Caj Chai — Restaurant in Barcelona

I went several times to have tea at Caj Chai in Barcelona. I’d say it’s a good place for Chinese tea if you brew it yourself. I came to try their matcha, but honestly, it was quite disappointing. The bowl was far too large for a proper matcha serving, and the tea was so watery that it was impossible to discern the taste or quality of the matcha itself. On top of that, the water temperature was too hot for this kind of tea. I was surprised, especially knowing they also offer matcha workshops I expected a well-prepared matcha: thick, silky, foamy, and made with the right water temperature. Unfortunately, that wasn’t the case.

On other occasions, I sat outside to drink my tea, but they allow people to smoke there, which I find quite a strange choice. I’m not talking about nearby restaurants, but about people sitting right next to me at the same table it seemed completely normal to them. I actually had to ask one person not to smoke because I was drinking tea, and surprisingly, the girl working there was fine with him smoking at the shared community table. Considering that they are associated with Global Tea Hut, which speaks about tea as medicine, this feels quite inconsistent. Especially since true tea houses around the world never allow smoking…tea and smoking simply don’t...

Very reasonably priced given the quality! This small artisan tea house in the Gothic quarter of Barcelona is world class and on par with the best specialty tea houses I have been to in Asia & Europe. The tea selection is vast, including rare wild or aged teas that I had not seen anywhere. Every single tea I have tried here has been of outstanding quality. The service is knowlegeable & each tea I had here was perfectly & expertly made. Being half Chinese half Vietnamese, I grew up drinking tea & always on the look out for authentic tea houses with teas of the highest quality. I was beyond thrilled to discover this tea house, so much so that I've joined their Caj Chai Tea Club too. So far the tea club selection each quarter has been excellent, & come with an online class on Youtube in English & Spanish where each tea is explained. I'm loving discovering new teas & learning about them. It should come at no surprise that organic, artisan teas of high quality, properly curated & stored aren't cheap, but this teahouse is doing a great job making them available at a reasonable price. Just to give you an idea, a cup of good tea at Maison de Trois Thes, a specialty teahouse in Paris, starts at about €20, while at Caj Chai it is approx €4, around 1/5 the price for...

Whenever I'm in Barcelona, this is my number one tea place for gong fu cha. Not only do they have a great variety of different teas from all over the world, the kind people working there also have a lot of knowledge about the teas they are serving. Prices are reasonable and you can ask for as many hot water as you like. When it is busy and there is only one person serving, it happens that you cannot sit outside, but I'd consider this an advantage to be honest, because it is very cozy inside and then you experience the real tea atmosphere. For tea lovers who want to have a little desert, they also have some food options (for me tea is the desert, so I almost never combine it with food, but it is nice that they offer this possibility, and maybe with some Chai it would go well together!). I went back home with too many bags of tea that I bought there, but it's worth it! PS they also sell beautiful hand crafted tea ware, such as Japanese Kyosu and Chinese...