The Dushanbe teahouse in Boulder is a hidden gem, great story behind it all. Apparently Dushanbe, Tajikistan is the sister city of Boulder, Colorado. If you don't know where Tajikistan is on a map, you're not alone, here's a map. The teahouse was build completely in Tajikistan and shipped in pieces to boulder, where the designer helped to assemble it. It's presence just a block from the Pearl street mall and overlooking a park to the west makes this an iconic place to visit.
The inside is stunning.
This is an imminently comfortable place, a place that just makes you happy.
And the food is very good. Here's my Persian Omelette with toasted pine nuts and walnuts, goat feta, and raisins; deliciously different.
And now for the main event, the tea. Eric and I had a conversation that led up to this little adventure wherein I mentioned how I knew nothing about tea but was interested in learning what it was all about, the flavor profiles, the categories, etc. Eric is a smart guy and very knowledgeable about his tea, so he was kind enough to give me a little lesson.
Given that this was expanding my palate, I felt obliged to make my tea selections from the "rare & special" list.
My first selection was the Drum Mountain Clouds and Mist Green Tea, which was soothing, delicately grassy, like a meadow with a very slightly sweet finish despite drinking it straight. The sensation I took from this tea was a calming nourishment, I just felt better drinking it, due to psychosomatic causality or otherwise.
Next we tried the Puttabong First Flush Darjeeling, which hit me with a floral nose and, as advertised, a muscatel tannic winey feel on the palate.
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At the same time we also sampled the Margaret's Hope First Flush Darjeeling; this evoked the flavor or champagne grapes and the bouquet of flowers. Extraordinary flavors, I can see great possibilities for using tea in savory and sweet cookery.
The rush of caffeine came on like a lightning strike, wow ... that first flush (the first picking from the top of the tea leaf canopy, as I learned) is apparently loaded with the stuff. After a jittery saunter over to The Peppercorn to check out the latest stock of pans, Eric and I bid farewell to Dushanbe for now. A fun excursion with a first learned prelude into the world of tea.
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