Tea Bar

My quest to clear my head takes me to Tea Bar, a beautiful and relaxing new space in NE Portland.

My mind has been all over the place lately.  It’s not just taking care of a newborn.  I quit my job and it is really messing with my head.  In a good way, I think.  I’ll of a sudden I’m looking out into this big unknown.  I have so many options, ideas and paths that I could take.  
I have this blog.  I have ideas on how to expand it.  
I have books to read.  Things to learn and so many projects bubbling in my head.  
And I have a baby on my lap plus a million annoying tasks to accomplish in order to support this new little family: meal planning, breast pumping and calls to the insurance company.  (The Affordable Care Act has made it possible for me to stay home with my little girl, but they sure don’t make it easy.)

With all that on my mind, I’m having a bit of trouble concentrating.  Writing a simple blog post can take me all day, even if the baby is sleeping.  I just get distracted by other ideas and websites and Pinterest.  So last week I decided I needed to get out.  I needed to write somewhere else, so I called up Nana (previously known as my mother-in-law) to spend some time with her granddaughter and headed out for a couple hours at the Tea Bar.

If you follow #pdx on Instagram, you’ve probably seen photos of Tea Bar.  It’s a hot little place right now, but luckily when I arrived at 2pm there were plenty of tables and lots of sun streaming in the windows. The interior is white and modern, airy and free from distraction.  Exactly what I need.  Even the space behind the counter was clutter-free.  

With the very patient help of the woman working behind the counter, I ordered a Bombay Latte.  Lots of people rave about the London Fog Latte, but I wanted to buck the trend and give something else a try.  She took my order and my money then told me to sit down, she’s bring it out to me.  I like that.  A nice touch from the yelling out of names and orders at coffee shops.  Speaking of coffee, there is none on the menu. This is just tea.  But they have a number of options: traditionally brewed tea, lattes, kombucha, oolong, matcha and chai.  Next time I want to try their Chai, I like spicy drinks.

Tea Bar is a peaceful little oasis.  It gave me time to think, to work  and focus, free of the distractions of my new sometimes overwhelming life at home.  Don’t get me wring, I love it, but sometimes you need to get away so you can really enjoy it while you’re there.  If you need to clear your head like me, you can find Tea Bar on N. Killingsworth, it share a block with Podnah’s Pit and La Taq (I could use some of their tequila today!).

TEA BAR
1615 NE KILLINGSWORTH
8AM TO 8PM DAILY