April 18, 2010
HOUSE OF CHa: the art of sipping tea
My Oriental Beauty Oolong Tea
April 19, 2010: Hidden behind some trees on on 21 West 9th Street in Lawrence, Kansas, is an Asian style tea room.
HOUSE OF CHa is a fantastic find and one of my favorite tea rooms so far.
On a day trip to Lawrence with my mother, I decided to check out the tea room of the HOUSE OF CHa.
The place is smaller than I expected, but it’s cozy. There are seven tables and the decor is simple and traditional. In the front window of the tea house is a beautiful Asian style display of rocks, teapots, cups, and bamboo.
Here, the atmosphere is calm and relaxed and so are the visitors.
I saw several college students on their laptops, making HOUSE OF CHa their study place for the day. One lively customer brought in his banjo and played a few notes. He quickly quieted down, blending into the tranquil atmosphere.
The clientele is mainly younger adults in their twenties, but I saw older adults come in for tea too.
HOUSE OF CHa is trendy with their teas. I found it tough to select just one tea amidst all their interesting choices.
The bubble teas are their most popular items. They serve bubble iced tea (pearl milk tea) and bubble milk iced tea served hot or cold. The bubble teas are flavored with kiwi, kumquat, strawberry, green apple, and about 10 other choices. I saw a lot of customers order them. They are popular to-go type teas.
I decided to try one of their hot teas. They serve oolong teas, Japanese green teas, flower-infused teas, and blended teas.
Their blended teas are cool. Customers can choose from 3 categories: 1) Cha for Cleansing, 2) Cha for Vitality, and 3) Cha for Spirit.
The Asian Inspired Decor in the Front Window
I like HOUSE OF CHa because they highlight the health benefits of drinking tea. For example, if you have trouble with anxiety, HOUSE OF CHa recommends drinking chamomile tea to help.
The Herbs used in their teas are primarily rose pink, lavender, chamomile, peppermint, chrysanthemum, rosemary, verbena, mallow, and hibiscus.
After much debate, my mom and I finally decided to share a pot of an oolong hot tea called Oriental Beauty. The leaves of this tea are a “popular native of Taiwan with pleasant lemon and spice accents.”
We loved it! It was delicious. The cool thing about the teas here is that all the subtle flavors come from the tea leaves themselves. There is no need to add anything else to flavor the teas.
HOUSE OF CHa also offers tea snacks and desserts. For tea snacks they serve Taiwanese pineapple cakes, roasted watermelon seeds, milk roasted sunflower seeds, and green tea pumpkin seeds.
I didn’t see anybody order and food and I didn’t venture to try a snack, but they look interesting.
Oriental noodle soup and a bruschetta sandwich are offered, but are not popular.
Here I am practicing the art of sipping tea
People mainly come here for a taste of HOUSE OF CHa’s unique herbal teas and stress-free atmosphere.
