Bardo Tea

Bardo is a SANCTUARY 🙏🏼 since moving to Portland it’s been a highlight to my life to discover that such a soulful place exists! The team is fluent in honoring not only tea but their philosophy and practice of the Bardo. The atmosphere is always so generous and you can feel the care of their craft and passion. To come here means you are supporting a heart driven mission and vision of what a simple bowl of tea can do for our world!

I talked to Ravi and bought tea from him at TeaFestPDX last two years. I've also visited the teahouse twice now and it's a fun intimate spot. Ravi is easy to talk to, helpful, and knowledgeable about tea. All the teas I've tried have been very enjoyable and high quality. This week I noticed a teapot I liked and asked Ravi to hold it for me which he promptly did. It's an excellent teapot that's reasonably priced. I also got a shou brick that was very tasty. Definitely recommend visiting their teahouse as it's a very cool spot to enjoy some tea.

What an experience! (I fear this is about to be a long review. TLDR: highly recommend for a relaxing afternoon!) My partner and I came in yesterday and had the most wonderful time. There are to-go offerings but to fully appreciate Bardo’s tea prepare to stay a while. Our server Jake patiently walked us through the tea list - we went with Jade Mountain and Horse Blanket (both gongfu), and showed us the whole steeping process. One tea would’ve been sufficient but it was fun to try an oolong and puer in tandem. Bardo’s attention to detail is amazing - you can see the intention behind each lamp, table, ceramic, etc. It’s really special. We left having a learned a lot and feeling refreshed and uplifted! Thank you to Jake and Robbie 🙏🏼

TLDR: Lovely experience in teashop. Good music. Gongfu tea, beginner friendly, but the experience lacks in a lot of ways for me. The online website is claiming to have incredibly rare teas, which is very suspicious for a small vendor. As well, the prices of this place are much higher than standard. While the quality is there, the markup is around 1.5, 2 times larger vendors. This is a small business, less capital, tight margins, but you should know the value. I don't want to burn bridges here, and will come back for more tea, but I'm a little suspicious. Let's back up here, I'm a budding tea enthusiast and my mom decided to take me out here, after talking about doing it for a while. I'm finally getting her into tea, finding out she loves pu erh tea. Upon coming in the smell was fantastic, tea and incense. I saw they had a record player and they were deejaying pretty intensely, very focused on getting new records spinning. Music was good, sometimes odd, but I like odd. We sat down, and the seating was pretty tight, the space being quite tight after all. The furniture was odd, and the tea table especially left much to be desired. When doing gonfu cha, and pouring out steeps, most of the water wouldn't go into the reservoir and instead pour on my leg. The chair I was sitting on was odd, slightly uncomfortable, made of strings of a peculiar silicone or other stretchy polymer. I was greeted by what could very well be an angel, a soft spoken woman dressed in off white. Lovely service from her. I ordered two pots, in order to try as much tea as possible. I forget the names but it was an aged sheng and a shu pu erh. The woman prepared the teas and handed us the pots, instructing us how to brew gonfu style. The instructions were a little different than I like to brew, but I thought they were fantastic for the less stubborn and opinionated newcomer. Here come the problems. First of all, the teapots I was given varied drastically in volume. There was a fairness pitcher for each tea, and one filled to the brim, while the other barely filled up to a quarter. They are surely trying to highlight the teapots made by various artisans, which is nice, but the volume should not vary to this extent. Despite this, neither one of the teas got very flavorful, not matter how long I steeped it, these teas were not getting flavor. I'm curious if they are testing the teas that are being sold, because every tea I have had, aged or not, has had a lot of flavor in the second steep. But these teas simply did not. From a price standpoint, it's a small business that's offering a frivelous service. The gaiwan service is not a bargain, but if you want it cheaper, they sell tea as well. On that topic, the tea they sell errs on the expensive side. 200g gram cakes ranging from 60-100$ is pretty high, and is reserved for high end teas or vintages. I'm skeptical about the quality vs price. For example, most online vendors (and in person stores like Tao) sell sheng and shu for much lower prices, and the quality is very similar. While they may be a smaller vendor, with less connections and experience in the industry, the prices are a little high. The biggest red flag to me, is the shu pu erhs they sell, claiming to be from the 70s or 80s. I'm sorry, but shu pu erh from the 70s is incredibly rare, expensive, and hard to verify. A small vendor like this is likely lying or being lied to by a factory. Age in shu is important, but less easy to spot, it's very likely the claims about these incredibly old shu's are false. For more evidence, the 200g cakes of 80's shu for 125 dollars, sorry, no. That's 40 year old vintage, there is a scam somewhere in the supply chain, but that screams BS. If you want good service and average gonfu cha, with decent tea, come here, you won't regret it.

I love everything about this hidden gem of a tea house. Great high quality tea. Awesome staff and ambiance. There’s a tea bar if you’re feeling social or tables if you’re not or want to chat with friends. Easy to find and easy to park. Also nice tea ware and such in addition to tea for purchase. Certainly one of my favorite tea houses in Portland.

This tea house should be a gem and by many accounts it is - it doesn't take much to scratch the surface to see the pomp and dismissive judgement and lack of kindness. My friends and I have been treated horribly by the owner several times that no amount of ambiance would overcome. There are better, kinder tea houses - go to Fly Awake for superior experience and service and equal to better teas. The owner was condescending to my guest and their relatively new to tea experience (though she is highly intelligent and was curious till treated with such disregard and disgust). I was yelled at for moving a chair that I was concerned did not look stable to sit in (others have mentioned the fragility) and did not want to have break while enjoying our tea. He was shaming and yelled. When seeking to make a retail purchase he ignored us for 20 minutes though he was aware the whole time I was at the register - it is a tiny space and he opted to keep greeting new people coming in at the door - until I decided to depart and then he offered to ring us up. No thanks, I do not want torture prior to purchase. I found the items for much less and still supported local elsewhere. Not worth it EVER AGAIN.

Had a relaxing visit at Bardo Tea! On a rainy day it's the perfect cozy escape. Multiple areas to enjoy tea: at the tea counter, at a custom tea sink table (so neat!), or take your shoes off and have tea in a room with beautiful tatami flooring. We shared a gongfu of Forest Floor Puer. One gongfu is good for 2 people. The tea is high quality so it lasts for multiple steepings. Listening to the calming music combined with rain pattering on the metal roof of the shop made for a very relaxing experience. There is also tea for sale. I love the alder oolong as a non-caffeine option! The owner is very knowledgeable and helpful. We'll be back again!

Fantastic atmosphere, super quality teas, wide selection. The owner is very knowledgable and friendly. 10/10 tea shop.

Bardo has been doing tea importing and even blending. They have been selling it on their website and shipping. Now they have a store, a tea bar, and a tea room to sit and sip tea. The two owners are very knowledgeable about tea and local tea lore. The tea room is a shoes-off tatami room, always a pleasure. That space has low floor tables and cushions to sit on the floor. It is a beautiful spot to quietly converse. The store has tea, teaware, incense, and wellness gift combinations. They are always sampling teas at their bar with 4 tall seats. Their packaging, printed materials, interior design, and social media fit with their product vibe. They are in a cool old building which they tastefully remodeled in a dynamic balance of rustic and refined. Bardo is a special spot to drink tea, bring rare teas home, and it is a great spot to learn more about tea and explore your own tastes in tea.

An absolutely beautiful teahouse. A hidden gem on Killingsworth. You'd never know looking at this building that it houses such a lovely space. The tea service is so good and you can tell that everyone here is really passionate about good tea. They know their stuff.