Ideal Tea Bar?
What is your ideal tea bar? Imagine you can build your own tea bar, much like the Sim’s games. What kind of environment and style would you try to create? What would you have in your tea bar?
Also, where are some of the most unique tea bars that you have been to? What was so unique about it?
I would love to hear all of your experiences and maybe check some of these places out (if they’re nearby).
we don’t have one around here but I would just like to be able to sample the highest quality, freshest teas in all of the traditional pots/cups/etc.
although I haven’t been http://samovarlife.com seems to have it down pretty well.
You’re seriously giving me a reason to push Great Wall Tea’s awesome design again? I like that they’ve gotten a lot of fame from their design and hide-away bar style. /Literally/ a bar.
http://www.decoist.com/2011-10-11/amazing-magnetized-tea-containers-adorn-the-great-wall-tea-co/
Here. Best collection of photos to date, I think.
Plus it’s in the River Market in New Westminster, so it’s surrounded by a crepe shop, a bakery, a gelato shop, and others.
There’s a /bar/ bar inside too, and an independent grocery store, which carries probably the widest selection of tea companies (and LOOSE teas) that I’ve ever seen. Including a few different matcha companies—Canadian ones, anywyas (Do, Domo, Two Hills… and Twining looseleafs). I go to the market to buy tea and drink tea and buy more tea.
http://rivermarket.ca/shops/ It’s got everything AND the circus (see: last entry).
Okay, I’m done.
Realistic ideas, or can we live in imagination land too?
Mine would be like a rainforest café theme type of deal. There would be waterfalls with rivers of various water temperatures. Around the rivers and waterfalls would be grass and dirt of various teas that have the ideal brew temperature of the river/waterfall they surround. Past where the river ends, there will be a desert composed of various sweeteners with a creamer/milk oasis and some snacks (biscotti, tea cookies, tea sandwiches). This would probably be setup on the “bars”. Underneath the crazy awesome display would be cups, tea spoons (shovel shaped), and infusers. Visitors would grab a cup, spoon, and infuser. Using the cup, they can take water from the water fall or river. Then they can put the infuser in the cup and shovel some of the grass and dirt into the infuser. Most people have a way of telling time, so we’d be too hip to include a way of timing how long you’ve brewed your tea until enough people complain and we come up with a creative way of doing it. Maybe animal noises at 30 second intervals, so you pick an animal, and whenever you hear it, you know 30 seconds have passed?
This would probably be an all you can drink place with high quality teas, so the cost to enter would be quite high.
Don’t ask be how you make sure the teas stay fresh or prevent cross contamination or keep up with the health code… This is just an idea…
I think the most unique tea bar I’ve been to was something like starbucks, but tea. You could pick teas and ask them to blend it. They made a tea bag for you, heated the water, and gave you the cup. It wasn’t that great because of the lack of selection, but yeah… They closed a few months after I visited them.
There was a Tea bar where I used to live (Chico, CA), aptly named T-Bar and I was SO SO SAD to have to leave it. They had a TON of teas to choose from (not only by the pot, but also smoothie/milkshake like teas, sparkling teas, iced teas, etc) and delicious food to go along with the delicious teas! There was an outside seating area, as well as tables, barstools and booths at which you could sit. They also sold a selection of tea and tea products. Oh T-Bar how I miss you so!
My dream in life is to open a Vegan Tea Cafe, so my boyfriend suggested opening a fishing tackle shop next door so the men could talk fishing while the women drank tea (or men could come drink tea, too!).
So maybe someday you can all visit our shop: Tackle ‘n’ Tea!
My dream is to open a tea shop/sit down tea restaurant/tea bar. It would be a large retail area. The shop would be set up with several nooks that are separated by shelves and shelves of the highest quality tea and tea wares. Each nook will will be dedicated to the tea culture of a different part of the world. One nook will feature Japanese tea and tea ware (sencha, gyokuro, matcha and all of its accessories, genmaicha, hojucha, kyusu pots, cast iron, etc.). Another nook will feature the British culture of tea (elegant tea sets with matching cups, saucers, serving wares, and the finest teas from Assam, Darjeeling, Sri Lanka, Nilgiri, Kenya, etc.). Yet another nook will be dedicated to oolong and pu’er teas from China and Taiwan, of course with all of the brewing wares to go with it, including entire gongfu sets and accessories, a wonderful array of the most beautiful yixing clay pots, and of course, an overwhelming selection of the finest oolong and pu’er teas from some of the most respected tea companies. Yet another nook will be dedicated to the green, white, and yellow teas of China, featuring (of course) the finest artisan crafted teas of these categories, as well as gaiwans and small glass/ceramic pots. Other nooks will focus on the tea traditions of the Middle East, Russia, and anything else that I forgot. Each of the nooks will have tables where a “tea expert” staff will serve customers, in the most authentic way possible, tea in the respective tradition. Another nook will be an apothecary of sorts, where customers can blend their own herbal infusions with any number of herbs, fruits, and other edible plants to create their own serum for their needs. In the very back of the house will be the American tea bar, where customers can get tea to go or sit down with a beehouse pot or IngenuiTEA. The goal is to educate people, through the vehicle of tea, on the melange of flavors, colors, smells, etc. that the world has to offer.
All teas and tea wares will be produced in a way that is as environmentally and socially sustainable as possible. If this cannot be done in any part of the business, then this aspect will be dropped or changed.
Of course, the most tantalizing part of dreaming about a tea shop is trying to figure out a catchy name. Here are a few for my dream shop:
Omnibus Emporium of Tea
EquiTEA Central
C.S.A.T. (Credamus, Speramus, Amamus, Tea-amus, translated "we believe, we hope, we love, and we tea :P).
I already have scoped where I want to open my shop. Its an over 100 year old stone building – has a basement you walk down into and two floors above that. You walk UPstairs a little to get into the main part of the building then there is an interior staircase to the second floor.
The main floor would be where my tea shop would be. Upstairs would be my daughter’s thriftique and we would also sell some tea related items there too.
It would be filled with books on culture, tea, herbs, gardening, art, entertainment, foreign language, science, anything “thinky” and educational yet entertaining.
It would be a very casual non-pretentious place that is welcoming to all levels of tea drinkers having teas from very simplistic to high end teas.
We would also serve bubble tea as well.
The music would be very eclectic and I would welcome local artists to play having a small stage in the back of the tea room.
Jazz, classical, bluegrass, singer songwriter, blues, classic rock, etc and so on.
We would have theme parties of all types on the weekends as there is not a lot to do in this town.
I would keep the interior the natural stone walls that it is now, with a lot of water features through out and a very zen like atmosphere yet with an tip of the hat toward Old English design as well. I am pretty decent at fuzing opposing types of decor.
I would also down below in the “basement” open a small hookah lounge!
WOOT my dream business!
That sounds like so much fun! One thing, and I hate to be a Negative Nancy, but what about the issue of wheerlchair access? :0)
Outdoor sitting area perhaps?
I am not handicapped but I think I am missing work or something. Have it on the brain. Lol
I need to relax and think happy thoughts.
Indeed my daughter is actually handicapped so we would absolutely have to make a way for this to work out. My daughter after a spinal surgery can walk stairs but wheelchair access and even one of those stair lifts would be necessary. The basement is sort of on a slope so that is not an issue – just the interior stairway which I am sure would have to be replaced to make accessible for a chair lift. Every place should be handicap accessible but unfortunately – especially with older buildings they are not. I know in some states, cities etc it is a law that buildings have to be made accessible but I am not sure if that is required for older buildings. Regardless my dream tea shop would be! Thank you for posting this thought! :)
We have that law here in Texas. And if it is not universal, it should be!! I am ready to visit your store. ;0)
Yes it should be! And parking needs to be better monitored too! Not just for people using handicap spaces that don’t belong there but the room allowed for those who need to get their wheelchairs out of a van. You are more than welcome at my store. Now if only I could make it happen one day. :)
They’re doing renovation in my school right now, so they have to add vie handicapped clicker doors and I can hardly wait til I’m teaching and someone runs down the hall, pushing every door open lol
Login or sign up to leave a comment.