If you’ve read past reviews of mine, then you may know I am somewhat of a tea fiend. I have at least a cup of the stuff every day, and I probably won’t die happy until I try every good tea shop in this city. Recently, I noticed a little tea shop just down the street from OCU called Urban Teahouse. I’ve been freezing because of this weather, and I desperately needed a nice cup of warm tea, so I decided to head there for this week’s review.
Urban Teahouse is located on 23rd street, right next to Old School Bagel Cafe and Hurts Donut. They don’t really have any flashy signage, and it’s kind of a small space, so I’ve passed by this tea shop many times without even noticing it was there. When I walked into the space, it reminded me of most coffee houses and tea shops. It was warm, cozy and quiet. One thing I did notice was there weren’t many large tables or other spaces for sizable groups to gather, so I probably would not bring an entire friend group here. There were many people on laptops, getting work done by themselves, so I might come here by myself before my next big test to do some studying.
Just looking at the menu, I was absolutely blown away. The list of teas they offer is extremely extensive and diverse. You can get everything from a basic green tea to a chocolate chili tea and everything in between. The tea list is divided into categories such as black teas and matchas, and then, within those categories, the list is divided further based on quality. They have several different levels of tea quality, with their most basic teas starting at $3 a cup and their top quality premium teas starting at $6. One aspect of the menu I absolutely loved was how it indicated the caffeine levels of the different teas. I am a college student who is perpetually exhausted, so I ended up ordering a pineapple mango tea since it had one of the highest caffeine levels.
After selecting your tea, you then decide if you want it hot or iced and what size you want. Afterwards, you can select several free add ins, such as sweeteners and types of milk if you so wish. I still can’t believe all of the add ins are free there. At nearly every other tea shop I’ve been to, there’s been some sort of upcharge. If you want to add some sweetener, they’ll even let you decide how much sweetener you want on a scale of 1-3. Just when I thought it couldn’t get any better, I saw that they went the extra mile of noting which menu items were made locally. I absolutely love shopping local, and I try to do it whenever I can, so I totally loved that little part of the menu.
I ended up making my tea hot and adding a little bit of stevia. My order was made in a pretty timely manner. When I received my order, it was perfectly hot which pleased my freezing cold soul. Just as I expected, it was fruity, sweet and overall delicious. I don’t have any complaints about the tea I got. Even so, I will still probably get something different the next time I come here because I am just so curious about their extensive offerings.
Overall, I would recommend this place to any tea lovers out there or really anybody that doesn’t outright hate tea. It’s so easy to customize everything to your specific tastes, so I can imagine everybody should be able to find something they like here.
Like I mentioned before, I probably would not bring a large group here, but this seems like a nice location to go by yourself or with a small group. Urban Teahouse is probably going to become my go-to study spot from now on, I liked it so much.
I loved my experience here, and I’m eager to become a regular customer. So whether you’re tea-obsessed like me, or you just want something different from your typical coffee shop routine, check out Urban Teahouse!
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