Today was a wondeful experience! The Cincinnati TasteCasting Team had the pleasure of visiting one of our City’s unique establishments – Essencha Tea House & Fine Teas. Essencha is located at 3212 Madison Road in Oakley – just down the street from Crossroads Church and across the street from Hugo Restaurant.
The History
Essencha Tea House is just over 3 years old and is owned and operated by the lovely, and extremely knowledgable, Tracy Monson (also a mother of 3). After traveling throughout the world, and sampling some of the best teas anyone can get their hands on, Tracy landed back in the Queen City and realized that there wasn’t a good spot to get high quality teas. Soon, she decided to open her own contemporary tea cafe and tea store – Essencha.
For a newbie to the tea world, going in to Essencha, I wasn’t quite sure what to expect. However, as soon as I entered the quaint tea house, I immediately felt at ease and very relaxed. The decor is a bit modern with an Asian theme, but comfortable at the same time. There wasn’t any fussy decor or doilies on the tables, just a clean, serene look and feel to the place. Monson explained that she wanted to keep it very simple. She wanted the focus to be on the teas and other products – not the decor.
What is “true tea”?
After a brief introduction to the store and a history on how it came to be, Monson jumped right in and began teaching us all about tea. Sure, I knew that tea is supposed to be healthy and have antioxidents in it, but I had no idea all the types of teas and how they are prepared and where they all come from. It was truly fascinating!
“True tea comes from the Camellia sinensis plant. In fine teas, only the top two leaves and bud are hand-picked to be processed. The production of tea is truly a labor intensive process: up to 80,000 hand-picked shoots are needed to produce a pound of top quality tea. There are literally thousands of varieties of teas, but the way a tea is process determines its classification”. (Taken from the Essencha Tea Selection booklet).
Essencha Fine Teas
There are 4 main types of teas: Black, Oolong, Green and White. We sampled all except the Oolong today.
Tulsi Apple Pear Iced Tea
“A vibrant blend of tulsi, apple, pineapple, pear, and ginger bits dotted with blossoms and spice create this Ayurvedic herbal tonic.” There is a bit of a flavor of Basil in this one. It was very light, clear and crisp. A little spicy, a little sweet. A great tea to start with to help cleanse our palette. This was so delicious and would be wonderfully satisfying on a hot summer day. One of the team members enjoyed this one so much, she took a sample home with her!
Sample: $4
4 oz: $11
8 oz: $16
Yunnan Goldtips Supreme
“One of the world’s finest varietals, gold-tipped, rich, full-bodied, resplendent with a chocolately aftertaste. So smooth, it will leave you dreaming about your next pot!” This was a hot tea that I have fallen in love with – and so did a few other team members. It was a much stronger, deeper, full-bodied tea compared to the first one and it was also served hot. Monson let us know that since this one is a Black Tea, it had the most caffeine in it (although half of what a cup of coffee would have in it).
Sample: $5
4 oz: $23
8 oz: $36
Matcha Latte with Soy Milk
“Matcha is the oldest variety of shade grown Japanese green tea ground into a very fine powder and has been a part of the Zen Buddhist culture for over 800 years. It’s unique properties call for it to be prepared differently than other teas. Because it is a finely powdered tea, its tiny particles are dispersed throughout the water or other liquid it is mixed with rather than being infused, like regular tea leaves. This preparation method is what helps to make matcha so nutritious: because the entire tea leaf is consumed, you will take in 10-15 times the nutrients found in regular green teas. Matcha is delicious drunk straight, or mixed into a smoothie, latte or even ice cream!” This is a green tea – and you can immediately tell because it is bright green! We were served the tea as the latte/smoothie preparation and it was so good! It was actually kind of sweet and I think even my 4 year old would have enjoyed this one.
Regular: $3.75
Large: $4.90
Add soymilk: $.75
Add tapioca pearls: $.75
Monson: “Nothing on the planet with more antioxidents”.
That is good stuff!
Jasmine Bubbly Green Tea
A bubbly tea, something I had never heard of, is a “freshly brewed tea shakien with fruit syrup and poured over sweetened tapioca pearls”. For this drink, you get to choose your base tea and then choose a syrup. We were served the Jasmine green tea with a Lychee syrup. This was interesting – to say the least. It was served cold in a clear glass. Immediately, I noticed two things about the tea- the tapioca pearls in the bottom of the glass and the extra wide short straw that it is served with. Monson explained that this tea was meant to be drunk with the straw and you are supposed to suck the tapioca pearls up through the straw. My first sip, I sucked in 2 pearls and was immediately shocked. They were soft and had a slick texture to them. Sweet and unlike anything I have had before. Good. Different.
Regular: $3.75
Large: $4.90
The Food
Quinoa Salad
I haven’t had quinoa before and I was pleasantly surprised by how much I enjoyed this light salad. It had feta and olives in it (although you can get it without the feta). The texture was amazing and would make for a great side dish during the summer.
Savory Buckwheat Crepes
Monson served us two different crepes, although they do carry other varieties. We tried the Roasted Red Peper, Spinach & Goat Cheese and also the Smoked Turkey & Havarti. Both were very impressive, but my favorite was the Turkey & Havarti – absolutely one of the best savory crepes I have ever tried. They actually make this as a sandwich on whole wheat as well. I will definitely be back to try this very soon!
Oh, Sweetness
Our final tasting of the morning was the very unique Matcha Cupcake with Cream Cheese frosting. Again, because this is Matcha, it was a bright green cupcake with a white topping – actually very attractive. One bite and I knew that I was hooked. It was very sweet and didn’t taste anything like “tea”. Again, something that my 4 year old would definitely enjoy while getting tons of antioxidents.
What else…
Essencha’s hours of operation are Sunday through Wednesday from 9:30am til 6pm and Thursday through Saturday from 9:30am til 8:00pm. (Just recently, Essencha added a Sunday brunch that is served from 10:30am til 2:30pm.)
All their teas are available for purchase in the store or online at www.essencha.com. Also, online you can find more information about many of the different teas, a downloadable brochure on Matcha, a virtual tour of the shop, a calendar of upcoming events (such as Tea 101 and Tea & Cocktail Workshop) and many of their teaware available for purchase.
If you aren’t familiar with tea, don’t be scared to stop in. With a very knowledgeable staff to help guide you through your first tastings, you will walk out feeling like you have been drinking tea your whole life.
Have a baby shower to host, a bridal shower, or just a girl’s get-together? Set up a tasting at Essencha and enjoy a unique experience. They love to share their passion for tea so call them to schedule your next tea event at 513-533-4832.
You can find Essencha online at www.essencha.com, on Twitter at @essencha and on Facebook. Make sure to follow them for more information about upcoming events and specials.
Written By: Audrey Keyes, Cincinnati, OH
*Note – The TasteCasting Team Members are not professional food critics. TasteCasting combines socially networked people and the social media platforms and applications they use to help establishments build awareness, announce grand openings, introduce new menu items, distribute special offers and encourage people to visit the establishment.
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Cincinnati TasteCasting Team Members who got a taste were: @AudreyKeyes, @ColeImperi, @vimperi, @JesyHerron, @AmyInOhio, @Maria_Michelle, @AvivaEvents, @stephaniewebb, @braffenberg.
Want to join Cincinnati’s TasteCasting team? Go here.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Disclosure: TasteCasting is a promotional review site. We are treated to the food we taste at no cost. Team members are encouraged to share their experience good, bad or indifferent via the Social Web and to state their own, genuine opinion.
Great Post Audrey!
Here’s the link to my Flickr set: http://www.flickr.com/photos/imperi/sets/72157619764904505/
Will update this comment with my blog post soon! <3 Cole
Thanks so much for the beautiful piece & snaps, Audrey! You were a great group yesterday and I had so much fun talking to you all. Here’s the matcha latte recipe:
~1/2-1 tsp matcha
~1/2-1 tsp sugar, agave, or sweetener (to taste)
~about 1 oz. hot water
~soymilk or milk
Place matcha & sweetener in bowl. Add a bit of hot water and whisk to make a thick slurry (this will remove clumps). Add a bit more water to thin, and add about 6-8 oz. of soymilk or other milk. Add more to taste. If you want it hot, steam with steam wand, heat on stove. For cold, just pour over ice, or shake in cocktail shaker with ice and strain into glass.
Feel free to shoot me an email with questions!
Great review. I have always been a fan of green tea. Learned from your review