Exploring Portland: Tea Bar PDX

This week I finally stopped by a tea shop that people have been recommending to me for months! It’s called Tea Bar PDX and is located in NE Portland. Known for their Boba (bubble tea) and tea lattes I knew it was a place I had to try.

This light and bright tea shop is the thing Instagram lovers dream of. Just search the hashtag #TeaBarpdx and see hundreds of beautiful photos of tea, baked goods and more. Sadly it was (yet another) rainy day when I stopped in and the sun was nowhere to be seen but I thought it would take a few photos anyway.

You may be aware of my obsession with anything mint or teal. It’s a problem. So it’s no surprise that I had to take at least one additional photo featuring the colourful chairs that line the entrance to the shop. I need these for my patio! Also featured in this photo are my bright yellow rain boots and my giant baby belly (34 weeks y’all!)

I came in around 10am so I was one of the first ones there. The cafe was super empty and quiet so I didn’t feel too weird walking around snapping photos of everything. I do not like to take photos of people in public places like this without their permission but I didn’t have to worry about that since there was no one around : )

The first thing you see when you walk in is this beautiful display wall featuring mason jars of their teas as well as some tumblers and tea accessories for sale.

That silver pot on the right looks like a slow cooker but it’s actually just water that guests are welcome to help themselves to.

They have a very small selection of pastries brought in from a local bakery and I have to say that everything looked so delicious. There were only 4 items and I settled on this rose croissant which has rose water in the dough and a rose flavoured glaze. There was also a lemon poppy-seed scone that had me almost drooling!

Those hanging lights! Those flowers! This place would be perfect for a meet-up with friends. They have a lot of seating and it ranges from small tables for two to this large conference style table.

Not to mention bar seating as well! The lovely barista was making my early grey tea latte here which only took about 3-4 minutes.

The scone was scrumptious and not very sweet either. It just had a subtle rose flavour which was delicious. I will definitely be getting this again when I go back!

Ah the tea. This is the Lavender London Fog tea latte ($4.25) and it had just the right amount of sweetness. Tea Bar sources their tea from organic farms all over the world and blend them together in-house. The tea lattes are made with tea, steamed milk and an essence they make each day to sweeten it (I believe there are 5 or 6 different flavours). For this one it’s a lavender essence and they make it by slow brewing lavender tea for hours and lightly sweetening it. Almost like a lavender concentrate! It gives the latte such a wonderful flavour that compliments that early grey tea perfectly.

What’s your favourite tea? Let me know in the comments! I hope you are all having a great week!