The Taste of Tea Lounge

The taste of tea loungeAt a recent trip to Sonoma county with my family I had the pleasure to visit The Taste of Tea in Healdsburg, California.

I had previously reviewed some teas from The Taste of Tea, but this was the first time that I visited their tea lounge.

The owners, Donna and Nez Tokugawa, are very friendly and the staff is skilled in preparing tea correctly.

At the lounge not only can you drink tea but also eat snacks, sweets, and traditional Japanese dishes like ramen and ochazuke.

Besides that, they also have a tea-themed mini spa.

My tea experience at the Taste of Tea

Tea preparation at The taste of teaAs I saw the tea menu I noticed that they have a  good variety of teas from China, Taiwan, and Japan. There are also tisanes, some of which are blends.

I tried two Japanese teas: the shinto sencha and the bo-houjicha (a houjicha made entirely of twigs).

Sencha at The taste of tea The teas were prepared using a kyusu, and the parameters such as temperature and weight were measured each time.

With each tea they provide a small pitcher so that you can enjoy the rest of the tea without worrying about over-steeping, since all the remaining content of the kyusu is poured there.

bo-houjicha at The Taste of TeaBoth teas proved to be superb. I would have tried another tea, but as you’ll read next I had another interesting drink.

We hadn’t eaten lunch at the time. Luckily, we were offered a bowl of ramen, and it was so good that I forgot to take a picture of it 🙂

It reminded me of my time as a foreign student in Japan, because I used to eat ramen on the weekends.

The Taste of Tea relaxation loungeBoth my mother and wife decided to go to the relaxation lounge, where they experienced the Stay Beautiful green tea treatment.

From what they told me, the treatment includes soaking of the feet, facial mask and a hot towel, all with tea. There’s also a massage done at the same time, and I believe it all lasts half an hour.

The Taste of Tea matha MarTEAniI stayed at the bar and had an emerald marTEAni, which is a non-alcoholic drink made with matcha, cononut milk and mint.

By the way, click here to see the menu.

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It’s a delicious drink, and very well presented. What I found appealing is that it isn’t heavily sweet, as most drinks involving matcha as an ingredient are.

We had a wonderful experience and hope to come back one day. It’s one of the best tea lounges that I’ve visited so far.

4 Comments

  1. Wataru
    June 19, 2015

    I wanna go there. I’d like to try marTEAni.

    Reply
    1. Ricardo Caicedo
      June 19, 2015

      Hello Wataru

      Please visit someday, the marTEAni is a delicious drink.

      Reply
  2. Geoff (Steep Stories)
    June 28, 2015

    Dude! That place looks awesome. I want a red couch!

    Reply
    1. Ricardo Caicedo
      June 28, 2015

      Hi Geoff

      Thanks for the comment. I hope you can visit someday.

      Reply

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