Smith Teamaker
Cafe · Northwest District ·
Crafted teas, plant-based bowls, tea flights, and Gaiwan service.
Crafted teas, plant-based bowls, tea flights, and Gaiwan service.
"I mention that Holl also designed the food menu for Smith Teamaker’s NW 23rd cafe in Portland, demonstrating his prior work in the city’s culinary scene and his experience with thoughtful, ingredient-forward menus." - Janey Wong
"Smith Teamaker is one of the most renowned large-scale teamaking companies in the United States, and its tasting room in Northwest Portland reflects the late Steven Smith’s relentless drive to introduce a wider audience to quality tea. The light green interior creates the impression of being inside a hot cup of green tea, which isn’t necessarily a bad sensation on a typically dreary Portland afternoon. Tea options include a handful of distinctive choices in each major category, as well as tea lattes, iced teas, gaiwan service, and tea flights. The food menu incorporates tea thoughtfully, with things like granola topped with chai milk and chocolate-tea pairing flights." - Nathan Williams, Eater Staff
"Smith Teamaker will offer some of the city's finest teas at Portland International Airport's new main terminal." - Brooke Jackson-Glidden
"Opening May 29 in a shiny new NW 23rd cafe at 500 NW 23rd Avenue, the shop’s most ambitious project to date pairs a daily 9 a.m.–5 p.m. food program (designed by Karl Holl) with an adventurous tea program. The food menu weaves the brand’s teas into many preparations—ground into powders to spice pastries, infused into jams and sauces, or sprinkled on vegetables—and uses organic Oregon fruit in jams such as strawberry with Red Nectar and Lord Bergamot with boysenberries, blackberries, and Marionberries. Meadow tea appears in granola for an overnight oats bowl with oat milk yogurt and in butter for baguettes; White Petal infuses sheep’s-milk cheese for a rainbow carrot and barley bowl; a quinoa bowl gets sencha plus chai-and-sugar-coated walnuts; and turmeric noodles use the turmeric from Golden Light with buckwheat. The entirely vegetarian menu (with several vegan and gluten-free options) emphasizes plant-based comfort—Holl even roasts jasmine-infused beets and slices them thin to mimic deli meat—and he keeps steeping gentle (about fifteen minutes) to preserve nuance. The tea service is varied as well: 30 teas brewed hot, black teas pulled from an espresso machine for tea lattes, tea flights, seasonal non-alcoholic tea cocktails like a Camelia sour (Portland Breakfast with lemon and aquafaba), and traditional Gaiwan service that briefly steeps teas multiple times to highlight different expressions. Designed by Andee Hess of Osmose, the space nods to tea with amber-glass light fixtures, tea-green walls, and an oak menu wall burned with the quote "The perfect cup of tea is one shared with others." Takeout and delivery will be available via Tock, with outdoor seating offered." - Brooke Jackson-Glidden
"This cafe from Portland’s celebrated tea brand won’t just be a spot for cups of flowery herbal teas and pu-erh; chef Karl Holl is handling the menu for the tea cafe. Holl will be designing menu items incorporating the cafe’s teas; think: turmeric tea noodle bowls, or cookies and pastries infused with tea. Holl’s noteworthy pop-up at Park Avenue Fine Wines is allegedly done, which means this might be one of the only ways to try dishes designed by Holl himself, outside of his incoming foraging brand’s recipes." - Brooke Jackson-Glidden