Dining
Steep Demand Independent teahouses provide a welcome oasis BY VALERIE VINYARD Enough with coffeehouses. It’s time for teahouses to have a moment. During the past year, Tucson has experienced a brewed awakening in tea. Inviting teahouses in Midtown Tucson are ample to sip hot, cold and icy versions. Emily Gastelum, a Pima Community College communications student, wasn’t always a tea lover. Over the years, however, her mindset has changed. “I feel like tea’s pretty relaxing,” says Gastelum, 19. “It brings more energy to your immune system. It’s a Mexican thing, I guess. It’s the first thing your mom ever tells you.” Gastelum visits Starbucks to get a tea fix and rates the chain an 8.5 out of 10, but “I feel like I could try better.” “I plan to go to more local tea shops. I feel like they have new herbs where people can benefit.”
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Here are three that stand out. Ni Hao Tea 4726 E. Broadway Boulevard 367-4083, nihaoteausa.com Ni Hao, which means “hello” in Mandarin, is a small store tucked in a strip mall next to a Planet Fitness. The shop, which features boba tea, opened in February 2020. Customers can sit at well-spaced tables inside as well as choose to play a variety of board games while they sip their drinks. “I didn’t like tea before I started working here,” says manager Nicole Goldman, a UA student majoring in American Sign Language. Now her favorite is the strawberry lemon green tea, which she described as “super refreshing.” “We have a wide variety of high-quality drinks,” Goldman says. “We try to make our drinks the way the customers want.” Cheesecake-flavored cream cheese tea and a slightly bitGoldman said boba, which is ter iced black tea from Ni Hao. (Photo by Valerie Vinyard) an Asian root that takes about 90 minutes to cook, is made in-house neglect Seven Cups, a longtime instidaily. Ni Hao’s signature drinks include tution that opened in April 2004 across fresh brown sugar boba milk (tiger milk from Bob Dobbs at Tucson Boulevard boba), ceremonial-grade matcha latte and Sixth Street. An affable server named Ron seated and real cream cheese tea. In addition to us at a table inside the peaceful room boba, Ni Hao offers traditional teas. Customers choose a Thai, green or resplendent with Asian décor, music and black tea base for many of the menu op- influences. After presenting us with subtions, and an abundance of lactose- and stantial hardcover menus, he patiently explained the differences among yellow, dairy-free options are available. Guests can also choose the level of white, scented and display teas. Seven Cups is a traditional Chinese sweetness for their drinks. A 24-ounce cream cheese tea with a black tea base teahouse that offers more than 80 looseand added brown sugar boba ($6.25) leaf Chinese teas, which can be served with minimal sweetness added was a either hot or iced. There’s a small area in tasty combination of cheesecake-fla- the front that features packaged teas, tea vored cream cheese, semi-sweet boba ware and accessories for sale. The dining room offers sit-down tea and the slightly bitter iced black tea. For non-tea drinkers, an array of iced service ($5 to $14) and a menu of simple snacks that include savory and sweet or creamy slushes are for sale. options ($2 to $5). Try a sweet vanilla or savory red bean paste snack ($4). The $2 Seven Cups Fine Chinese Tea hard-boiled egg was steeped in tea, leav2516 E. Sixth Street ing the egg with a firm and salty flavor. 881-4072, sevencups.com Seven Cups Tea House was named Tea connoisseurs would be remiss to
One of 80 loose-leaf Chinese teas along with sweet and savory snacks. (Photo by Valerie Vinyard)
one of Travel + Leisure magazine’s Best Places to Drink Tea in America and Best of Tucson in the categories of Best Tea Service and Best Bulk Tea Selection by Tucson Weekly annually since 2004. Tucson Weekly is also owned by the Times Media Group. Transit Tea 2645 E. Speedway Boulevard 433-2886, transittea.com Tucsonan Manish Shah has owned Maya Tea Company since 1997, but he wanted to offer neighbors something more. “He wanted to shake up the tea world,” brand manager Kristin Brakke says. “He wanted to do something different.” “Different” is Transit Tea, which opened in February to serve patrons out of its store’s drive-thru and pickup windows. Local artists created the artwork. Though there’s no indoor seating, outdoor seating is plentiful on the patio near the walk-up order window. Transit’s menu features a variety of plain, chai, tea latte, tea soda and tea snow. It even offers a dozen flavors of tasty tea popsicles for $2.50. Drink prices range from $2.50 for a small plain tea to $8 for a large tea latte with oat, almond or coconut milk. The alluring combination of elderflower, pomegranate and anise flavors that made up the Wanderer black tea ($3.25 for a small) needed no sweetening. Despite the competition from other teahouses, Brakke says the quality of Transit Tea stands out from the rest. “They don’t do tea like we do,” Brakke says. “We have figured out a way to brew it where we have turned tea into a shape shifter.” www.LovinLife.com
