the house with the red lanterns

most times we travel north and east in Seattle, we end up on 85th street and pass a house covered in red lanterns. it has a sign outside for tea tastings, and each time i swear that i will give it a try.

finally this past Saturday i went, on a long overdue outing with coworker R. and it is a magical elf house presided over by a wizard. the house contains an art gallery, with tea tastings and Chinese tea for sale (not a place to go to buy a cup of tea and a pastry). R and i never quite did the tea tasting - we were handed full-sized cups of tea when we came in the door and offered the run of the house. since we were looking to talk a bit, we settled on a bench in the upstairs gallery and caught up. the owner unobtrusively checked in on us, and even brought us refills of tea from downstairs. the house is near the peak of Crown Hill. i'm sure on a less rainy day there would be a stunning view of the Olympics from the window under the eaves. even so, the space was peaceful and filled with light.

the owner roasts his own oolong, which is what we were drinking. it is very much as described - pleasant, a little sweet. i decided to purchase some before we left, and he filled my bag from the roaster (similar to the one pictured here). from what i can tell the roasting rig is a base with electic coils topped by something similar to a bamboo steamer.

so i left with the oolong (and some jasmine and rose flowers another customer decided not to buy due to a cranky kid - they were small and hand-packaged and it made me sad to see them left behind), and R got a necklace from the reasonably-priced selection of jewelry. it looks like a good place for gifts and i look forward to doing a full tasting in the future.

http://www.teahousegallery.com/