Tea is getting into your drinks. As the Northwest’s slowly reawakening specialty tea scene begins to turn out flavors more powerful than we were ever able to find in our great aunts’ dusty tea cupboards, beverage enthusiasts have begun to sit up, take notice and work tea into other beverages they love. While results are varied, they’re worth exploring. Below are just a few places you’ll find tea slipping itself into your drink.
Tea Brews
Tea can be as aromatic as hops (indeed, hops are often used for tea as well—check out Mabton, Wash.,’s Puterbaugh Farms, which sells four varieties), and tea’s wide range of flavors can complement an equally wide range of brews. The Northwest has seen everything from a collaborative multi-release Oolong Tea Saison (by J-TEA Tea Shop, Buckman Botanical Brewery and Oakshire Brewing) to Gilgamesh Brewing’s Mamba Ale, with black tea and tangerine peel. Eugene, Ore.,’s 16 Tons even hosted a Tea Beer Fest last October as part of Brewpublic’s fifth annual Killer Beer Week.
While many tea beers are limited releases, some places, like Buckman Botanical Brewery in Southeast Portland, brew them regularly. Buckman’s award-winning Parnold Almer Kölsch, made with lemon peel and Steven Smith iced tea, is a mainstay in their repertoire, while Chamomellow Pale Ale is currently on tap. Tea can also be found in a braggot, or beer-mead hybrid, among Viking Braggot Co.’s year-round offerings: the Eugene brewery’s Honeybush Braggot includes the South African herbal tea of the same name.
Tea Sangria
Tea and wine seem like polar opposites, but Vancouver’s Silk Road is a trendsetter in combining the two. Check out their Tea Sangria Herbal Tea blend, designed to be brewed, chilled and mixed with red or white wine. It combines the powers and flavors of rooibos, lemongrass, cinnamon, spearmint, rosehips, bergamot, orange peel, hibiscus and cranberry to make for an elixir unlike any you’ve ever tried.
Tea-Infused Spirits & Kombucha Cocktails
An institution in Portland’s Pearl District, Tea Zone & Camellia Lounge counts as a tea room, restaurant, lounge and bar, featuring stellar house tea-spirit infusions including jasmine green tea vodka, Rooibos vanilla bourbon, and Darjeeling gin.
Meanwhile, the cocktails lists of places from Bainbridge Island, Wash.,’s Four Swallows to Bend, Ore.,’s Kebaba are increasingly populated by cocktails featuring ever more creative flavors of kombucha. Though the fermented tea drink contains trace amounts of alcohol already, its tart, vinegary fruit notes seem tailor-made for accentuating craft spirits.
