakes and goji ber-ries. I poured cup after steamingcup while watching passersby en-joy the rainy garden.
Jasmine Pearl’s airy flagshipteahouse sits across the Wil-lamette River in Portland’s North-east neighborhood. The companysupplies teas, including 50-plusorganic varieties, to more than500 retailers nationwide. The tea-house’s long stone counter andattractive tables arrayed with teamerchandise awaited the half-dozen or so customers browsingduring my visit.
Dozens of loose-leaf teas areavailable for easy sniffing, and itsmenu includes tea lattes and spar-kling teas. A sign lists classes andevents, such as an introduction totea-leaf reading and a demonstra-tion of a Japanese tea ceremony.
I was jittery from the pu-erh, soI chose a non-caffeinated Earl Grey rooibos, the citrusy berga-mot tempered with steamed al-mond milk. I also bought a vegancaramel brownie — to go.
Further south, customers enterthe Sellwood location of Tea ChaiTé through a deceptively diminu-tive train caboose, which opens upinto a lofty, spacious teahouse.The caboose, dating to 1920, might look familiar to “Portland-
ia” watchers; the series featured itin its second through fourth sea-sons. In keeping with its hipstercred, Tea Chai Té offers kombuchaon tap. Mason jar chandeliers,mismatched rustic wood tablesand a cozy outdoor seating areareinforce the aesthetic.
I was overwhelmed by themenu’s 120 scratch-made teablends, including fair trade andorganic (75) options, so the wom-an behind the counter recom-mended a light-tasting whitepeach tea. I settled into a tablenext to a miniature library, sippedmy drink and tucked a similarlypeachy kombucha bottle into mybag for later.
The next morning, I was readyfor two final heavy hitters. Firstup: the light-filled flagship loca-tion of Townshend’s Tea Companyon gallery-lined Alberta Street.Local photographers’ art hung onthe walls, and the menu offered astunning variety of tea: white,green, black, oolong, pu-erh, chai,rooibos, yerba mate and herbal. Iordered a mammoth teapot ofminty organic Highland Chai, sweet with coconut milk. I alsorefilled my 32-ounce mini-growl-er with an oaky kombucha fromthe tap — Townshend’s distributesits organic, raw (and wind-pow-ered) bottled kombucha through-out the United States and Canada— and purchased three ounces ofvanilla rooibos loose-leaf forhome.
A cluster of tables, a comfort-able couch and an outdoor gardenaccommodate an equal mix of out-of-towners and regulars who havemade Townshend’s their work-space. Many customers comefrom nearby Concordia Univer-sity.
“Our bubble tea is a big hit withstudents,” the barista explained.Townshend’s was tweaking itsbubble tea ingredients to makethem healthier, he added, and in-vited me to a tasting at the Mon-tavilla location.
“Especially here in Portland,people care about what they eat.We want them to have options,” hesaid.
Near the river, Steven SmithTeamaker’s sprawling SoutheastTasting Room is housed in a13,000-square-foot warehousespace in the Central Eastsideneighborhood. High ceilings, ce-ment floors and glass garagedoors frame the communal wood-en tables and provide an indus-trial ambiance that reflects theneighborhood.
The server brought me a flightof four teas, arranged from greento black to herbal — and made thatslurping recommendation. Isniffed the dry leaves and read theinformational cards that accom-panied each variety. The flightrepresented a fraction of themenu’s 50-plus varieties from In-dia, Africa, China, Sri Lanka andother locales.
Behind the counter, anotherroom houses production, blend-ing and packing. A recipe-testinglab also adjoins the tearoom. Dur-ing my visit, several executiveswere sampling new summer teason tap.
Steven Smith was a Portlandnative who co-founded two of tea’sbiggest names, Stash and Tazo. In2009, Smith and his wife, KimDeMent, launched Steven SmithTeamaker in Northwest Portland.
Smith died in 2015, but hisentrepreneurship and palatehelped usher in a new era of spe-cialty tea appreciation in the Unit-ed States. That influence is justone of the ways that Portland’s teaculture continues to reinvigorateand transform the way that weexperience brews from pu-erh tokombucha — in Stumptown andbeyond.
Williams is a writer based in Nevada. Her website is erinewilliams.com.
PHOTOS BY ERIN E. WILLIAMS
CLOCKWISE FROM TOP: In Portland, Ore., the two-story Tao of Tea can be found downtown in the Lan Su Chinese Garden. Jasmine Pearl’s flagship teahouse, across the Willamette River in Portland’s Northeast neighborhood, has more than 50 organic varieties. At Steven Smith Teamaker’s sprawling Southeast Tasting Room in the Central Eastside neighborhood, visitors who sit at the coffee bar get a peek into its tea-production facility and lab. Each cup in a flight of tea there comes with an explanatory card.
Among the accoutrements — teapot, tiny cups and bamboo tools — a server begins the gong fu ceremony at Tao of Tea.
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18-0394-02
NORTH CAROLINA
WESTVIRGINIA
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