New Tacoma teahouse will stay open late for gung fu tea rituals, chess and aromatic chai

A new cafe in Tacoma’s Hilltop neighborhood will stay open late, says owner Ean Oz Sager, in part to satisfy a need for after-hours alternatives to bars.

In the minimalist space accented by custom laser carvings designed by Sager, who is also a tattoo artist, guests can sip “a tea for every mood” — from a jasmine-scented green (Sonder) to an assam-keemun blend teased with bergamot (Soliloquy). Each is labeled with correct water temperature and steep time for the best possible brew.

Obscura Teahouse quietly opened mid-July at 1308 Martin Luther King Jr. Way, next to Mr. Mac in a storefront previously home to Fulcrum Gallery (now across the street). Relax at a tufted, backed bar stool overlooking the avenue, or settle into a table. The back room is currently sparse, but Sager, who uses they/them pronouns, plans to add seating, perhaps for a game of chess on one of the hand-built stone soap boards.

At the wooden bar, built with help from local woodworker Altared Crafts, order your preferred cup and let the deliberate brewing method soak in.

Here you will also have the opportunity to experiment with gung fu, a traditional Chinese tea ritual in which the same leaves are steeped over and over with varying, and very specific, water temperatures. The term translates to doing something with skill, something that takes care and practice to master.

“I like it because I might let my mug of tea sit and go cold,” explained Sager. “With this style, you brew in shorter brews — many times, with more leaf, smaller cups and a smaller pot.”

The shop also stocks beautiful ceramic gaiwan (a brewing vessel, lid and saucer set), should you become attached to the ritual yourself, hand-thrown by University of Puget Sound instructor and local artist Jonathan Steele. Tacoma-based gemstone jewelry maker Erica Joslin has a few pieces for sale, too.

If you’re new to gung fu, Sager will walk you through it, preparing each steep. On return visits, they hope customers learn to appreciate this ritual and how it inherently lends you time — time to focus on the tea, on the project in front of you, or on your conversation with a friend.

“Spend $5 on a pot of tea in the gung fu setup, you can have up to 20 infusions, depending on the leaf,” said Sager. “That’s part of the fun of it for me, too, is having them learn about the wide variety of ways you can enjoy tea.”

Chai lovers are also sure to swoon over their house blend, a multitude of spices first simmered then steeped for just 10 minutes with assam leaves. Served to order with milk, the scent of cardamom, star anise and clove leads to a peppery backbone that lingers.

A self-described lifelong tea drinker and world traveler, thanks in part to a military family upbringing, Sager nurtured an affinity for tea while living in Kenya. Tea farmers were forced off their land but still do the laborious task of harvesting, spending their day’s earnings on travel. “Living there is where I decided to figure out better ways of sourcing tea,” Sager said.

Their art has long focused on the intersection of plants and people, and how each has altered the other. Imbibed daily, rituals like tea and coffee “fall in those categories.”

Sager began creating custom tea blends at home and for family and friends, including the owners of Manifesto. That led to a formal wholesale operation, hampered by diminished restaurant business during the pandemic. This space became available, and Sager thought now was as good a time as any to create a destination for art and community, slow-brewed.

“After we threw a bunch of tea in the harbor, we kinda got a bad rap for a while,” joked Sager, who hopes we all can learn to love tea — good, whole-leaf tea, not the torn-and-cut grade of Lipton lore.

“Temperature makes a very big difference, and time will make a big difference,” they said. “I think the whole point is to enjoy the process of getting good at it.”

If you prefer milk and sugar in your tea, cool. If you trust the steep to try it straight, also cool.

In Sager’s words: “I think people should drink tea the way they want it.”

OBSCURA TEAHOUSE

▪ 1308 Martin Luther King Jr. Way, Tacoma, 253-921-1081, obscuraarcana.com

▪ Current Hours: Sunday-Tuesday 2-8 p.m., Friday-Saturday 2-10 p.m.

▪ Details: community tea shop and cafe with custom loose-leaf; retail bags $5-$15 per ounce, to-go pours $4-$6 (full service, including gung fu, starts Aug. 27)

▪ Select Obscura teas also available at Manifesto Coffee and Lux Coffee in Tacoma

This story was originally published July 30, 2022 at 5:00 AM.