The Seattle Traveler

When a cup of tea is just the remedy you’re looking, head off to  Remedy Tea Bar, where you’ll be able to get a healthy “cuppa” along with free wi-fi.

Occupying a subterranean Capitol Hill space, Remedy Tea serves over 150 pure and house-blended organic teas.  You’ll find the tea stored in glossy white canisters and mini-test tubes, looking more like an apothecary than a traditional tea shop.  And that’s the charm of Remedy — it is anything but your typical tea shop.

You can choose a tea based on your health needs.  Perhaps #03 Deep Sleep, a bland of chamomile, rosehips, lavender, pink peppercorn, valerian, honeybush and kava kava (contains no caffeine) or #10 Hangover, a blend of yerba mate, peppermint, ginger, feverfew, dandelion, licorice root, orange, cumin, myrrh, barberry and ginseng (medium caffeine content).  Those choices sound much better than taking a sleep aid or trying a little “hair of the dog.”

You can make your choice based on the type of tea you’d prefer.  #13 Morning Rain is a special blend of white tea, fresh cantaloupe essence and jasmine, or try #68 Grenadine Dream, a black tea bursting with fruity pomegranate grenadine flavors blended with light, exotic caramel vanilla essence and marigold blossoms.

And if your choice is getting tougher by the minute, you may want to throw caution to the wind and just select a tea by random number.  Like #32 Green Oz which uses the petals of the osmanthus flower blended with a medium bodied green tea to produce a light peachy taste and aroma, or #52 Orchid Oolong, a classic and rare oolong having a unique natural lilac flavor.   Or maybe you’d choose #110 Red Peach a blend of natural peach essences, flowers and pure rooibos, or #143 Licorice, a sweet fragrant tea that is said to soothe a sore throat or cough, help heal ulcers, and protect the stomach.

Just when you thought your choices were over, you now need to decide on hot or iced, or maybe a tea smoothie. 

But then again, we can’t live on tea alone —

In addition to tea by the cup or pot, Remedy also offers a “full” tea service, presented in a tiered serving platter that includes tea sandwiches a pot of tea, a truffle, cookies, sliced fruit, scone and jam and butter.

You can also try some small bites (olives, cheese, cookies), or something a little more substantial like a salad or a tea sandwich (try the Ravish — crunchy organic radishes, red onion and buttery spread on organic white bread with black sesame seed garnish — delicious).  A kids menu is also available.

If there’s a tea lover in your life, you’re likely to find a great gift among the pots, cups, and brewing tools, in addition to a sampling of teas.

Location:  345 15th Avenue East (at Harrison), Capitol Hill (map it)

Hours:  Daily 7 am – 11 pm

Remedy provides instructions for you on the proper brewing of tea, because they realize that it’s not always as simple as we might like to think.  The recommendations they make are based on the type of tea you are brewing.  The key to proper brewing, like many things is life, is timing  

Remedy recommends the following brewing guidelines:

TEA: GREEN TEA OR RAW PU-ERH
TEMP: 175˙ – Little bubbles beginning to rise in kettle
TIME: 1-3 minutes – Never over 3 minute with green or raw pu-erh

TEA: WHITE, OOLONG OR DARJEELING BLACK
TEMP: 185˙ – Streams of little bubbles rising in kettle
TIME: 3-4 minutes

TEA: BLACK, HERBAL, DARK PU-ERH OR YERBA MATE
TEMP: 205˙- Rolling boil hottest temperature water in kettle
TIME: 3-5 minutes – Never over 4 minutes with black tea

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